Rolled Boulder Uphill Only to Have It Roll Down Again

Rex of Ephyra in Greek mythology

In Greek mythology, Sisyphus or Sisyphos (; Ancient Greek: Σίσυφος Sísyphos) was the founder and king of Ephyra (at present known as Corinth). Zeus punished him for cheating decease twice by being forced to roll an immense boulder upwards a hill only for it to scroll down every fourth dimension it neared the height, repeating this action for eternity. Through the classical influence on modern culture, tasks that are both laborious and futile are therefore described equally Sisyphean ().^[two]

Etymology [edit]

R. Due south. P. Beekes has suggested a pre-Greek origin and a connection with the root of the word sophos (σοφός, "wise").^[3] German language mythographer Otto Gruppe thought that the proper name derived from sisys (σίσυς, "a goat'due south pare"), in reference to a pelting-charm in which goats' skins were used.^[iv]

Family unit [edit]

Sisyphus was the son of King Aeolus of Thessaly and Enarete^[v] and the brother of Salmoneus. He married the Pleiad Merope by whom he became the father of Glaucus, Ornytion, Thersander, Almus, Sinon and Porphyrion.^[6] Sisyphus was the grandfather of Bellerophon through Glaucus,^{[7] [8]} and Minyas, founder of Orchomenus, through Almus.^[6]

Mythology [edit]

Reign [edit]

Sisyphus was the founder and first male monarch of Ephyra (supposedly the original name of Corinth).^[7] King Sisyphus promoted navigation and commerce but was avaricious and deceitful. He killed guests and travelers in his palace, a violation of guest-obligations, which fell under Zeus' domain, thus angering the god. He took pleasure in these killings considering they allowed him to maintain his iron-fisted rule.

Conflict with Salmoneus [edit]

Sisyphus and his brother Salmoneus were known to hate each other, and Sisyphus consulted the oracle of Delphi on just how to kill Salmoneus without incurring any severe consequences for himself. From Homer onward, Sisyphus was famed as the craftiest of men. He seduced Salmoneus' daughter Tyro in ane of his plots to kill Salmoneus, only for Tyro to slay the children she bore him when she discovered that Sisyphus was planning on using them eventually to degrade her male parent.

Adulterous expiry [edit]

Sisyphus betrayed one of Zeus' secrets past revealing the whereabouts of the Asopid Aegina to her father, the river god Asopus, in render for causing a spring to menstruum on the Corinthian acropolis.^[7]

Zeus and so ordered Thanatos to chain Sisyphus in Tartarus. Sisyphus was curious every bit to why Charon, whose job it was to guide souls to the underworld, had not appeared on this occasion. Sisyphus slyly asked Thanatos to demonstrate how the bondage worked. As Thanatos was granting him his wish, Sisyphus seized the opportunity and trapped Thanatos in the chains instead. Once Thanatos was spring by the potent chains, no one died on Earth. This caused an uproar and Ares, annoyed that his battles had lost their fun because his opponents would not die, intervened. The exasperated Ares freed Thanatos and turned Sisyphus over to him.^[nine]

In some versions, Hades was sent to chain Sisyphus and was chained himself. As long equally Hades was tied up, nobody could die. Because of this, sacrifices could not be fabricated to the gods, and those that were old and sick were suffering. The gods finally threatened to make life and then miserable for Sisyphus that he would wish he were dead. He then had no choice only to release Hades.^[x]

Before Sisyphus died, he had told his wife to throw his naked body into the heart of the public foursquare (purportedly as a test of his wife's love for him). This caused Sisyphus to end up on the shores of the river Styx. So, complaining to Persephone, goddess of the underworld, that this was a sign of his wife's disrespect for him, Sisyphus persuaded her to allow him to return to the upper world. One time back in Ephyra, the spirit of Sisyphus scolded his wife for not burial his body and giving information technology a proper funeral equally a loving wife should. When Sisyphus refused to return to the underworld, he was forcibly dragged back there by Hermes.^{[11] [12]} In another version of the myth, Persephone was tricked by Sisyphus that he had been conducted to Tartarus by mistake, and and then she ordered that he be released.^[13]

In Philoctetes by Sophocles, there is a reference to the father of Odysseus (rumoured to have been Sisyphus, and non Laërtes, whom we know as the father in the Odyssey) upon having returned from the dead^{[ description needed ]}. Euripides, in Cyclops, also identifies Sisyphus equally Odysseus' begetter.

Punishment in the underworld [edit]

As a punishment for his trickery, Hades made Sisyphus roll a huge boulder endlessly upwardly a steep hill.^{[7] [14] [xv]} The maddening nature of the punishment was reserved for Sisyphus due to his hubristic belief that his cleverness surpassed that of Zeus himself. Hades accordingly displayed his own cleverness by enchanting the boulder into rolling away from Sisyphus before he reached the top, which ended upward consigning Sisyphus to an eternity of useless efforts and unending frustration. Thus it came to pass that pointless or interminable activities are sometimes described equally "Sisyphean". Sisyphus was a common subject area for aboriginal writers and was depicted past the painter Polygnotus on the walls of the Lesche at Delphi.^[16]

Interpretations [edit]

Sisyphus as a symbol for continuing a senseless state of war. Johann Vogel: Meditationes emblematicae de restaurata pace Germaniae, 1649

According to the solar theory, Rex Sisyphus is the disk of the dominicus that rises every mean solar day in the east and so sinks into the west.^[17] Other scholars regard him every bit a personification of waves rising and falling, or of the treacherous body of water.^[17] The 1st-century BC Epicurean philosopher Lucretius interprets the myth of Sisyphus as personifying politicians aspiring for political part who are constantly defeated, with the quest for ability, in itself an "empty thing", existence likened to rolling the boulder upward the hill.^[xviii] Friedrich Welcker suggested that he symbolises the vain struggle of man in the pursuit of knowledge, and Salomon Reinach^[nineteen] that his punishment is based on a motion picture in which Sisyphus was represented rolling a huge rock Acrocorinthus, symbolic of the labour and skill involved in the edifice of the Sisypheum. Albert Camus, in his 1942 essay The Myth of Sisyphus, saw Sisyphus as personifying the applesauce of human life, but Camus concludes "one must imagine Sisyphus happy" as "The struggle itself towards the heights is enough to fill a homo's eye." More recently, J. Nigro Sansonese,^[20] edifice on the work of Georges Dumézil, speculates that the origin of the name "Sisyphus" is onomatopoetic of the continual back-and-forth, susurrant sound ("siss phuss") made by the breath in the nasal passages, situating the mythology of Sisyphus in a far larger context of archaic (see Proto-Indo-European organized religion) trance-inducing techniques related to breath command. The repetitive inhalation–exhalation cycle is described esoterically in the myth as an up–down motion of Sisyphus and his boulder on a hill.

In experiments that test how workers respond when the meaning of their chore is macerated, the test condition is referred to as the Sisyphusian condition. The two main conclusions of the experiment are that people work harder when their piece of work seems more meaningful, and that people underestimate the relationship between meaning and motivation.^[21]

In his book The Philosophy of Recursive Thinking,^[22] German author Manfred Kopfer suggested a viable solution for Sisyphus' penalization. Every fourth dimension Sisyphus reaches the peak of the mountain, he breaks off a stone from the mountain and carries it downward to the lowest point. This fashion, the mountain will eventually be levelled and the stone cannot roll downwardly anymore. In Kopfers' interpretation, the solution turns the penalization by the gods into a examination for Sisyphus to prove his worthiness for godlike deeds. If Sisyphus is able "to motion a mountain", he shall be allowed to practise what, otherwise, only gods are entitled to do.

Literary interpretations [edit]

• Homer describes Sisyphus in both Book VI of the Iliad and Book 11 of the Odyssey.^{[eight] [15]}
• Ovid, the Roman poet, makes reference to Sisyphus in the story of Orpheus and Eurydice. When Orpheus descends and confronts Hades and Persephone, he sings a song then that they will grant his wish to bring Eurydice back from the dead. After this song is sung, Ovid shows how moving it was by noting that Sisyphus, emotionally affected, for just a moment, stops his eternal task and sits on his rock, the Latin diction beingness inque tuo sedisti, Sisyphe, saxo ("and you lot sabbatum, Sisyphus, on your rock").^[23]
• In Plato's Apology, Socrates looks forwards to the later on-life where he tin can meet figures such as Sisyphus, who think themselves wise, so that he can question them and observe who is wise and who "thinks he is when he is not"^[24]
• Albert Camus, the French absurdist, wrote an essay entitled The Myth of Sisyphus, in which he elevates Sisyphus to the status of absurd hero. Franz Kafka repeatedly referred to Sisyphus every bit a available; Kafkaesque for him were those qualities that brought out the Sisyphus-like qualities in himself. According to Frederick Karl: "The human being who struggled to reach the heights only to be thrown down to the depths embodied all of Kafka'due south aspirations; and he remained himself, alone, solitary."^[25] The philosopher Richard Taylor uses the myth of Sisyphus as a representation of a life fabricated meaningless because it consists of bare repetition.^[26]
• Wolfgang Mieder has nerveless cartoons that build on the image of Sisyphus, many of them editorial cartoons.^[27]

In pop culture [edit]

• Sisyphus is a character in Hades, a 2020 indie rogue-like game developed past Supergiant Games, voiced by Andrew Marks.^{[28] [29]} The player character, Zagreus, is given the choice to lessen Sisyphus' sentence in Tartarus.^{[30] [31]}

• Sisyphus is the subject of the song "Sisyphus" by Andrew Bird, on the album My Finest Work Yet.

See too [edit]

• The Myth of Sisyphus, a 1942 philosophical essay by Albert Camus which uses Sisyphus' punishment every bit a metaphor for the absurd
• Sisyphus cooling, a cooling technique named afterwards the Sisyphus myth
• Syzyfowe prace, a novel by Stefan Żeromski
• Comparable characters:
  • Naranath Bhranthan, a willing boulder pusher in Indian folklore
  • Tantalus, who was similarly punished with a neverending toil
  • Wu Gang – too tasked with the impossible: to fell a cocky-regenerating tree

Notes [edit]

1. ^ museum inv. 1494
2. ^ "sisyphean". Oxford English Lexicon (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating establishment membership required.)
3. ^ R. South. P. Beekes, Etymological Dictionary of Greek, Brill, 2009, p. xxxiii.
4. ^ Gruppe, O. Griechische Mythologie (1906), ii., p. 1021
5. ^ Pseudo-Apollodorus. Bibliotheca, 1.7.3
6. ^ ^{a b} Scholia, on Apollonius of Rhodes, Argonautica three.1553
7. ^ ^{a b c d} Pseudo-Apollodorus. Bibliotheca, ane.9.3
8. ^ ^{a b} Homer, Iliad 6 152ff
9. ^ Morford & Lenardon 1999, p. 491.
10. ^ "Ancient Greeks: Is decease necessary and tin death actually harm us?". Mlahanas.de. Archived from the original on 2 July 2014. Retrieved xix February 2014.
11. ^ "Encyclopedia of Greek Mythology: Sisyphus". world wide web.mythweb.com. Archived from the original on 29 March 2021. Retrieved one July 2019.
12. ^ "Sisyphus". www.greekmythology.com.
13. ^ Evslin 2006, p. 209-210.
14. ^ "Homeros, Odyssey, eleven.xiii". Perseus Digital Library. Retrieved ix October 2014.
15. ^ ^{a b} Odyssey, xi. 593
16. ^ Pausanias x. 31
17. ^ ^{a b} Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Sisyphus". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 25 (11th ed.). Cambridge Academy Press. p. 161.
18. ^ De Rerum Natura III
19. ^ Revue archéologique, 1904
20. ^ Sansonese, J. Nigro. The Body of Myth. Rochester, 1994, pp. 45–52. ISBN 0-89281-409-eight
21. ^ Ariely, Dan (2010). The Upside of Irrationality. ISBN0-06-199503-vii.
22. ^ Manfred Kopfer (2018); The Philosophy of Recursive Thinking, The recursive solution for Sisyphos trouble. ISBN 978-3-7438-7149-half dozen
23. ^ Ovid. Metamorphoses, 10.44.
24. ^ Apology, 41a
25. ^ Karl, Frederick. Franz Kafka: Representative Man. New York: International Publishing Corporation, 1991. p. 2
26. ^ Taylor, Richard. "Time and Life's Meaning." Review of Metaphysics 40 (June 1987): 675–686.
27. ^ Wolfgang Mieder. 2013. Neues von Sisyphus: Sprichtwortliche Mythen der Antike in moderner Literatur, Medien und Karikaturen. Vienna: Praesens.
28. ^ "Hades: All Voice Actors From The Game & Who They Play". TheGamer. 19 Baronial 2021. Retrieved seven September 2021.
29. ^ Jung, E. Alex (26 February 2021). "How I Learned to Love Dying (in Hades)". Vulture . Retrieved 10 September 2021. The real mythological forebear of Hades is not any of the Greek gods but really Sisyphus and his boulder. He likewise appears in Hades, reimagined every bit someone whose endless toil has fabricated him cheerful, cogitating, and mayhap a fleck mad. The chore of pushing up the boulder has not changed, but he seems to enjoy it. {{cite spider web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
30. ^ "Every Companion in Hades (& How To Get Them)". ScreenRant. 29 September 2020. Retrieved 10 September 2021.
31. ^ "Hades: Is It Worth Giving Nectar To Bouldy?". Game Rant. v September 2021. Retrieved 10 September 2021.

References [edit]

• Evslin, Bernard (2006). Gods, Demigods and Demons: A Handbook of Greek Mythology. Bloomsbury Bookish. ISBN978-one-84511-321-6.
• Homer, The Iliad with an English Translation by A.T. Murray, PhD in two volumes. Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1924. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
• Homer. Homeri Opera in five volumes. Oxford, Oxford University Press. 1920. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
• Homer, The Odyssey with an English Translation by A.T. Murray, PH.D. in two volumes. Cambridge, MA., Harvard Academy Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1919. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. Greek text available from the same website.
• Morford, Mark P. O.; Lenardon, Robert J. (1999). Classical Mythology. Oxford University Press. ISBN978-0-19-514338-6.
• Pausanias, Description of Greece with an English language Translation past W.H.Southward. Jones, Litt.D., and H.A. Ormerod, M.A., in four Volumes. Cambridge, MA, Harvard Academy Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1918. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library
• Pausanias, Graeciae Descriptio. 3 vols. Leipzig, Teubner. 1903. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
• Pseudo-Apollodorus, The Library with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. Greek text bachelor from the same website.
• Publius Ovidius Naso, Metamorphoses translated by Brookes More (1859-1942). Boston, Cornhill Publishing Co. 1922. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
• Publius Ovidius Naso, Metamorphoses. Hugo Magnus. Gotha (Germany). Friedr. Andr. Perthes. 1892. Latin text bachelor at the Perseus Digital Library.

External links [edit]

Look up Sisyphean in Wiktionary, the costless dictionary.

Wikimedia Eatables has media related to Sisyphus.

Wikiquote has quotations related to Sisyphus .

• "Sisyphus". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). 1911.
• "Sisyphus". New International Encyclopedia. 1905.

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Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sisyphus

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