Definition:

Details on Sisyphus > Sisyphus Basics

Sisyphus was an ancient king in Greek mythology famous not so much for what he did in life as for how he suffered punishment in the Afterlife.

In the Afterlife, Sisyphus was condemned to remain in Tartarus, the place of punishment. There he had to push back up a hill a heavy rock that kept rolling back down. Sisyphus was compelled to push the rock without success for all eternity.

Since this was a hellish punishment, Sisyphus must have done something horrendous. However, the crimes that were awarded the worst punishments in Greek mythology tended to be the ones that affected the gods, particularly the king of the gods, Zeus. Thus, Sisyphus' crimes may have been, first, revealing Zeus' dalliance with Aegina to her father, Asopus, and second, craftily escaping from death until an old man.

Sisyphus was the son of King Aeolus of Aeolia (Thessaly), brother of Athamas, husband of the Pleiad Merope, father of Glaucus, grandfather of the hero Bellerophon, rider of the winged horse, Pegasus, and the founder of the city-state of Corinth. Sometimes, Sisyphus is said to be the father of Odysseus.

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Examples: From the punishment Sisyphus suffered, the term Sisyphean task refers to an endless, pointless task.