Sisyphus

I was asked yesterday what Sisyphus had done to merit such an awful punishment. As you may remember, he had to roll a large, heavy rock up a very steep hill and, every time, just as he reached the top, it rolled back down and he had to start again. I must confess I had to look it up in my Oxford Dictionary of Classical Literature where I read that he had been a treacherous individual, both to men and to the gods. He was the first King of Corinth. He violated the revered laws of hospitality by murdering visiting travellers. He seduced his niece and took the throne from his brother. His difficulties began when he told people that Zeus had raped Aegina (who may have been Sisyphus' sister). Zeus was furious and ordered him to be chained in Tartarus, which was the torture chamber in the Underworld. Sisyphus cunningly asked his guard how the chains worked and escaped. He had told his wife before he died, not to offer the usual sacrifice and so he complained to Persephone, Queen of the Underworld, that he was not being looked after properly and persuaded her to let him go back to earth to talk to his wife. He went back to Corinth where he lived for another 100 years. When he died again, Zeus ensured that he suffered eternal torment.