All Topics  
Tantalus

 

 
   Email Print
   Bookmark   Link
 

 

Tantalus
 
 
  Topics Tantalus Topic Home

In Greek mythology
Greek mythology

Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the Ancient Greece concerning their List of Greek mythological figures#Immortals and Greek hero cult, Cosmology#Metaphysical cosmology, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices....
 Tantalus (Greek
Greek language

Greek is an Indo-European languages native to the southern Balkan peninsula, the language of the Greek people. It forms an independent branch within Indo-European....
 ???ta???) was a son of Zeus
Zeus

Zeus in Greek mythology is the king of the gods, the ruler of Mount Olympus and the god of the sky father and List of thunder gods. His symbols are the thunderbolt, eagle, bull , and oak....
 and the nymph
Nymph

In Greek mythology, a nymph is any member of a large class of mythological entities in human form. They were typically associated with a particular location or landform....
 Plouto
Plouto

In Greek mythology, Plouto or Pluto was a nymph and the mother of Tantalus by Zeus. Her parents were Oceanus and Tethys or Himas, a Lydian that was otherwise unknown....
. Thus he was a king in the primordial
Primordial

Primordial may refer to:* Primordial , Irish black metal band* Primordial sea * Primordial elements * Primordialism* Primordial dwarfism* Primordials are characters from the role-playing game Exalted by White Wolf, Inc....
 world, the father of a son Broteas
Broteas

In Greek mythology, Broteas was the ugly son of Tantalus, whose other offspring were Niobe and Pelops. He carved the most ancient image of the Great Mother of the Gods , an image that in Pausanias ' day was still held sacred by the Magnesia ad Sipylum....
 whose very name signifies "mortals" (brotoi). Other versions name his father as Tmolus
Tmolus

In Greek mythology, Tmolus was a mountain god and husband to Omphale . He judged the musical contest between Pan and Apollo .Mount Tmolus , of which Tmolus was the eponymous namesake, lies in Lydia, or Phrygia , with Sardis at its foot and Hypaepa on its southern slope....
 "wreathed with oak," son of Sipylus, a king of Lydia
List of Kings of Lydia

This page lists the kings of Lydia, an ancient kingdom in western Anatolia. The Greeks of Homer?s time knew Lydia as Maeonia, which was probably an earlier name for the country....
. Both Tmolus and Mount Sipylus are names of mountains in ancient Lydia
Lydia

Lydia was an Iron Age kingdom of western Asia Minor located generally east of ancient Ionia in the modern Turkey provinces of Manisa Province and inland Izmir Province....
. Thus, like other Greek heroes such as Theseus
Theseus

For other uses, see Theseus Theseus was a legendary king of Athens, son of Aethra , and fathered by Aegeus and Poseidon, with whom Aethra lay in one night....
, or the Dioskouroi, Tantalus had both a hidden, divine sire and a mortal one.






Discussion
Ask a question about 'Tantalus'
Start a new discussion about 'Tantalus'
Answer questions from other users
Full Discussion Forum



Encyclopedia


In Greek mythology
Greek mythology

Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the Ancient Greece concerning their List of Greek mythological figures#Immortals and Greek hero cult, Cosmology#Metaphysical cosmology, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices....
 Tantalus (Greek
Greek language

Greek is an Indo-European languages native to the southern Balkan peninsula, the language of the Greek people. It forms an independent branch within Indo-European....
 ???ta???) was a son of Zeus
Zeus

Zeus in Greek mythology is the king of the gods, the ruler of Mount Olympus and the god of the sky father and List of thunder gods. His symbols are the thunderbolt, eagle, bull , and oak....
 and the nymph
Nymph

In Greek mythology, a nymph is any member of a large class of mythological entities in human form. They were typically associated with a particular location or landform....
 Plouto
Plouto

In Greek mythology, Plouto or Pluto was a nymph and the mother of Tantalus by Zeus. Her parents were Oceanus and Tethys or Himas, a Lydian that was otherwise unknown....
. Thus he was a king in the primordial
Primordial

Primordial may refer to:* Primordial , Irish black metal band* Primordial sea * Primordial elements * Primordialism* Primordial dwarfism* Primordials are characters from the role-playing game Exalted by White Wolf, Inc....
 world, the father of a son Broteas
Broteas

In Greek mythology, Broteas was the ugly son of Tantalus, whose other offspring were Niobe and Pelops. He carved the most ancient image of the Great Mother of the Gods , an image that in Pausanias ' day was still held sacred by the Magnesia ad Sipylum....
 whose very name signifies "mortals" (brotoi). Other versions name his father as Tmolus
Tmolus

In Greek mythology, Tmolus was a mountain god and husband to Omphale . He judged the musical contest between Pan and Apollo .Mount Tmolus , of which Tmolus was the eponymous namesake, lies in Lydia, or Phrygia , with Sardis at its foot and Hypaepa on its southern slope....
 "wreathed with oak," son of Sipylus, a king of Lydia
List of Kings of Lydia

This page lists the kings of Lydia, an ancient kingdom in western Anatolia. The Greeks of Homer?s time knew Lydia as Maeonia, which was probably an earlier name for the country....
. Both Tmolus and Mount Sipylus are names of mountains in ancient Lydia
Lydia

Lydia was an Iron Age kingdom of western Asia Minor located generally east of ancient Ionia in the modern Turkey provinces of Manisa Province and inland Izmir Province....
. Thus, like other Greek heroes such as Theseus
Theseus

For other uses, see Theseus Theseus was a legendary king of Athens, son of Aethra , and fathered by Aegeus and Poseidon, with whom Aethra lay in one night....
, or the Dioskouroi, Tantalus had both a hidden, divine sire and a mortal one. Tantalus' mortal mountain-fathers placed him in Lydia; otherwise he might be located in Phrygia
Phrygia

In antiquity, Phrygia was a kingdom in the west central part of Anatolia, in what is now modern-day Turkey. The Phrygians initially lived in the Southern Balkans; according to Herodotus, under the name of Bryges, changing it to Phruges after their final migration to Anatolia, via the Hellespont....
 (Strabo
Strabo

Strabo was a Ancient Greeks history, geography and philosophy....
, xii.8.21) or Paphlagonia
Paphlagonia

Paphlagonia was an ancient area on the Black Sea coast of north central Anatolia, situated between Bithynia to the west and Pontus to the east, and separated from Phrygia by a prolongation to the east of the Bithynian Olympus....
, all in Asia Minor. Tantalus became one of the inhabitants of Tartarus
Tartarus

In classic Roman mythology, below Heaven, Earth, and Pontus is Tartarus, or Tartaros . It is a deep, gloomy place, a pit, or an abyss used as a dungeon of torment and suffering that resides beneath the Hades....
, the deepest portion of the Underworld, reserved for the punishment of evil
Evil

Evil, in many cultures, is a broad term used to describe intentional negative moral acts or thoughts that are cruel, unjust or selfish. Evil is usually good and evil, which describes acts that are kind, just or unselfish....
doers. The association of Tantalus with the underworld is underscored by the names of his mother Plouto ("riches", as in gold and other mineral wealth), and grandmother, Chthonia ("earth").

His children were Pelops
Pelops

In Greek mythology, Pelops , king of Pisa in the Peloponnesus, was venerated at Olympia, Greece, where his cult developed into the founding myth of the Ancient Olympic Games, the most important expression of unity, not only for the Peloponnesus, "land of Pelops", but for all Hellenes....
—eponym
Eponym

An eponym is a person, whether real or fictitious, after whom a particular toponym, ethnonym, regnal year, discovery, or other item is named or thought to be named....
 of the Peloponnesus— Niobe
Niobe

Niobe was the daughter of the semi-legendary ruler Tantalus, called the "Phrygian" and sometimes even as "King of Phrygia" . Although Tantalus ruled in Sipylus, a city located in the western extremity of Anatolia where Lydia was to emerge as a state as of the 8th century BC, and not in the traditional heartland of Phrygia, situated more in...
, and Broteas
Broteas

In Greek mythology, Broteas was the ugly son of Tantalus, whose other offspring were Niobe and Pelops. He carved the most ancient image of the Great Mother of the Gods , an image that in Pausanias ' day was still held sacred by the Magnesia ad Sipylum....
. The identity of his wife is variously given: Dione
Dione (mythology)

Dione in Greek mythology is a vague goddess presence who has her most concrete form in Book V of Homer's Iliad as the mother of Aphrodite who lived among the mortals was known for her kindness....
, whose name simply means "The Goddess," perhaps the Pleiad
Pleiades

Pleiades can refer to:*Pleiades ? open cluster of stars in the constellation Taurus**Pleiades in folklore and literature - interpretations and traditional meanings of the star cluster among various human cultures...
 with that name; or Eurythemista, a daughter of the river-god Xanthus
Scamander

In Greek mythology, Scamander was a river god, son of Oceanus and Tethys according to Hesiod. Scamander is also thought of as the river god, son of Zeus....
; or Euryanassa, daughter of Pactolus
Pactolus

Pactolus is a river near the Aegean coast of Turkey. The river rises from Tmolus, flows through the ruins of the ancient city of Sardis, and empties into the Gediz River, the ancient Hermus....
, another river-god, both of them in Anatolia
Anatolia

Anatolia or Asia Minor is a region of Western Asia, comprising most of the modern Republic of Turkey. It is a geographic region bounded by the Black Sea to the north, the Caucasus to the northeast, the Aegean Sea to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and the Iranian plateau to the east and southeast....
; or Clytia, the child of Amphidamantes (Graves 1960, section 108). Tantalus, through Pelops
Pelops

In Greek mythology, Pelops , king of Pisa in the Peloponnesus, was venerated at Olympia, Greece, where his cult developed into the founding myth of the Ancient Olympic Games, the most important expression of unity, not only for the Peloponnesus, "land of Pelops", but for all Hellenes....
 was the founder of the House of Atreus.

The geographer Strabo
Strabo

Strabo was a Ancient Greeks history, geography and philosophy....
, quoting earlier sources, states that the wealth of Tantalus was derived from the mines of Phrygia and Mount Sipylus. Near Sipylus (modern Spil Mount), archaeological features that have been associated with Tantalus and his house since Antiquity are in fact Hittite
Hittites

The Hittites were an ancient Anatolian people who spoke a Hittite language of the Anatolian languages of the Indo-European languages family, and established a kingdom centered at Hattusa in north-central Anatolia ca....
. On Mount Yamanlar some two km east of Akpinar are two monuments mentioned by Pausanias: the tholos
Tholos

As a generic term tholos tomb is an alternative name for a Beehive tomb from the late Bronze Age.It is also the name given to several Ancient Greece structures and buildings:...
 tomb of Tantalus (Christianized
Christianization

The historical phenomenon of Christianization, the religious conversion of individuals to Christianity or the conversion of entire peoples at once, also includes the practice of converting native Paganism practices and culture, pagan religious imagery, pagan sites and the pagan calendar to Christian uses, due to the Christian efforts at Ch...
 as "Saint Charalambos' tomb") and the "throne of Pelops," in fact a rocky altar. A more famous rock-cut carving mentioned by Pausanias is the Great Mother of the Gods (Cybele
Cybele

Cybele , was the Phrygian deification of the Earth Mother. As with Greek Gaia , or her Minoan civilization equivalent Rhea , Cybele embodies the fertile Earth, a goddess of caverns and mountains, walls and fortresses, nature, wild animals ....
 to the Greeks), said to have been carved by Broteas
Broteas

In Greek mythology, Broteas was the ugly son of Tantalus, whose other offspring were Niobe and Pelops. He carved the most ancient image of the Great Mother of the Gods , an image that in Pausanias ' day was still held sacred by the Magnesia ad Sipylum....
, but also in fact Hittite.

Story of Tantalus

Tantalus is known for having been welcomed to Zeus' table in Olympus, like Ixion
Ixion

In Greek mythology, Ixion was king of the Lapiths, the most ancient tribe of Thessaly, and a son of Ares or Antion or the notorious evildoer Phlegyas, whose name connotes "fiery"....
. There he too misbehaved, stole ambrosia and nectar
Ambrosia

In ancient Greek mythology, ambrosia is sometimes the food, sometimes the drink, of the Greek gods, often depicted as conferring ageless immortality upon whoever consumes it....
, brought it back to his people, and revealed the secrets of the gods.

Tantalus offered up his son, Pelops
Pelops

In Greek mythology, Pelops , king of Pisa in the Peloponnesus, was venerated at Olympia, Greece, where his cult developed into the founding myth of the Ancient Olympic Games, the most important expression of unity, not only for the Peloponnesus, "land of Pelops", but for all Hellenes....
, as a sacrifice to the gods. He cut Pelops
Pelops

In Greek mythology, Pelops , king of Pisa in the Peloponnesus, was venerated at Olympia, Greece, where his cult developed into the founding myth of the Ancient Olympic Games, the most important expression of unity, not only for the Peloponnesus, "land of Pelops", but for all Hellenes....
 up, boiled him, and served him up as food for the gods. The gods were said to be aware of his plan for their feast, so they didn't touch the offering; only Demeter
Demeter

File:Demeter in horse chariot w daughter kore 83d40m wikiC Tempio Y di Selinunte sec VIa.JPGDemeter , in Greek mythology, is the Goddess of cereal and fertility, the pure....
, distraught by the loss of her daughter, Persephone
Persephone

In Greek mythology, Persephone was the embodiment of the Earth's fertility at the same time that she was the Queen of the Greek Underworld, the kore , and the parthenogenesis daughter of Demeter and, in later Classical myths, a daughter of Demeter and Zeus....
, "did not realize what it was" and ate part of the boy's shoulder. Fate, ordered by Zeus, brought the boy to life again (she collected the parts of the body and boiled them in a sacred cauldron), rebuilding his shoulder with one wrought of ivory made by Hephaestus
Hephaestus

Hephaestus was a Greek god whose Roman equivalent was Vulcan . He was the god of technology, blacksmiths, craftsmen, artisans, sculpture, metals, metallurgy, Fire and volcanoes....
 and presented by Demeter.

The revived Pelops
Pelops

In Greek mythology, Pelops , king of Pisa in the Peloponnesus, was venerated at Olympia, Greece, where his cult developed into the founding myth of the Ancient Olympic Games, the most important expression of unity, not only for the Peloponnesus, "land of Pelops", but for all Hellenes....
 was kidnapped by Poseidon
Poseidon

In Greek mythology, Poseidon was the god of the sea and, as "Earth-Shaker," of earthquakes. The name of the god Nethuns in Etruscan mythology was adopted in Latin for Neptune in Roman mythology: both were sea gods analogous to Poseidon....
 and taken to Olympus. Later, Zeus threw Pelops
Pelops

In Greek mythology, Pelops , king of Pisa in the Peloponnesus, was venerated at Olympia, Greece, where his cult developed into the founding myth of the Ancient Olympic Games, the most important expression of unity, not only for the Peloponnesus, "land of Pelops", but for all Hellenes....
 out of Olympus due to his anger at Tantalus. The Greeks of classical times claimed to be horrified by Tantalus's doings; cannibalism
Cannibalism

Cannibalism is the act or practice of humans eating other humans. The ritualistic eating of human flesh is also known as anthropophagy, from Greek: ?????p??, anthropos, "human being"; and fa?e??, phagein, "to eat"....
, human sacrifice
Human sacrifice

Human sacrifice is the act of killing human beings as part of a religious ritual . Its typology closely parallels the various practices of ritual slaughter of animals and of religious sacrifice in general....
 and parricide
Parricide

Parricide stemming from is defined as:#the act of murdering one's father , mother , or other close relative#the act of murdering a person who stands in a relationship resembling that of a father...
 were atrocities and taboo
Taboo

A taboo is a strong social prohibition against words, objects, actions, or discussions that are considered undesirable or offensive by a group, culture, society, or community....
. Tantalus was the founder of the cursed House of Atreus in which variations on these atrocities continued. Misfortunes also occurred as a result of these acts, making the house the subject of many Greek Tragedies.

Tantalus's grave-sanctuary stood on Sipylus. But hero's honours were paid him at Argos
Argos

Argos is a city in Greece in the Peloponnese near Nafplion, which was its historic harbour, named for Nauplius ....
, where local tradition claimed to possess his bones. On Lesbos, there was another hero-shrine in the little settlement of Polion and a mountain named for Tantalos.

Tantalus's punishment, now proverbial for temptation without satisfaction (the source of the English word "tantalizing"), was to stand in a pool of water beneath a fruit tree with low branches. Whenever he reached for the fruit, the branches raised his intended meal from his grasp. Whenever he bent down to get a drink, the water receded before he could get any. Over his head towers a threatening stone, like that of Sisyphus
Sisyphus

In Greek mythology, Sisyphus , was a king punished in Tartarus by being cursed to roll a huge boulder up a hill, only to watch it roll down again, and to repeat this throughout eternity....
.

In a different story, Tantalus was blamed for indirectly having stolen the dog made of gold created by Hephaestus
Hephaestus

Hephaestus was a Greek god whose Roman equivalent was Vulcan . He was the god of technology, blacksmiths, craftsmen, artisans, sculpture, metals, metallurgy, Fire and volcanoes....
 (god of metals and smithing) for Rhea to watch over infant Zeus. Tantalus's friend Pandareus
Pandareus

In Greek mythology, Pandareus was the son of Clymene and Merops. His residence was given as either Ephesus or Miletus. At the request of his friend, Tantalus, Pandareus stole a bronze dog from a temple to Zeus on Crete....
 stole the dog and gave it to Tantalus for safekeeping. When asked later by Pandareus to return the dog, Tantalus denied that he had the dog, saying he "had neither seen nor heard of a golden dog." According to Robert Graves, this incident is why an enormous stone hangs over Tantalus's head. Others state that it was Tantalus who stole the dog, and gave it to Pandareus for safekeeping.

There is a similarity between the names Tantalus and Hantili, the latter a name of two Hittite
Hittites

The Hittites were an ancient Anatolian people who spoke a Hittite language of the Anatolian languages of the Indo-European languages family, and established a kingdom centered at Hattusa in north-central Anatolia ca....
 kings. Thus, there may be a loose historical connection between the mythical Tantalus and the Bronze Age
Bronze Age

The Bronze Age is, with respect to a given prehistory, the period in that society when the most advanced metalworking included smelting copper and tin from naturally-occurring outcroppings of copper and tin ores, creating a bronze alloy by melting those metals together, and casting them into bronze artifact s....
 Hittite kings, who likewise ruled over Asia Minor. In Robert Graves' historical novel, Hercules, My Shipmate, Graves appears to claim that Tantalus was a member of an invading Greek tribe who was condemned to his torment in Tartarus for refusing to reject his patriarchal deities in favor of a local version of Ashtoreth.

Interpretations of the Tantalus figure


The tale of Tantalus reaffirms that human sacrifice
Human sacrifice

Human sacrifice is the act of killing human beings as part of a religious ritual . Its typology closely parallels the various practices of ritual slaughter of animals and of religious sacrifice in general....
 and parricide
Parricide

Parricide stemming from is defined as:#the act of murdering one's father , mother , or other close relative#the act of murdering a person who stands in a relationship resembling that of a father...
 are taboo
Taboo

A taboo is a strong social prohibition against words, objects, actions, or discussions that are considered undesirable or offensive by a group, culture, society, or community....
 in Ancient and Classical Greek culture. Yet it seems to suggest that human sacrifice had once been offered in archaic times, especially to Demeter.

Alternatively, Tantalus can be seen as a Promethean
Prometheus

In Greek mythology, Prometheus is a Titan known for his wily intelligence, who stole fire from Zeus and gave it to human beings for their use....
 figure who divulges divine secrets to mortals. He presides over sacred initiations consisting of mystic death and transfiguration. His dismemberment of Pelops
Pelops

In Greek mythology, Pelops , king of Pisa in the Peloponnesus, was venerated at Olympia, Greece, where his cult developed into the founding myth of the Ancient Olympic Games, the most important expression of unity, not only for the Peloponnesus, "land of Pelops", but for all Hellenes....
 and Pelops' resurrection can be seen as an archetypal shamanic initiation.

Other characters with the same name


There are two other characters named Tantalus in Greek mythology, both minor figures and both descendants of the above Tantalus. Broteas is said to have had a son named Tantalus
Tantalus son of Broteas

Tantalus, not to be confused with his more famous grandfather and namesake , who was also called Atys, was the son of Broteas . He ruled over the city of Lydia....
, who ruled over the city of Pisa
Pisa (Greece)

Pisa was the name of an ancient town in the western Peloponnese, Greece. The area controlled by Pisa was called Pisatis, which included Olympia, Greece, the site of the Ancient Olympic Games....
 in the Peloponnesus. This Tantalus was the first husband of Clytemnestra
Clytemnestra

Clytemnestra was the wife of Agamemnon, king of the Ancient Greece kingdom of Mycenae or Argos. In the Oresteia by Aeschylus, she was a femme fatale who murdered her husband, Agamemnon—said by Euripides to be her second husband—and his concubine Cassandra....
. He was slain by Agamemnon
Agamemnon

In Greek mythology, Agamemnon / is the son of King Atreus of Mycenae and Queen Aerope, the brother of Menelaus and the husband of Clytemnestra; different mythological versions make him the king either of Mycenae or of Argos....
, King of Mycenae
Mycenae

Mycenae , is an archaeology in Greece, located about 90 km south-west of Athens, in the north-eastern Peloponnese. Argos is 6 km to the south; Corinth, 48 km to the north....
, who made Clytemnestra his wife. The third Tantalus was a son of Thyestes
Thyestes

In Greek mythology, Thyestes was the son of Pelops, King of Olympia, Greece, and Hippodamia and father of Pelopia and Aegisthus. Thyestes and his twin brother, Atreus, were exiled by their father for having murdered their half-brother, Chrysippus in their desire for the throne of Olympia, Greece....
, who was murdered by his uncle Atreus
Atreus

In Greek mythology, Atreus was the son of Pelops and Hippodamia, a king of Mycenae, and the father of Agamemnon and Menelaus. Collectively, his descendants are known as Atreidai or Atreidae....
, and fed to his unsuspecting father, Thyestes
Thyestes

In Greek mythology, Thyestes was the son of Pelops, King of Olympia, Greece, and Hippodamia and father of Pelopia and Aegisthus. Thyestes and his twin brother, Atreus, were exiled by their father for having murdered their half-brother, Chrysippus in their desire for the throne of Olympia, Greece....
.

Related terms


The name "Tantalus" is the origin of the English word "tantalize". The idea being that when a person tantalizes someone else, that person is making them like Tantalus: there is something desirable that is always just out of that person's reach.

A Tantalus, by an obvious analogy, is also the term for a type of drinks decanter stand in which the bottle stoppers are firmly clamped down by a locked metal bar, as a means of preventing servants from stealing the master's liquor. The decanters themselves, however, remain clearly visible.

The chemical element tantalum
Tantalum

Tantalum is a chemical element with the symbol Ta and atomic number 73. A rare, hard, blue-grey, lustre transition metal, tantalum is highly corrosion-resistant and occurs naturally in the mineral tantalite, always together with the chemically similar niobium....
 (symbol Ta, atomic number 73) is named for the mythological Tantalus.

Ancient sources

  • Homer
    Homer

    Homer is traditionally held to be the author of the ancient Greek language epic poems the Iliad and the Odyssey, as well as of the Homeric Hymns....
    , Odyssey
    Odyssey

    The Odyssey is one of two major ancient Hellenic civilization epic poetrys attributed to Homer. It is, in part, a sequel to the Iliad, the other work traditionally ascribed to Homer....
     XI, 582-92
  • Apollodorus
    Apollodorus

    Apollodorus of Athens son of Asclepiades, was a Greeks scholar and grammarian. He was a pupil of Diogenes of Babylon, Panaetius, and the grammarian Aristarchus of Samothrace....
    , Bibliotheke III, v, 6
  • Apollodorus, Epitome
    Epitome

    An epitome is a summary or miniature form; an instance that represents a larger reality, also used as a synonym for embodiment.Many documents from the Ancient Greek and Ancient Rome worlds survive now only "in epitome," referring to the practice of some later authors who wrote distilled versions of larger works now lost....
     II,1-3
  • Ovid
    Ovid

    Publius Ovidius Naso was a Roman Empire poet known as Ovid to the English language-speaking world, who wrote about love, seduction, and Roman mythology transformation....
    , Metamorphoses
    Metamorphoses (poem)

    The Metamorphoses by the Ancient Rome poet Ovid is a Narrative poetry in fifteen books that describes the Creation myth and history of the world....
     IV, 458-9; VI, 172- 76 & 403-11.
  • Hyginus
    Hyginus

    Hyginus can refer to:*Gaius Julius Hyginus , Roman poet, author of Fabulae, reputed author of Poeticon astronomicon*Hyginus Gromaticus, Roman surveyor...
    , Fabulae 82


Modern sources

  • pp 57-61 et passim
  • "Tantalus"


External links

  • compiled from selected primary sources to highlight the shamanic and promethean aspects of the story. By Pindar's time this view would have been rejected.
  • being a lare 3-D zoetropic kinetic sculpture, depicting Tantalus's punishment, being unable to reach the low-hanging fruit above his head!


Spoken-word myths - audio files