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The myth of Sisyphus - Alex Gendler

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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.
Title:
The myth of Sisyphus - Alex Gendler
Speaker:
Alex Gendler
Description:

more » « less
Video Language:
English
Team:
closed TED
Project:
TED-Ed
Duration:
04:38
Kayla Wolf edited English subtitles for The myth of Sisyphus Nov 14, 2018, 5:15 PM
Elise Haadsma approved English subtitles for The myth of Sisyphus Nov 9, 2018, 6:29 PM
Elise Haadsma accepted English subtitles for The myth of Sisyphus Nov 9, 2018, 6:29 PM
Kayla Wolf edited English subtitles for The myth of Sisyphus Nov 9, 2018, 6:23 PM
Kayla Wolf edited English subtitles for The myth of Sisyphus Nov 9, 2018, 6:10 PM

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