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"... Your cleverest poets
... deny food and drink to Tantalus, merely because
he was a good man and inclined to share with his
friends the immortality bestowed on him by the
gods. And some of them hang stones over him, and
rain insults of a terrible kind upon this divine
and good man; and I would much rather that they had
represented him as swimming in a lake of nectar,
for he regaled men with that drink humanely and
ungrudgingly ... But we must not suppose that he
was really the victim of the gods' dislike ..."
[Flavius Philostratus,
Life
of Apollonius of Tyana 3.25]
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Tantalus 1 is punished in
Hades by not being
able to eat or drink, as the water in the lake
dries out, and the fruits in the trees are lifted
by the wind each time he tries to reach either.
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Famous torment
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In the same way as some are famous for their
lives, and others are famous for their deaths,
Tantalus 1 became famous for the manner of his
punishment in the afterlife. He was made to stand
chin-deep in water with fruits just over his head,
and whenever he tries to drink or eat, the water
recedes or the fruits are lifted out of reach. And
this torment, through which something seems to be
offered only to be withdrawn again, has been
called, in memory of its best known victim,
"tantalize". Such is the
Fame of this punishment.
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For ever hungry and thirsty
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Some have said that in addition Tantalus 1 had a
stone hanging over him. But otherwise Tantalus 1 is
said to see at his shoulders on either side trees
with fruit growing beside the lake in which he
stands with the water touching his jaws. And when
he wishes to drink, the water recedes or dries up,
and when he wishes to eat from the fruits, the
branches are lifted by the wind as high as the
clouds. Consequently, Tantalus 1 is always hungry,
thirsty, and afraid that the huge stone that hangs
above his head will fall on him.
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Odysseus' account
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It appears that the most ancient report about
Tantalus 1 and his torment is the one given by
Odysseus when he
returned from the
Underworld and told
what he had seen:
"I also saw
the awful agonies that Tantalus has to bear. The
old man was standing in a pool of water which
nearly reached his chin, and his thirst drove him
to unceasing efforts; but he could never get a drop
to drink. For whenever he stooped in his eagerness
to lap the water, it disappeared. The pool was
swallowed up, and all he saw at his feet was the
dark earth, which some mysterious power had
parched. Trees spread their foliage high over the
pool and dangle fruits above his
head—pear-trees and pomegranates, apple-trees
with their glossy burden, sweet figs and luxuriant
olives. But whenever the old man tried to grasp
them in his hands, the wind would toss them up
towards the shadowy clouds."
[Odysseus.
Homer,
Odyssey
11.584]
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Betrayed the gods' trust
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As they say, Tantalus 1 was much trusted by his
father Zeus, being admitted
to the banquets of the gods. But Tantalus 1 proved
to have an unbridled tongue, and the thoughtless
fellow reported the gods' plans to men, telling
them about the mysteries of the gods, and also
attempting to share ambrosia with his fellows.
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King in Sipylus
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Tantalus 1 reigned in Sipylus, the land about
the mountain with the same name which is east of
Smyrna in Asia Minor. Here, not far from the Lake
of Tantalus, his grave could be seen, and in
Sipylus he received his daughter Niobe 2 when she
returned from Thebes
after the killing of the
NIOBIDS by
Apollo and
Artemis. Niobe 2 was
transformed into a stone, and tears flow night and
day from the stone at Sipylus. Niobe 2's husband
was Amphion 1, the
harpist who ruled Thebes;
and they say that he, being related to Tantalus 1
for having married his daughter, learned this art
from the Lydians themselves, and later added three
strings to the four old ones. Tantalus 1's son
Pelops 1, however, was
forced to run away from Sipylus when Ilus 2, the
founder of Troy, launched
an army against him. On a peak of Mount Sipylus
there was a throne of Pelops
1.
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Debauched Paphlagonian king
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Others say that Tantalus 1 dwelt in Paphlagonia,
in northern Asia Minor, and that he was the wealthy
king of that region. He was a especial friend of
the gods, and was permitted to ask for whatever he
desired, but he was unable to bear his good
fortune. For he, after sharing the table of the
gods and their intimate talk, made known to men the
secrets of the immortals. This is the reason for
his eternal punishment, but others have added that
Tantalus 1 was so immoderately given to pleasures
that he asked always for more, and for a life like
that of the gods. Zeus,
they say, fulfilled his prayer in the known way,
hanging also a stone over his head to keep him
continually harassed. And he was punished on earth
too; for according to some it was he, and not his
son Pelops 1, who was
driven out of Paphlagonia by Ilus 2, the founder of
Troy.
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Turns his son into a meal
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Tantalus 1 reached a very high pitch of
perversion when he slaughtered his own son
Pelops 1 and served him
as a meal at the banquet of the gods. It was then
that Demeter ate
Pelops 1's arm. When the
gods learned what had taken place, they gave
Pelops 1 life again,
joining together all his limbs. And since the
shoulder was missing,
Demeter fitted an ivory
one in its place.
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Misfortunes
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Now, in whatever way one looks to Tantalus 1's
fate, there are only misfortunes to be found. For
his country was utterly overthrown, and in death
eternal torment awaited him. And his descent was
not more fortunate. That is why it seemed
reasonable to pray:
"O gods, may
the race of Tantalus be fortunate at last, and may
it be set free from evils!" [Euripides,
Helen
855]
Yet some think that what Tantalus 1 did was
extremely wrong, and that those who commit such
crimes become incurable, not being able to profit
by any punishment themselves, but instead serving
to others as example. And not seldom these examples
come from despots, great potentates, and public
administrators. For these, having a free hand, are
able to commit the worst offences.
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Others with identical name
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Tantalus 2 is one of the
NIOBIDS, that is, a
grandson of Tantalus 1.
Tantalus 3 is the first husband of
Clytaemnestra; he
was killed by
Agamemnon. Tantalus 3
is called by some son of Broteas 4, and by others
son of Thyestes 1. As son of Thyestes 1, Tantalus 3
should have been killed as an infant by
Atreus, and served to his
own father as a meal at a banquet. In both cases
Tantalus 3 is a descendant of Tantalus 1.
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