Tantalus: Encyclopedia - Tantalus

Tantalus

• Persephone
• Hades
• Minos
• Aeacus

• Rhada- manthys
• Charon
• Cerberus

• Acheron
• Cocytus
• Tartarus
• Lethe
• Elysion

• Styx
• Phlegethon
• Asphodel
• Erebus

• Ixion
• Sisyphus

• Tantalus
• The Titans

• Greek mythology

• Greek religion

In Greek mythology Tantalus (Greek Τάνταλος) was a son of Zeus and the nymph Pluto (not to be confused with the god of the underworld). Thus he was a king in the primordial world. Other versions name his father as Tmolus, son of Sipylus, a King of Lydia. (Both Tmolus and Sipylus are names of mountains in ancient Lydia). As Tmolus is said to be Pluto's husband, this would make Tmolus the stepfather of Tantalus, if Zeus was his real father. Tantalus was associated with Phrygia, or Mount Sipylus in Lydia, or Paphlagonia, all in Asia Minor. Tantalus became one of the inhabitants of Tartarus, the deepest portion of the Underworld, reserved for the punishment of evildoers.

His children were Pelops, Niobe, and Broteas, all three fathered on his wife Dione.

Tantalus - Story of Tantalus

Tantalus is known for having been welcomed to Zeus' table in Olympus. There he stole nectar and ambrosia, brought them back to his people, and revealed the secrets of the gods. He also offered up his son, Pelops as a sacrifice to the gods, an archetypal story of shamanic initiation in which 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, disturbed by the rape of her daughter Persephone, "did not realize what it was" and ate 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 dolphin ivory, made by Hephaestos and presented by Demeter.

Pelops, thus reconstituted, was brought back to life having gained new qualities. To reinforce the initiatory theme, the revived Pelops is kidnapped by Poseidon and taken to Olympus to be the god's lover.

The Greeks of classical times claimed to be horrified by Tantalus' doings, and accused Tantalus of trying to trick the Olympian gods back into their older identities by offering them a sacrifice-banquet of human flesh.

The kernel of myth embodied in this tale reinforces Olympian suppression of human sacrifice, which had apparently been offered in earlier times, especially to Demeter in her earlier embodiment as the Great Goddess, but which was now taboo. Alternatively, Tantalus is cast as a Promethean figure who divulges divine secrets to mortals and presides over sacred initiations consisting of mystic death and transfiguration.

Tantalus' punishment, now proverbial for temptation without satisfaction, 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.

In a separate story, he was also blamed for having stolen the dog of Hephaestus (god of metals) (alternatively, he convinced his friend, Pandareus to do so).

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.

There are two other characters named Tantalus in Greek mythology, both minor figures and both descendents 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 while an infant by his uncle Atreus.

Tantalus - Related terms

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 chemical element tantalum (symbol Ta, atomic number 73) is named for him.

Tantalus is also later put to use in the hit role-playing game series, Final Fantasy IX, in which a group of thieves called themselves Tantalus. In the opening sequence in the game, they are responsible for putting on a ploy in order to capture the Princess of Alexandria.

In mystery Pentecost Alley by Anne Perry placed in Victorian England, "There was a silver tantalus on a side table."

Tantalus - Spoken-word myths - audio files

Tantalus - Other Possible Wives

Robert Graves, author of "The Greek Myths", reported that Tantalus' wife was either the Pleiad Dione; Eurythemista, a daughter of Xanthus, a river-god; Euryanassa, daughter of Pactolus, a river-god; or Clytia, the child of Amphidamantes. (Complete Edition, 1992, p. 389)

Tantalus - Sources

• Homer, Odyssey XI, 582-92
• Apollodorus, Bibliotheke III, v, 6
• Apollodorus, Epitome II,1-3
• Ovid, Metamorphoses IV, 458-9; VI, 172- 76 & 403-11.

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