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Theocritus’ Idyll 13 is certainly questioning the traditional epic themes and language, but can also be read as a reaction against their use by the Philadelphoi to promote their own ideology, which breaks, largely, with that of their predecessors. Several elements, such as the mythical setting of the banquet, the choice of an aetiological myth of the Argonauts gesture, indeed suggest that this poem has significant political implications. Theocritus in this poem seeks to show the obsolete irony and the ambiguous figure of Heracles and his traditional attributes to embody new values promoted by the royal couple.