On Unbelievable Stories (45)

They say that Heracles carried around with him everywhere the so-called horn of Amaltheia and that from it emerged anything he wanted when he prayed for it.

The truth is as follows. When Heracles was travelling through Boiotia with his nephew Iolaos, he stayed in Thespiai at an inn run by a woman called Amaltheia, who was youthful and exceptionally beautiful. Heracles was infatuated with her and enjoyed her hospitality for quite a long time. This affected Iolaos badly and he decided to take Ameltheia’s profits, which she kept in a horn, and use them to obtain whatever he wanted for himself and Heracles. And so the other travellers would say, Heracles had the horn of Amaltheia, and from it he obtained whatever he wanted for himself. From these events the myth was fabricated, and artists depicting Heracles came to depict the horn of Amaltheia with him.