Among the many myths told about the strongest of Greek heroes, Herakles, son of Zeus, who spent his life conquering lands and vanquishing monsters, there is a curious tale that the ancients themselves struggled to explain. The powerful hero was a slave for a significant period. For three years he served a woman called Omphale, queen of Lydia, by divine decree.
Though he was the son of Zeus, the excessive amount of violence committed by Herakles was not all simply sanctioned by the gods. In the moral code of the Greeks, one had to have a valid reason for murder and the hero overstepped this boundary more than once. The guilt he incurred could only be washed through rites of purification. Herakles sought the famous oracle of Apollo at Delphi in order to learn how to be purified. However, the oracle, Pythia, who was the priestess of Apollo, refused to see him.
As usual, Herakles responded through violence and started making a mess at the sanctuary of Apollo, which was sacrilege. He attempted to steal the holy tripod on which Pythia sat pronouncing the will of the gods. The god Apollo himself appeared to stop him and the two fought over the tripod. Apollo and Herakles wrestled over the object so that their father Zeus, king of the gods, had to intervene to separate them with a thunderbold. Finally, Apollo decreed that Herakles be sold as a slave to the highest bidder, who happened to be queen Omphale.
Herakles trying to get away with the Delphic tripod and angry Apollo in hot pursuit
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