Notes on Maurizio’s treatment of the Sisyphus myth, contextualized.

Classical Mythology in Context (OUP 2016)

Note that Maurizio’s book mentions Sisyphus only once, in a single passing reference. The notes below are not intended to criticize the author for reducing the Sisyphus myth to only one sentence in a comprehensive textbook on Greek mythology.

Chapter 4, “Demeter and Hades”

· M. grapples with “Greek” conception of deceased souls in the Underworld (152ff.)

· M. observes that souls of the departed abide in the World of the Dead, retaining personality, attitudes, and appearance identifiable with their mortal individuals.

· Most departed souls abide an existence “devoid of pleasure and meaning” for all time;

· some exceptional individuals, in Homeric teleology, spend eternity in the nether realms

— either enjoying blissful existence on the Elysian Plain,

— or condemned to eternal punishment.

The eternally condemned, as reported by Odysseus (Hom. Od. 11) include:

Tityus, whose liver is eaten by vultures for eternity

[crime: attempted rape of Leto, according to Homer]

Tantalus, who can neither quench his thirst nor satisfy his hunger

[crime: stealing nectar from the Olympians and deceiving them impiously; not specified by Homer]

Sisyphus, “who must repeatedly push a boulder up a hill; each time he almost gets it to the top, it rolls back down again” (Maurizio)

[crime: unspecified, neither by Maurizio nor by Homer; other classical authors explained that Sisyphus offended either Zeus or Hades and thus deserved his punishment]

Other famous underworld toilers (mentioned by Maurizio) include

Ixion, spinning eternally on a wheel

[crime: lusting after Hera while a guest in Zeus’ home]

Danaids (49 daughters of Danaus), carrying water eternally in leaky vessels

[crime: murdered husbands on their wedding night]

“Neither fame nor admirable or even heroic behavior allowed one to escape an eternal — and eternally bleak — existence in the Underworld.”

In centuries after Homer, “notions and rituals concerning the afterlife began to evolve.”

Orphic cult, Eleusinian Mysteries, and other religious movements offered solutions for stilling mortals’ minds regarding existence after death.