The Ancient Greek Myth of Sisyphus

 

 

In Greek mythology, Sisyphus, maybe the most well-known inhabitant of the Underworld, was the greedy and conniving king and founder of Ephyra (now known as Corinth in the Peloponnese), who ruled with an iron-fist.

He was the son of King Aeolus of Thessaly (not to be confused with Aeolus, the god of the winds) and Enarete, meaning the  virtuous one, queen of Aeolia (Thessaly).

To prove his power, Sisyphus would kill visitors and travellers just for fun, which incurred the wrath of Zeus, king of Greek gods, as this went against xenia or philoxenia, the concept of ancient Greek hospitality and generosity, which was looked upon as dishonoring Zeus in his role as Zeus Xenios, protector of strangers.

In fact, the great Greek poet Homer, author of the Iliad and the Odyssey described him as:

“the most cunning of men”.

 

 

The deceitful ways of Sisyphus greatly angered Zeus, king of all Greek gods, who banished him to Tarturus, a place in the Underworld where all bad people end up.

Once there, Hades forced him to roll a huge boulder up a hill only for it to roll down every time it neared the top, condemning Sisyphus to a life of eternal useless efforts and frustration.

From this comes the modern term “Sisyphean”; a useless and mindless repetitive task.

 

Family

 

 

Sisyphus was married to Merope, one of the Pleiades, the seven daughters of Titan God, Atlas, and the water nymph, Pleione.

All the sisters had children by gods, except Merope, the youngest, who was so ashamed of her mortal husband and his crimes, that she hid her face in heaven, causing the seventh star of the Pleiades to gradually fade from sight.

(Merope’s name can be interpreted to mean “Face-Turned” from the Greek words meros “to turn away” and ops “face”)

Merope and Sisyphus had four sons; Ornytion (Also known as Porphyrion), Glaucus, Thersander and Almus.

(Some say that Sisyphus, not Laertes, one of Jason’s Argonauts, was also the father of Odysseus owing to the fact that after master thief, Autolycus, stole from Sisyphus, in an act of revenge he seduced Autolycus’ daughter, Anticleia, who later gave birth to a son; Odysseus).

 

The Ancient Crimes and Craftiness of Sisyphus

 

 

Sisyphus gained notoriety for his trickery and cunning cleverness, however, it was mostly the fact that he managed to cheat death (and the god Hades), not once but twice.

 

The story of the Missing Cattle

 

Everyone knew Autolycus was a master thief but no one could prove it owing to his ability to metamorphose or make invisible the things he stole, for example, white cattle became black and horned cattle, mysteriously lost their horns.

Sisyphus, upon realizing the number of his cattle was diminishing whilst Autolycus’ was growing, knew at once who the thief was.

 He then furtively wrote inside of his animal’s hooves “Stolen by Autolycus” and even though Autolycus’ cattle did not at all resemble the ones stolen from Sisyphus, once he lifted the hoof of a stolen cow, showing what he had written, there was no doubt who had stolen them!

 

Brotherly Rivalry

 

 

 

Sisyphus had been born into the royal family of Thessaly, a region of northern Greece south of Macedonia.

However, the fact that his brother, Salmoneus, and not him eventually became king, made his blood boil.

He was out for revenge; Salmoneus must die but how to kill Salmoneus without bringing any dire consequences upon himself?

He headed off to Delphi, as one did in those days, to find the answer by asking the advice of the resident oracle  on how to achieve this.

 

 

The oracle suggested he should have children with his niece, Salmoneus’ daughter Tyro, as the children would grow up and murder Salmoneus, in order for them to take the throne of Thessaly.

Taking the oracle’s advice, Sisyphus seduced Tyro who later gave birth to two sons.

However, Tyro, upon learning of the oracle’s advice to Sisyphus and realizing that he was planning on using them to murder and dethrone her father, killed them both herself to prevent them from growing up to murder their grandfather.

 

Cheating death – First Time Around

 

 

The first hint of trouble between Sisyphus and the gods was when he interfered in a dispute between Zeus and Asopus, the river god of Sikyonia in the Peloponnese.

Asopus’ daughter, Aegina, had disappeared and Sisyphus knew she had been abducted and seduced by Zeus.

Sysyphus then made a deal Asopus; in return for revealing the whereabouts of his daughter, Asopus was to create a much-needed eternal freshwater spring in Corinth.

This Asopus did, bestowing upon Corinth “The Fountain of Upper Peirene” (third to first century BC), which can still be seen today, located within Acrocorinth.

 

 

 (Some say the upper part of the spring is associated with the mythological nymph Peirene, who turned into tears and transformed into a spring, others, however, believe it to be the spring mentioned in the myth of Sisyphus).

 

The Revenge of Zeus

 

Once Zeus learned that Sisyphus had sold him out to Asopus, his anger knew no bounds and he killed him with one shot of a thunderbolt.

He then ordered Thanatos, the personification of Death, to chain up Sisyphus once he arrived in Tartarus (the Underworld).

 

 

Thanatos was waiting and as soon as his victim arrived he got to work binding Sysyphus in chains.

Watching slyly, Sisyphus asked Thanatos to show him how the chains worked; stupidly, without thinking, Thanatos did as he was asked.

Sisyphus, not one to miss a chance, grabbed the chains and proceeded to truss up Thantos instead.

Thanatos (the bringer of death to mortals), being bound  up and out of action meant that no one on Earth was able to die.

This especially angered Ares (Mars), the god of war, as now, what was the fun in fighting battles where no one died?

No one being able to die also meant that no sacrifices could be made to the gods and the old and sick were suffering without the release by death.

There was only one answer, Thanatos must be freed.

This came to happen only after Zeus threatened to make life so miserable for Sisyphus that he would wish he were dead; Sisyphus had no choice but to release Thanatos and make his way back to Earth.

He had cheated death.

(In some versions, Hades was sent to chain Sisyphus and was chained himself; As long as Hades was trapped, nobody could die).

 

Cheating Death for the Second Time:

Sisyphus and Merope

 

 

Knowing that sooner or later, as it was with all mortals, that death would finally snare him Sisyphus explained to his wife Merope, what she should do when his time was up and Atropos: the Goddess of Death came to cut the thread of life.

In order to prove her undying love for him, she was not to perform any fancy funeral rituals but was to leave him unburied and simply throw his naked dead body into the middle of the public square and when that day came, that is exactly what Merope did.

When he died, Sisyphus was accompanied by Hermes, messenger of the gods, to the shores of the river Styx, where Charon, the ferryman was waiting to carry him across to the Underworld.

The first thing he did upon his arrival was to look up Hades (keeper and god of the underworld) and complain to him that he had not received a proper burial.

Hades allowed him to return to earth to punish his wife and arrange a decent funeral.

You see now how and why he had craftily deceived his wife into not giving him the traditional ancient Greek funeral?

Once back in Ephyra (Corinth) Sisyphus reprimanded his wife for not burying his body and giving it an appropriate funeral, as a loving wife should.

Of course, made no attempt to return to the Underworld.

He had well and truly conned Hades!

 

Version two

 

 

In another version of the myth, it’s Persephone, daughter of Demeter, Goddess of the harvest, who was tricked by Sisyphus and not not Hades (who happened to be her husband).

He explained to kind-hearted Persephone, how his wife had not given him a proper funeral and begged her to allow him to leave the Underworld for a couple of days, in order to right her wrongs.

When Persephone gave into Sisyphus he returned to the world of the living with no intention of ever returning to the terrible place he had come from.

 

When Death Finally Catches up with Sisyphus

 

 

After cunningly managing to cheat death twice, Sisyphus lived to a ripe old age, mostly as a result of Thanatos not wanting to ever set eyes on him again after the debacle with the chains.

However, when death finally did catch up with him, little did he know what trials and tribulations were awaiting him; unfortunately for Sisyphus, the gods have long memories!

 

Eternal Punishment in the Underworld

 

 

During his lifetime, Sisyphus had had countless clashes with many gods, not to mention the bullying of numerous mortals.

 When Sisyphus finally died, Zeus decided to make an example of him as a warning to others not to mess with the gods.

Zeus sentenced Sisyphus to everlasting punishment in Tartarus, the lowest level of Hades.

 

 

Once in Hades, he was to forever doomed to push a huge rock up a mountain.

 Just as the rock reached the top and just as Sisyphus breathed a sigh of relief that his task was over, Hades got his revenge too, by making sure the rock slipped from his grasp and went rolling back to where started from, forcing him to repeat his frustrating, pointless and eternal labour.

 

 

This myth inspired French philosopher Albert Camus, who saw Sisyphus’ never-ending chore as a portrayal for the human struggle against the absurdity of life, the basis of existentialist philosophy, to write one of his best-selling books, “The Myth of Sisyphus”.

 

The Myth of Sisyphus by Albert Camus

 

 

Albert Camus (1913 -1960) was a French author, philosopher and journalist who thought life to be meaningless and absurd:

“Rising, streetcar, four hours in the office or factory, meal, four hours of work, meal, sleep, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday…”

Camus then goes on to compare the absurdness of life to the ancient Greek myth of Sisyphus, the greedy and conniving king of Corinth, who was banished to the Underworld by Zeus

Once there, he was forced to roll a huge boulder up a hill only for it to roll down every time it neared the top, sentencing Sisyphus to a life of eternal useless effort and frustration.

 

 

Camus raises the question; “Can we live without any hope that life is meaningful, without the despair which leads to thoughts of taking one’s own life?

His answer is yes, we can and this is how:

Firstly, acknowledge the absurdity of the world.

Secondly, accept the absurdity of the world.

 

 

Thirdly, you cannot change the outside influences affecting your absurd situation so rebel; change the way you react to them.

Even though Sisyphus was doomed to pointlessly roll a rock up a mountain the gods could not control how he thought or felt about it.

It would be an act of defiance towards the gods for Sisyphus to be happy whilst enduring his predicament.

 

 

A woman’s work is never done!

 

 

Being a mother, grandmother and a housewife, I can fully empathize with Sisyphus!

I wash clothes only for them to become dirty again, I then iron them, never mind that they will become crumpled again after one wearing.

 I sweep up the fallen leaves in my garden, knowing full well that living in Loutraki – Korinthia, the “windy city” city of Greece, they will be back in the same place tomorrow, the same goes for the dust the wind brings with it!

 

 

I could go on and on about mindless, repetitive household chores.

However, French philosopher and author, Albert Camus, in his absurd way was right.

I don’t do things by halves, I make a good job of it, even the dullest, more boring chores, I work with “Meraki”, which in Greek means; to do something with love, passion and a lot of soul and this makes me proud and happy!