Sisyphus- Greek FigureMortal"King of Corinth"

The Craftiest King

Sisyphus was the son of Aeolus, whose family had a talent for offending the gods. His brother Salmoneus mimicked Zeus's thunder by dragging bronze kettles behind his chariot and was struck dead for it. Sisyphus founded Ephyra, the city that sat on the narrow isthmus between the Peloponnese and the mainland. The Greeks later called it Corinth, and it grew rich from the trade that flowed between two seas. Through his son Glaucus, Sisyphus was grandfather of Bellerophon, the hero who tamed Pegasus and killed the Chimera. Homer records the lineage in the Iliad when Glaucus recounts it to Diomedes on the battlefield. Pindar calls Sisyphus the craftiest of men, and every story about him proves it.

His rival in cunning was Autolycus, son of Hermes, who had received from his father the gift of making stolen goods unrecognizable. Autolycus raided Sisyphus's cattle herds again and again, changing the animals' appearance each time so they could not be claimed. But Sisyphus branded marks on the undersides of his cattle's hooves. When the herd thinned once more, the hoof-prints led straight to Autolycus's stable. Sisyphus arrived, recovered his cattle, and while he was there, seduced Autolycus's daughter Anticlea. She was already betrothed to Laërtes, and when she bore a son named Odysseus, the question of true paternity followed the boy his whole life. Hyginus names Sisyphus as the father.

The Betrayal of Zeus

Sisyphus's confrontation with the gods began with a transaction. He watched Zeus carry off the river nymph Aegina, daughter of Asopus. When the river god came searching for her, Sisyphus saw an opportunity. He told Asopus he knew where Aegina had been taken, but his information had a price: he wanted a spring of fresh water on the Acrocorinth, Corinth's fortified hilltop. Asopus struck the rock, and the spring called Peirene gushed from the stone. Pausanias saw it still flowing centuries later.

With his spring secured, Sisyphus told Asopus that Zeus had taken Aegina to the island that would bear her name. The river god charged after them. Zeus struck him with a thunderbolt that drove him back to his bed, and the Greeks said you could still find coal in the Asopus riverbed where the bolt had hit. But Zeus did not forget what Sisyphus had done. He sent Thanatos to drag the king down to the underworld.

Chaining Death

When Thanatos arrived in Corinth, Sisyphus received him like a guest. He poured wine and produced a set of fine chains, asking Death to demonstrate how they worked. Thanatos obliged. Sisyphus snapped the chains shut and left Death locked in his own bonds.

With Thanatos imprisoned, the mortal world lost its hinge. No one could die. Warriors drove spears through each other on the battlefield and stood back up. The old could not slip away. The sick could find no relief. Ares discovered that his wars had become pointless, an endless butchery with no consequence. Hades found his kingdom empty.

Ares marched to Corinth, shattered the chains, and freed Thanatos. Death's first act was to seize Sisyphus. But Sisyphus had prepared for this too.

Tricking Persephone

Before dying, Sisyphus gave his wife Merope a single instruction: leave his body unburied. No coins on his eyes for the ferryman. No libations at the tomb.

When he arrived in the underworld, he went straight to Persephone. He wept. He raged. His wife, he told the queen, had thrown his corpse out like refuse and performed not one of the sacred funeral rites. This dishonor to the dead could not stand. He begged permission to return to the world of the living just long enough to punish his impious wife and see the rites done properly.

Persephone released him. Sisyphus walked back into the sunlight, returned to Corinth, and resumed his life. He had no intention of going back. The grievance was one he had manufactured himself, the neglect arranged in advance. When death finally reclaimed him, it took Hermes to drag him below by force.

The Stone

In Tartarus, Sisyphus was set to rolling an enormous boulder up a steep hill. Each time he neared the summit, straining against the rock with his whole body, the stone would slip from his hands and thunder back to the bottom. He would trudge back down and begin again. And again.

Odysseus, visiting the underworld in the eleventh book of the Odyssey, saw him there. Homer is exact: Sisyphus pushed the shameless stone uphill with both hands and both feet, his muscles knotted, sweat pouring from his limbs, dust rising from his head. Each time he was about to force the stone over the crest, the weight turned it back. The pitiless boulder rolled all the way down to the plain. He walked down after it. He set his hands against the stone. He pushed.