Sisyphus · Atlas

in the texts

Tusculan DisputationsHellenistic · Latin

Mythological figure condemned to eternally roll a stone in the underworld.

then that stone which Sisyphus rolls, sweating in his straining and getting not a whit forward?

I should test, too, the wisdom of the highest king who led the great hosts to Troy, and of Ulysses and Sisyphus;

On the EmbassyClassical · Greek

The legendary trickster king of Corinth, invoked by Aeschines as a mocking epithet for Demosthenes' cunning and deceitfulness.

When I had added my testimony, saying something like this, that Philip had shown excellent memory in his reply to what we had said, and when Ctesiphon, who was the oldest of us, speaking of his own advanced age and the number of his years, added that in all his many years he had never looked upon so charming and lovable a man, then this Sisyphus here clapped his hands and said,

on the embassy ¶

CyclopsClassical · Greek

Mythological trickster figure whose name Silenus applies to Odysseus as an insult

I know him for a prating knave, one of Sisyphus’ shrewd offspring.

cyclops ¶

HeraclesClassical · Greek

Mythical figure condemned to eternally roll a stone in the underworld, referenced by Heracles as he tries to determine where he is.

No, I do not see Sisyphus with his stone, or Pluto, or his queen, Demeter’s child.

heracles ¶

Iphigenia in AulisClassical · Greek

A legendary trickster king invoked here as the (alternate-tradition) true father of Odysseus.

The son of Sisyphus?

iphigenia in aulis ¶

MedeaClassical · Greek

Legendary founder-figure of Corinth, invoked as ancestor of the Corinthian citizenry whose scorn Medea wishes to avoid.

’Tis not for thee to be a laughing-stock to the race of Sisyphus by reason of this wedding of Jason, sprung, as thou art, from a noble sire, and of the Sun-god’s race.

medea ¶

IliadClassical · Greek

Legendary founder of Ephyra, called the craftiest of all humankind, named as the ancestor at the head of Glaukos' genealogy.

There is a city in the heart of Argos, pasture land of horses, called Ephyra, where Sisyphus lived, who was the craftiest of all humankind.

chapter 6 ¶

OdysseyClassical · Greek

Figure condemned to eternally roll a huge stone up a hill, only for it to roll back down each time before reaching the top.

"And I saw Sisyphus at his endless task raising his prodigious stone with both his hands.

b works of unknown authorship ¶

De Rerum NaturaHellenistic · Latin

Mythological king condemned to eternally roll a boulder up a hill; used as an allegory for the futile pursuit of political power.

Here in this life also a Sisyphus

chapter 3 ¶

The rods, the axes fell, and evermore

chapter 3 ¶

For to seek after power- an empty name,

chapter 3 ¶

OlympianClassical · Greek

Legendary king of Corinth renowned for his cunning, named as a subject of the Corinthian mythic history the poet will not falsify.

I shall tell of Sisyphus, who, like a god, was very shrewd in his devising, and of Medea, who resolved on her own marriage against her father’s will, and thus saved the ship Argo and its seamen.

chapter 13 ¶

ApologyClassical · Greek

Mythic figure famed for cunning, named among those Socrates wishes to examine after death

What price would any of you pay, judges, to examine him who led the great army against Troy, or Odysseus, or Sisyphus, or countless others, both men and women, whom I might mention?

apology ¶

Letters to LuciliusImperial · Latin

Mythological figure condemned to eternally push a stone uphill.

I am not so foolish as to run through here the Epicurean refrain and say that the fears of the world below are empty—that Ixion is not whirled upon his wheel, that the stone is not pushed uphill on the shoulders of Sisyphus, that no man's vitals can be devoured and grow again daily;

letter 24 ¶