A king who for his crimes was condemned in Hades to stand in water that receded when he tried to drink, and with fruit hanging above him that receded when he reached for it.
[Latin, from Greek Tantalos.]
Dictionary:
Tan·ta·lus (tăn'tə-ləs) ![]() |
[Latin, from Greek Tantalos.]
| Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: Tantalus |
For more information on Tantalus, visit Britannica.com.
| Classical Literature Companion: Tantalus |
Tantalus, in Greek myth, son of Zeus and the Titaness Pluto (‘wealth’), king of the region around Mount Sipylus in Lydia. He married Dionē, daughter of Atlas, by whom he became the father of Niobē and Pelops, and thus the ancestor of the Pelopidae. Tantalus offended the gods and was punished in Tartarus by being set, thirsty and hungry, in a pool of water which always receded when he tried to drink from it, and under fruit trees whose branches the wind tossed aside when he tried to pick the fruit. Another account of his punishment was that a great stone was suspended over his head, threatening to crush him, so that he was in too much terror to enjoy a banquet which was set before him. The reason for these punishments is variously described: either he invited the gods to dinner and served them his son's flesh (see PELOPS), or he stole nectar and ambrosia from the gods' table, where he had been invited, and gave them to his friends, or he told his friends the gods' secrets. From his name we have the word ‘tantalize’.
| Columbia Encyclopedia: Tantalus |
| Mythology Dictionary: Tantalus |
A king in classical mythology who, as punishment for having offended the gods, was tortured with everlasting thirst and hunger in Hades. He stood up to his chin in water, but each time he bent to quench his thirst, the water receded. There were boughs heavy with fruit over his head, but each time he tried to pluck them, the wind blew them out of reach.
| Wikipedia: Tantalus |
In Greek mythology Tantalus (Greek Τάνταλος) was a son of Zeus[1] and the nymph Plouto. Thus he was a king in the primordial world, the father of a son Broteas whose very name signifies "mortals" (brotoi).[2] Other versions name his father as Tmolus "wreathed with oak,"[3] son of Sipylus, a king of Lydia. Both Tmolus and Mount Sipylus are names of mountains in ancient Lydia. Thus, like other Greek heroes such as Theseus, or the Dioskouroi, Tantalus had both a hidden, divine sire and a mortal one. The location of Tantalus' mortal mountain-fathers placed him in Lydia;[4] otherwise he might be located in Phrygia[5] or Paphlagonia,[6] all in Asia Minor. Tantalus became one of the inhabitants of Tartarus, the deepest portion of the Underworld, reserved for the punishment of evildoers; there Odysseus saw him.[7] 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—eponym of the Peloponnesus— Niobe, and Broteas. The identity of his wife is variously given: Dione, whose name simply means "The Goddess," perhaps the Pleiad with that name; or Eurythemista, a daughter of the river-god Xanthus; or Euryanassa, daughter of Pactolus, another river-god, both of them in Anatolia; or Clytia, the child of Amphidamantes (Graves 1960, section 108). Tantalus, through Pelops, was the founder of the House of Atreus. The geographer Strabo, 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. On Mount Yamanlar some two km east of Akpınar are two monuments mentioned by Pausanias: the tholos tomb of Tantalus (Christianized as "Saint Charalambos' tomb")[8] 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 to the Greeks), said to have been carved by Broteas, but also in fact Hittite.
Contents |
| Greek underworld | |
|---|---|
| Residents | |
| Geography | |
| Famous Inmates | |
|
|
Tantalus is known for having been welcomed to Zeus' table in Olympus, like Ixion. There he too misbehaved, stole ambrosia and nectar, brought it back to his people,[9] and revealed the secrets of the gods.[10] Tantalus offered up his son, Pelops, as a sacrifice to the gods. He cut Pelops 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, distraught by the loss of her daughter, Persephone, did not realize what it was and ate part of the boy's shoulder. Clotho, one of the three Fates, 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 and presented by Demeter.
The revived Pelops was kidnapped by Poseidon and taken to Olympus. Later, Zeus threw Pelops out of Olympus due to his anger at Tantalus. The Greeks of classical times claimed to be horrified by Tantalus's doings; cannibalism, human sacrifice and infanticide were atrocities and taboo. 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.[11] But his's honours were paid him at Argos, where local tradition claimed to possess his bones.[12] On Lesbos, there was another hero-shrine in the little settlement of Polion and a mountain named for Tantalos.[13]
Tantalus's punishment, now proverbial for temptation without satisfaction (the source of the English word "tantalise" - US "tantalize"[14]), 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.[15] In a different story, Tantalus was blamed for indirectly having stolen the dog made of gold created by Hephaestus (god of metals and smithing) for Rhea to watch over infant Zeus. Tantalus's friend Pandareus 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 kings. Thus, there may be a loose historical connection between the mythical Tantalus and the Bronze Age 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.
The tale of Tantalus reaffirms that human sacrifice and infanticide are taboo in Ancient and Classical Greek culture. Yet it seems to suggest that human sacrifice had once been offered in archaic times, especially to Demeter.[citation needed] Alternatively, Tantalus can be seen as a Promethean figure who divulges divine secrets To mortals He presides over sacred initiations consisting of mystic death and transfiguration. His dismemberment of Pelops and Pelops' resurrection can be seen as an archetypal shamanic initiation.[citation needed]
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, who ruled over the city of Pisa in the Peloponnesus. This Tantalus was the first husband of Clytemnestra. He was slain by Agamemnon, King of Mycenae, who made Clytemnestra his wife. The third Tantalus was a son of Thyestes, who was murdered by his uncle Atreus, and fed to his unsuspecting father.
The name "Tantalus" is the origin of the English verb "to tantalize". The underlying idea is that when someone is tantalized, that person is goes through the same experience as Tantalus: Something desirable is always just out of that person's reach. [16]
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 (symbol Ta, atomic number 73) is named after the mythological Tantalus.
|
1588 engraving by Hendrik Goltzius and C. Cornelius |
1797 etching by Francisco Goya |
| Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Tantalus |
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
| tantalize | |
| Tartarus (in Greek Mythology) | |
| Pelops (son of Tantalus and father of Atreus) |
| Whose son was Tantalus? Read answer... | |
| Element named after daughter of Tantalus? Read answer... | |
| How were Tantalus and Pelops born or created? Read answer... |
| What do you lock in a Tantalus? | |
| Who was the son of Tantalus? | |
| What is the modern name for tantalus? |
Copyrights:
![]() | Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Read more | |
![]() | Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 2006 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved. Read more | |
![]() | Classical Literature Companion. The Concise Oxford Companion to Classical Literature. Copyright © 1993, 2003 by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. Read more | |
![]() | Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2003, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/. Read more | |
![]() | Mythology Dictionary. The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Edited by E.D. Hirsch, Jr., Joseph F. Kett, and James Trefil. Copyright © 2002 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin. All rights reserved. Read more | |
![]() | Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Tantalus". Read more |
Mentioned in