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Sisyphus's labor and tantalum's torment are a legend. Sisyphus and Sisyphean work

Sisyphus's work

Sisyphus's work
From ancient Greek mythology. How the legendary poet expounds this myth in his “Odyssey” Ancient Greece Homer (9th century BC), king of Corinth Sisyphus, as punishment for earthly sins (boasting, greed, cunning) was in the afterlife condemned to endless and fruitless labor - to roll a huge stone up a mountain, which, barely reaching the top, fell off it. And Sisyphus began his work again.
The expression “Sisyphean labor” belongs to the Roman poet Propertius (1st century BC).
Allegorically: hard and fruitless work.
The expressions “the work of Penelope” and “the barrel of Danaids” (“the work of Danaids”) are used (less frequently) in the same meaning.
Homer in his poem says that Penelope, the wife of the wandering Odysseus, told the suitors who wooed her that she would marry only after she had made a funeral veil for her father-in-law, the elder Laertes. At the same time, at night she unraveled everything that she had woven during the day, thereby delaying the decisive moment.
The expression "barrel of Danaids" also comes from an ancient Greek myth, which was recounted by the Roman writer Hyginus (Fables, 168).
The Danaids are the 50 daughters of the king of Libya, Danaus, with whom his brother Egypt, who was the king of Egypt, was at enmity. In this fight, Danaus lost and was forced to flee from Libya to Argolis. 50 sons of Egypt overtook him and demanded that Danaus give his daughters to them as wives. He was forced to agree, but decided to take revenge by ordering his daughters to kill their husbands on their wedding night.
This order was carried out by Danae's daughter. Only one of the Danaids, named Hypermnestra, disobeyed her father and spared her husband. For the murder of men, 49 Danaids were punished by the gods - they had to forever fill a bottomless barrel with water in the underground kingdom of Hades. So the gods doomed them to endless and meaningless work.
The very phrase “Danaid barrel” as catchphrase first found in the Roman writer Lucian (c. 120 - c. 190) and usually means, like “Sisyphean labor,” long and fruitless work, as well as something that invests a lot of effort and money without any return.
The everyday version of this expression is also widely known - “bottomless barrel”, usually applied to relentless, insatiable drunkards.

Encyclopedic dictionary of popular words and expressions. - M.: “Locked-Press”. Vadim Serov. 2003.


Synonyms:

See what "Sisyphus' work" is in other dictionaries:

    Sisyphean work, labor Dictionary of Russian synonyms. Sisyphean work noun, number of synonyms: 2 Sisyphean work (2) ... Dictionary of synonyms

    Sisyphus's work (Sisyphus's work) Sisyphus' stone (foreign) about difficult, fruitless, endless work (torment) Wed. (During the marriage) it used to be terribly difficult to talk when we were alone. It was some kind of Sisyphean work. Just imagine that... ... Michelson's Large Explanatory and Phraseological Dictionary

    Sisyphean labor- A/pr; 133 cm. Appendix II (endless and fruitless labor; named after the mythical king Sizi/fa, who, as punishment for insulting the gods, rolled a stone into a mountain, which immediately rolled down) A little bundle for memory: sizi/fa labor, vain labor,... ... Dictionary of Russian accents

    Endless and fruitless work (named after the mythical ancient Greek king Sisyphus, who offended the gods and was condemned by them to forever roll a stone up a mountain, which, having reached the top, rolled back down each time). New dictionary… … Dictionary of foreign words of the Russian language

    Sisyphean labor- siz ifov labor ud, siz ifov labor a... Russian spelling dictionary

    THE WORK OF SISYPHUS- Continuous, aimless and exhaustingly hard work (this expression comes from the ancient Greek myth about King Sisyphus, who disobeyed the gods and was condemned by them to forever roll high mountain a stone that, having reached the top, every time... ... Dictionary of political terms

    - ... Wikipedia

    Book Hard, endless and fruitless work. /i> The turnover arose on the basis of an ancient Greek myth. BMS 1998, 575; BTS, 1348; Mokienko 1989, 77 78 ... Big dictionary Russian sayings

    Sisyphean labor- only units , stable combination About difficult, endless, fruitless work and the torment associated with it. Etymology: Named after the mythical king Sisyphus (← Greek: Sisyphos). Encyclopedic commentary: In Greek mythology, Sisyphus is the son of a ruler... ... Popular dictionary of the Russian language

    Sisyphus's work- book. hard, endless and fruitless work. The expression arose based on the DreneGreek myth. The Corinthian king Sisyphus for insulting the gods was sentenced by Zeus to eternal torment in Hades: he had to roll a huge stone up the mountain, which... Phraseology Guide

Books

  • Goblins. The work of Sisyphus, Konstantinov Andrey Dmitrievich, Shusharin Igor. Over the course of several months of service, Iolanta Prilepina has become quite comfortable in the skin of a “goblin”—that’s what employees of the newly created unit for ensuring the security of persons jokingly call themselves...

The myth of Sisyphus is probably the most famous and memorable. Usually, with school curriculum they remember the punishment itself, but do not know why such painful torture was invented. Let us briefly consider the content of the myth in its different versions. Sisyphus, or Sisyphus, was the builder and king of Corinth ( ancient name- Ether). Homer describes him as a very cunning, vicious man, a self-seeker. He was doomed by the gods to forever perform exorbitantly hard, fruitless work. The myths about Sisyphus and the stone, preserved in many sources, indicate various offenses that brought such punishment from the gods onto the head of the cunning man.

One version says that he was punished for revealing the secret of Zeus. The other is related to feud between brothers and rape. But the most common myth is that Sisyphus deceived death itself.

According to this version, the king of Corinth deceived and chained Thantos, the god of death, and people stopped dying. The god of death is freed by Ares, and the soul of the deceiver is sent to the kingdom of shadows. But the cunning Sisyphus was once again able to deceive the gods by ordering his wife not to perform the funeral ceremony. Having not received their victims and offerings, Hades and Persephone released the deceiver to earth so that he would bring his wife to reason. But the vile king is not going to return. But, nevertheless, he could not escape punishment.

For all his crimes against the gods, a terrible punishment was prepared for Sisyphus. Every day, time after time, forever, the sufferer must lift a large stone up the mountain. There will be no end to the hard, exhausting work, because once the stone is lifted to the top, it rolls back, and everything must be started again.

“The Labor of Sisyphus” - photos and pictures.

The phraseology “Sisyphean labor” just means very hard, meaningless, endlessly painful work.

Consider the famous phraseological unit "Sisyphean labor" .

Sisyphus – first adventurer Ancient Greece, and perhaps the whole world.

The meaning, origin and sources of phraseological units are described below, as well as examples from the works of writers.

The meaning of phraseology

Sisyphus's work - useless efforts repeated over and over again

Synonyms: monkey's labor, wasted labor, carrying water with a sieve, Sisyphean's work

IN foreign languages There are direct analogues of the phraseology “Sisyphean labor”:

  • Sisyphean toil, labor of Sisyphus (English)
  • Sisyphusarbeit (German)
  • rocher de Sisyphe, supplice de Sisyphe (French)

Sisyphean work: the origin of phraseological units

As is known, god Zeus punished the king of Corinth Sisyphus: in the underground kingdom of the dead, he had to continuously roll a heavy stone up a mountain, which, having almost reached the top, immediately rolled back.

The history is very ancient, so it is difficult to understand it properly. In any case, it can be noted that Sisyphus was not just a king, but the great-great-grandson of Prometheus, the creator of the city of Corinth, and also, oddly enough, the so-called favorite of the gods. The gods invited Sisyphus to their feasts on Olympus.

A natural question arises: why did the gods punish the gods’ favorite so severely? It looks like for what is called “accumulation of crimes”:

  • First of all, the gods were outraged that Sisyphus began to divulge to people their secrets, heard at feasts.
  • Sisyphus deceived the god of death Thanatos, who had come to take his soul to the kingdom of the dead, and kept him captive for several years. As a result, people stopped dying, established order things, in particular - they stopped making sacrifices to the underground gods. The angry god of war Ares freed Thanatos, and an even more angry Thanatos freed Sisyphus from the soul and took it to the kingdom of the shadows of the dead.
  • Sisyphus deceived the gods in Hades. He managed to instruct his wife not to perform funeral rites for him. Gods of the Underworld dead hades and Persephone were puzzled by the lack of funeral victims, so they allowed Sisyphus to return to earth for a while to teach his wife a lesson and organize a decent funeral for themselves, and decent sacrifices for the gods. Instead, he remained to feast with friends in his palace.
  • As well as various crimes against people (robbery of travelers, fraud and other outrages).

So it is difficult to blame Zeus for injustice. The morally dubious success of Sisyphus was due to the fact that he was the first among the Greeks to use cunning and deception. Not only people, but also the gods were not ready for this.

Sources

The myth of Sisyphus is set out in the poem “Odyssey” by the ancient Greek poet Homer (9th century BC).

The very expression “Sisyphean labor” belongs to the Roman poet Propertius (1st century BC).

Examples from the works of writers

It used to be terribly difficult to talk when we were alone. It was some kind of Sisyphean work. As soon as you figure out what to say, you say it, again you have to be silent, come up with it. (L.N. Tolstoy, “The Kreutzer Sonata”)

This is all the quiet joy of Sisyphus. His destiny belongs to him. The stone is his property. In the same way, an absurd person, looking at his torment, silences the idols. In an unexpectedly quiet universe, the whisper of thousands of thin, delightful voices can be heard rising from the earth. This is the unconscious, secret call of all the images of the world - this is the wrong side and this is the price of victory. There is no sun without shadow, and it is necessary to experience the night. The absurd person says “yes” - and there is no end to his efforts. If there is a personal destiny, then this is by no means a predestination from above, or, in as a last resort, predestination comes down to how man himself judges it: it is fatal and worthy of contempt. Otherwise, he recognizes himself as the master of his days. (A. Camus, “The Myth of Sisyphus. An Essay on the Absurd”)

It turns out to be a bitter paradox: it is easier to suffer than to create. All Russia is a drinking Hamlet. There is only one way out. If you want to escape from suffering, create! There is no other medicine and there never will be. Even Sisyphean labor frees us from useless discussions about the uselessness of Sisyphean labor. (F.A. Iskander, “State and Conscience”)

Catchphrase"Sisyphean labor" means meaningless and hard work. It happens that a person, engaged in some kind of work and irritated by monotonous work, exclaims: “ Yes, this is a real Sisyphean work". This idiom can also be uttered by surrounding citizens, seeing the futility of this work. However, if you ask these people who this Sisyphus is, then it is unlikely that many will give an accurate and specific answer.

Historians have a very ambivalence to the character of ancient Greek legends, the Corinthian king Sisyphus. This ruler was the son of the god of the winds named Aeolus. Since Sisyphus had divine roots, he was very smart, cunning and vindictive. He built a city, which he named Corinth and became its ruler. The city flourished, Numerous trade caravans and ships entered it. Over time, Sisyphus became very rich, there were legends about his treasures. Now he began to look down on some beggar gods from Olympus, for which he was punished.

Rumors reached Sisyphus that the god Zeus had stolen a beautiful girl, the daughter of the river god named Asopus. As soon as this news reached the ears of the ruler of Corinth, he immediately told Asopus himself about this. This snitching greatly angered Zeus and he sent death itself for Sisyphus. However, Sisyphus was the son of God, so he managed to catch death and put it in chains, thus simultaneously saving all people from death.
This time, not only Zeus, but also all the gods of Olympus were angry with Sisyphus. The god of war, Ares, decided to deal with the rebellious ruler, he grabbed him and took him to a deep dungeon. However, his beloved wife Merope saved him and he fled back to Corinth. Then it was time to get down to business. Hermes Trismegistus himself took charge, he caught this nimble king and returned the captive underground again.

For his pride and disobedience, the gods of Olympus doomed Sisyphus to eternal torment. They came up with a sophisticated torture for him: the Corinthian had to lift a huge block of stone up a mountain, as soon as it reached the top, it immediately fell off and ended up at the foot of the cliff. The king had to start all over again.

Since the punishment of the gods of Olympus was painful not only because of the heavy stone that had to be rolled up the mountain, but also because of the meaninglessness of this work. Therefore, the expression “Sisyphean labor” began to mean not so much hard, but completely meaningless work.

Some people use synonyms for this expression, such as: “monkey labor” and “Sisyphus stone.” The ancient Greeks are generally a storehouse of all kinds of proverbs and sayings, many of which are still used today, including the phraseology “Sisyphean labor”.

Read more.

Son god of the winds Aeolus Sisyphus was the most crafty and most selfish of mortals; he was not inferior to the gods either in cunning or in wise advice. He built a city Corinth and was its first ruler. With his intelligence and resourcefulness, Sisyphus acquired untold wealth; Only his self-interest and excessive arrogance ruined him. The crafty one noticed how Zeus kidnapped the beautiful Aegina, the daughter of the river god Asopus, and how he carried her away to the island that was later named after her. Asopus began to look for his daughter and, arriving in Corinth, asked Sisyphus if he knew where Aegina was and how to find her. Sisyphus revealed the secret of Zeus, and for this Azopus had to create in Acrocorinth - the fortress (acropolis) of the city of Corinth - a wonderful spring and so deep that there was enough water for the whole city and the Kremlin. As punishment for the selfish traitor, Zeus sent Death to him and ordered her to take Sisyphus to the region of Hades. However, Sisyphus noticed the approach of Death, he lay in wait for her and imprisoned her in strong chains. Then people stopped dying, and until then not a single person died on earth, until the powerful god of war Ares freed the prisoner. Sisyphus was taken by Ares to the kingdom of shadows; but even before this, Sisyphus ordered his wife not to bury his body and not to offer funeral sacrifices at his grave.

The rulers of the underworld, Hades and Persephone, were not pleased with such neglect of the victims, and the cunning Sisyphus manages to persuade them to send him back to earth to punish his wife for her wickedness. So the crafty Sisyphus settled on earth another time and decided not to return to the underworld. He indulged in the most immoderate, most luxurious pleasures on earth, but not for long. Once he was drinking, when suddenly Death came for him and, inexorable, took him to the region of Hades. There, as punishment for his misdeeds, he is condemned to terrible torment - “Sisyphean labor.”

Persephone looks at Sisyphus's work in the underworld of Hades. Attic black-figure amphora, c. 530 BC

Odysseus, who saw Sisyphus in the kingdom of shadows, tells about them like this:

I also saw Sisyphus being executed with a terrible execution;
He pulled the heavy stone from below with both hands
Uphill; straining your muscles, pressing your feet into the ground.
He moved the stone upward; but barely reached the top
With a heavy burden, the deceptive stone rushed back.
Again he tried to lift the weight, tensing his muscles.
The body is sweating, the head is completely covered with black dust.
(Homer. Odyssey. XI, 594 – 600.)

The phraseological phrase “Sisyphean labor” has since then had the meaning of “hard, tedious, but unnecessary and useless work.”

Punishment of Sisyphus. Painting by Titian, 1547-1548

Sisyphus's brother, Salmoneus, the founder of the Elis city of Salmona, also seriously offended the gods. The proud man dared to impersonate Zeus to people and demand victims. He rode across the earth on a rattling brass chariot; waving torches, striking copper vessels and stretched skin, he thought to imitate the lightning and thunder of Kronid. For this, the true Thunderer sent his lightning from thick clouds, struck the arrogant boaster to death and wiped his city off the face of the earth. In the underworld, where his brother is engaged in Sisyphean labor, Salmoneus with his fumes torches, with his copper bowls is forced to continue his clownish imitation of the thunder and lightning of Zeus.