Theatre of Sexual Attraction and Psychological Destruction

The book examines the myth of Hercules and Omphale/Iole which became an important topic in the visual arts in the period 1500–1800. It offers an analysis of the iconography from the perspective of the history of emotions, classical and Neo-Latin philology, reception studies, and gender studies. The early modern inventions of the myth excel in a skilful display of mixed and compound emotions, such as the male character's psychopathology, and of the theatrical performance of emotions by the female character.