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Labour of Sisyphus: King
Sisyphus, a noted ancient Greek trickster, was made to roll a huge boulder up a
steep hill, but before he could reach the summit, the rock always rolled back
down, and he had to begin again. The exasperating nature of this punishment was
visited on King Sisyphus because of his arrogant belief that his cleverness
surpassed that of Zeus. The king of the gods, Zeus, therefore demonstrated his
own cleverness by forcing Sisyphus to labour for eternity at this pointless
task.
It's an interesting
illustration of the ancient Greek's attitude to deities and might even explain
to some extent the peculiar attitude held by some modern religious groups about
the nature of their particular gods.
As a result of this myth,
pointless or interminable tasks are often described as Sisyphean.
'When Julie announced her
determination to turn her four acres of wilderness into a modern garden with
not a weed in sight, Terrence laughed and told her she'd set herself a Labour
of Sisyphus.'
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