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Whether it’s being chained to a burning 
wheel, turned into a spider,

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or having an eagle eat one’s liver,

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Greek mythology is filled 
with stories of the gods

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inflicting gruesome horrors 
on mortals who angered them.

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Yet one of their most famous 
punishments is not remembered

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for its outrageous cruelty, 
but for its disturbing familiarity.

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Sisyphus was the first king of Ephyra, 
now known as Corinth.

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Although a clever ruler who made his city 
prosperous, he was also a devious tyrant

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who seduced his niece and 
killed visitors to show off his power.

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This violation of the sacred hospitality 
tradition greatly angered the gods.

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But Sisyphus may still have 
avoided punishment

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if it hadn’t been for his 
reckless confidence.

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The trouble began when Zeus 
kidnapped the nymph Aegina,

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carrying her away in the form 
of a massive eagle.

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Aegina’s father, the river god Asopus, 
pursued their trail to Ephyra,

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where he encountered Sisyphus.

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In exchange for the god making
a spring inside the city,

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the king told Asopus which way 
Zeus had taken the girl.

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When Zeus found out, he was so furious
that he ordered Thanatos, or Death,

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to chain Sisyphus in the underworld 
so he couldn’t cause any more problems.

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But Sisyphus lived up to 
his crafty reputation.

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As he was about to be imprisoned,

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the king asked Thanatos to show him 
how the chains worked

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– and quickly bound him instead, 
before escaping back among the living.

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With Thanatos trapped, no one could die, 
and the world was thrown into chaos.

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Things only returned to normal 
when the god of war Ares,

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upset that battles were no longer fun, 
freed Thanatos from his chains.

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Sisyphus knew his reckoning was at hand.

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But he had another trick up his sleeve.

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Before dying, he asked his wife Merope
to throw his body in the public square,

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from where it eventually washed up on 
the shores of the river Styx.

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Now back among the dead, 
Sisyphus approached Persephone,

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queen of the Underworld, and complained

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that his wife had disrespected him 
by not giving him a proper burial.

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Persephone granted him permission to go
back to the land of living

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and punish Merope, on the condition that 
he would return when he was done.

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Of course, Sisyphus refused 
to keep his promise,

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now having twice escaped death
by tricking the gods.

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There wouldn’t be a third time,

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as the messenger Hermes dragged
Sisyphus back to Hades.

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The king had thought he was 
more clever than the gods,

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but Zeus would have the last laugh.

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Sisyphus’s punishment was 
a straightforward task

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– rolling a massive boulder up a hill.

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But just as he approached the top, the 
rock would roll all the way back down,

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forcing him to start over

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…and over, and over, for all eternity.

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Historians have suggested that the tale 
of Sisyphus may stem from ancient myths

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about the rising and setting sun, 
or other natural cycles.

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But the vivid image of someone condemned 
to endlessly repeat a futile task

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has resonated as an allegory 
about the human condition.

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In his classic essay
The Myth of Sisyphus,

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existentialist philosopher Albert Camus 
compared the punishment

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to humanity’s futile search 
for meaning and truth

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in a meaningless and 
indifferent universe.

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Instead of despairing, Camus imagined 
Sisyphus defiantly meeting his fate

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as he walks down the hill to begin 
rolling the rock again.

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And even if the daily 
struggles of our lives

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sometimes seem equally 
repetitive and absurd,

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we still give them significance and value 
by embracing them as our own.