Sisyphus: Life?s True Meaning :: essays research papers

Sisyphus, one of the biggest tricksters of all time lived like what seems as a apparently short life, he was pursued by many Gods wanting to punish him for some trickor prank that he had pulled, but they never got him, at last Hermes captured him thoughand put him under the control of Hades. He lived life well though apparently taking thetitle as the King of Corinth, which to some he was the founder, and to others it washanded down to him by Medea. Their are many tales though, where he is clever, as he isdescribed in Homers Odyssey. One tells how he came up with a way to find out whowas stealing his sheep, he put a mark on them, in modern times known as a brand but,while he was retrieving his sheep he seduced Anticlia, which then became the mother ofOdysseus. Other tales of him attacking and murdering travelers. Although all these storiesare out there, there are too stories of a family man, stories about him, his brotherAthamas, his wife Merope, his two sons Odysseus and Glaucus, and his parents Aeolusand Enarete. There are other things he achieved besides trickery. He was said to havefounded the Isthmian Games, in honor of Melicertes, whose dying body he found on theshore of Corinth. Sisyphus was also very crafty, as Homer described him to be. Once when Zeus move out Thanatos to punish him for revealing one of Zeuss loveaffairs, Sisyphus managed to capture Thanatos and bind him in chains. Zeus then had to circulate Ares to release Thanatos because he is the God of Death and no one was dyingwhile he was bound. Knowing that Thanatos would come back for him he told his wifenot to bury his body, then when he died he begged Hades to allow him to go back to earthand punish his wife for not burring him, He then refused to return to Hades. Here is where Hermes comes in, he captured Sisyphus and put him under thepower of Hades, where he has to roll a heavy rock to the top of a hill, and each time healmost gets to the top of the hill , the rocks weight pushes him back to the bottom and hestarts all over again.That was the mythology, now from a physiological point of view. Although,Sisyphus is forced to roll a heavy rock up a hill for eternity, it is said that he is happy.