SISYPHUS, THE ETERNAL STRUGGLE! #BLOGCHATTERA2Z

 

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Sisyphus, son of Aeolus of Thessaly and Enarete, was the founder and the first ruler of Ephyra. He and his brother, Salmoneus, hated each other. Sisyphus asked for the Oracle of Delphi to aid him to kill his brother with out having to incur the consequences. Thus, from the beginning, he was a man imbued with craftiness. He lived a life of guile, and had to suffer for it in the end.

Sisyphus’ sin was that he would beguile and kill travellers who stayed with him, a sin that went against Zeus’ code of hospitality. He went even further when he betrayed Zeus’ secret by revealing the whereabouts of Aegina, the Asopid, to her father Asopus, the river god, in return for a permanent flowing spring in the Corinth area. Zeus, who was in love with Aegina, was enraged and ordered Thanatos, the God of Death, to imprison Sisyphus in Tartarus.

Sisyphus proved his craftiness further. He instructed his wife, Merope, to throw his corpse in the middle of the street without any ceremony. When he was taken down, his body was kept on the shore of the Styx, unable to enter Hades. He implored Thanatos to send him back to earth as his wife had not completed his funeral rites. Thanatos agreed and sent him back. Once Sisyphus was back on earth, he refused to go back to Hades until he reached a ripe old age, for which he was given a punishment that was eternal.

Merope, Sisyphus' wife - Old World Gods

Another story describes how, when Sisyphus went down to Hades to be imprisoned by Thanatos on Zeus’ bidding, he turned the tables on him. He pretended to be impressed by the brand-new chains or bracelets that had been crafted by the divine blacksmith, Hephaestus. He requested Thanatos to show him how they worked, and ended up chaining the God or the personification of Death himself, because of which there was a cessation of death on earth. The God of War, Ares, had to come to Thanatos’ aid, and overpower Sisyphus, whom he handed over to Thanatos. Certain accounts say that it was Hades, not Thanatos, who was tricked by Sisyphus.

                                                                                                          Paleothea

Finally, Sisyphus had to pay for his craftiness and treachery, His punishment for his extreme hubris (pride) was to roll a boulder up a steep hill, and watch it roll down again once he had reached the peak, an eternal punishment from which there was no reprieve.

There are many lessons to be learned from the saga of Sisyphus. The act of rolling a boulder up a hill throughout eternity demonstrates the absurdity of human life where it goes on as it is meant to, despite challenges. Man carries on living his life, knowing fully well that it is Fate that finally prevails. It also illustrates the determination of Sisyphus who carries on his task relentlessly, pushing forward, again revealing the resilience of the human body and the mental strength of the human mind.

Sisyphus had four children – Glaucus, Almus, Thersander and Ornytion.

Sisyphus remains a popular and well-known figure in Greek mythology, the eternal trickster.

 Trivia:

Albert Camus wrote a philosophical essay in French in 1942 titled ‘Le Mythe de Sisyphe’ or ‘The Myth of Sisyphus’ in which he explained the labour of Sisyphus as a metaphor for the relentless human struggle against the absurdity of life, a tenet of existentialism.

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The word ‘Sisyphean’ refers to a task that can never be completed.

 Books: 

The Myth of Sisyphus by Elliott M Simon 

 Art: Sisyphus by Titian (painting)

                                                                                                        Wikimedia Commons

 YouTube: The Myth of Sisyphus: The Man Who Tricked the Gods

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQNVMqydKnU

 

 Greeker Than the Gods

This post is a part of Blogchatter A2Z Challenge 2026.