Sisyphus

For my blog, I've chosen the Greek story of Sisyphus. His story is full of deceit, revenge and treachery. Sisyphus is mostly known for his betrayal of Zeus and trying to trick Death. It all begins when Asopus, son of Poseidon, went to look for his daughter Aegina. Sisyphus, knowing Zeus had taken her, uses this to his advantage. Promising Asopus he would tell him her whereabouts only if he would create an eternal spring for his kingdom, Corinth. Once Zeus was aware of Sisyphus’s betrayal, he sent Death to take him. Using his cunning skills, he out witted Death by entrapping him in heavy chains and locking him in a room in his house. With Death locked away though, no one was able to die. Leaving the terminally sick and fatally wounded to roam the earth and beg for the end. …show more content…
But before meeting his fate in the Underworld, Sisyphus made arrangements with his wife Merope to leave his body unburied, give him a funeral ceremony, make sacrifices to Hades and Persephone and to leave a coin under his tongue so he can make passage through the river Styx. When arriving at the Palace of Hades, he begged for permission to return to the surface to punish his wife for she did not respect his instructions. Persephone granted him three days to return to the surface and then he would have to descend back to the Underworld and face his fate. Sisyphus used his cleverness and did not return for many years until dying of old age. For his punishment of deceiving two gods, he was condemned to the lowest region of the Underworld, Tartarus. There he would have to roll a large boulder to the top of a steep hill, but every time he would almost reach the top, the boulder would roll down to the bottom and he would have to start all over