Sisyphus married Merope, the only one of the seven Pleiades daughters of the Titan Atlas and Pleione to have wedded a mortal rather than consorting with the gods. The couple would have three children: Glaucus, Ornytion, and Sinon. Glaucus would inherit the throne of Ephyra, but would suffer a gruesome fate.
A renowned horseman, Glaucus fed his mares on human flesh. Having whetted their appetites for flesh, Glaucus unwittingly served them up a full meal. After losing a chariot race, his mares tore Glaucus to pieces and ate him on the spot. For generations afterward, horses on Corinth seemed unusually skittish—haunted no doubt by the ghost of Glaucus. His ingenuity came in handy when Autolycus began grazing cattle near the herds of Sisyphus. Autolycus was a notorious thief.
He would steal anything he could get his hands on. But he always escaped detection because he could change the form or color of anything he stole. Horned cattle would lose their horns; brown cattle would become white. Sisyphus noticed that cattle were missing—and that the herd of Autolycus seemed to be expanding in number, but could not prove any theft.
In an attempt to catch Autolycus in the act, Sisyphus secretly marked the inside of the hooves of his cattle. Sisyphus was not satisfied merely with proving Autolycus a thief and recovering his cattle. Seeking revenge, he seduced Anticleia, the daughter of Autolycus and later the mother of Odysseus.
Without a second thought, Sisyphus violated his beautiful niece Tyro. The oracle went unfulfilled, however, because Tyro, learning of the prophecy, killed both of her sons. Sisyphus told his wife not to bury his body, and then he left for the underworld, apparently ready to accept his fate.
As soon as he arrived, he sought out Persephone, the queen of the underworld. He explained to her that his wife had humiliated him and denied him an honorable death by not burying him or offering the necessary sacrifices. Because she had not buried him with a coin under his tongue as was customary, he could not pay the ferryman, Charon, for passage across the River Styx.
For these reasons, he claimed that he did not belong in the land of the dead. Sisyphus argued that he must be allowed to return to Corinth to avenge this disgrace and arrange for a proper burial. The kindhearted Persephone deliberated for a while and finally decided to let Sisyphus do as he asked. She stipulated that he must return the next day properly buried, with a coin under his tongue. Feigning sincerity, Sisyphus promised he would return, but as soon as he left the underworld, Sisyphus began to congratulate himself on regaining his life aboveground.
Confident that he had escaped death, Sisyphus gathered his family and friends and bragged about how he had imprisoned Thanatos in a closet and tricked Persephone into letting him return to the world of the living.
The cunning Sisyphus lived happily for many more years, but despite all his efforts, even he could not escape the inevitable. When Sisyphus finally died as an old man, he was dragged back to the underworld. There, he was met by the three judges of the dead, who assigned souls to their rightful places in the underworld. The judges did not look very kindly on lawbreakers, especially those who committed crimes against the gods.
It was a terrible punishment. The great boulder was very heavy, and pushing it only a few steps required great strength and stamina. Even worse, every time Sisyphus struggled up the hill, the rock slipped from his grasp just before he reached the top and rolled back down. Sisyphus was then compelled to return to the bottom of the hill and start pushing the rock up the hill again.
Zucchini wrote on 24 January, - Permalink. Hi All, I've been saying I don't see these stories as Myth's anymore. An so Sisyphus related to the frantic father Zeus has your daughter. Related Articles on Ancient-Origins. The legend of Sisyphus begins with a man who, if we are to believe Homer, was one of the wisest and most prudent of mortals.
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