Sisyphus: Encyclopedia II - Sisyphus - 'Sisyphean task' or 'Sisyphean challenge'

Sisyphus - 'Sisyphean task' or 'Sisyphean challenge'

As a punishment from the gods, in the underworld, Sisyphus was compelled to roll a big stone up a steep hill; but before it reached the top of the hill the stone always rolled down, and Sisyphus had to begin all over again (Odyssey, xi. 593). This cycle continued on for eternity. As a result, pointless or interminable activities are often described as Sisyphean. The reason for his punishment is not mentioned in Homer, and is obscure. According to some, he had revealed the designs of the gods to mortals; according to others, he was in the habit of attacking and murdering travellers. Sisyphus was a common subject of ancient writers, and was depicted by the painter Polygnotus on the walls of the Lesche at Delphi (Pausanias x. 31).

According to the solar theory, Sisyphus is the disk of the sun that rises every day and then sinks below the horizon. Others see in him a personification of the waves rising to a height and then suddenly falling, or of the treacherous sea. It is suggested by Welcker that the legend is symbolic of the vain struggle of man in the pursuit of knowledge. S. Reinach (Revue archéologique, 1904) finds the origin of the story in a picture, in which Sisyphus was represented rolling a huge stone up Acrocorinthus, symbolic of the labour and skill involved in the building of the Sisypheum. When a distinction was made between the souls in the underworld, Sisyphus was supposed to be rolling up the stone perpetually as a punishment for some offence committed on Earth, and various reasons were invented to account for it.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "'Sisyphean task' or 'Sisyphean challenge'", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki