The Myth of Sisyphus

By Sam Wang

The Odyssey

“καὶ μὴν Σίσυφον εἰσεῖδον κρατέρ᾽ ἄλγε᾽ ἔχοντα/λᾶαν βαστάζοντα πελώριον ἀμφοτέρῃσιν./ἦ τοι ὁ μὲν σκηριπτόμενος χερσίν τε ποσίν τε/λᾶαν ἄνω ὤθεσκε ποτὶ λόφον: ἀλλ᾽ ὅτε μέλλοι/ἄκρον ὑπερβαλέειν, τότ᾽ ἀποστρέψασκε κραταιίς:/αὖτις ἔπειτα πέδονδε κυλίνδετο λᾶας ἀναιδής./αὐτὰρ ὅ γ᾽ ἂψ ὤσασκε τιταινόμενος, κατὰ δ᾽ ἱδρὼς/ἔρρεενἐκμελέων, κονίηδ᾽ἐκκρατὸςὀρώρει.”

“And I saw Sisyphus in violent torment, seeking to raise a monstrous stone with both his hands. Verily he would brace himself with hands and feet, and thrust the stone toward the crest of a hill, but as often as he was about to heave it over the top, the weight would turn it back, and then down again to the plain would come rolling the ruthless stone. But he would strain again and thrust it back, and the sweat flowed down from his limbs, and dust rose up from his head.”

Myth Summary

Sisyphus was founder and king of Corinth, or Ephyra. He was notorious due to his cunning nature.

At the end of his life, he gained his greatest triumph, so Hades, the god of the underworld, came to claim him as the kingdom of the dead. Hades brought a pair of handcuffs, and Sisyphus asked if Hades could demonstrate how to use them on himself. Later, Hades was kept locked up in a closet at Sisyphus's house.

The result of that was nobody could die. For example, a soldier might be killed in a battle but still show up the next day. Finally, Hades was released, and Sisyphus was ordered to report to the Underworld for his eternal assignment.

However, he had another trick: He told his wife not to bury him and complained to Persephone, Queen of the Underworld, that he had not had a proper burial. He also told his wife to not place a coin under his tongue, so he couldn’t pay Charon the ferryman to go across the river Styx.

Persephone, having a soft heart, agreed that Sisyphus made his way back to the livings, so that he could arrange his funerals by living some more time. Although he postponed the inevitable death, he was brought down to Hades eventually. Due to the crime against the gods, he was punished with an eternity at hard, frustrating labor. He was assigned to roll a great boulder to the top of a hill. Every time when Sisyphus reached the summit, the boulder would roll back down again.

Sisyphus in Other Works

The Myth of Sisyphus is the subject of a famous essay by Albert Camus, who is generally recognized as one of the main figures in the existentialist movement. Camus presents Sisyphus as the absurd hero and shows how Sisyphus illustrates Camus’ own beliefs about the human condition. So on the one hand the story of Sisyphus is existentialist because one of the main figures of existentialism presents it as portraying his view of life.

It is said also that Sisyphus, being near to death, rashly wanted to test his wife’s love. He ordered her to cast his unburied body into the middle of the public square. Sisyphus woke up in the underworld. And there, annoyed by an obedience so contrary to human love, he obtained from Pluto permission to return to earth in order to chastise his wife. But when he had seen again the face of this world, enjoyed water and sun, warm stones and the sea, he no longer wanted to go back to the infernal darkness. Recalls, signs of anger, warnings were of no avail. Many years more he lived facing the curve of the gulf, the sparkling sea, and the smiles of earth. A decree of the gods was necessary. Mercury came and seized the impudent man by the collar and, snatching him from his joys, led him forcibly back to the underworld, where his rock was ready for him. (Camus, pp. 88/89)

According to Messerly, the first basic idea of existentialism is that ‘reason is an inadequate instrument with which to comprehend the values, depth, mystery, and meaning of life.’

We can see that for Sisyphus this is very much the case. Camus claims that Sisyphus is ‘accused of a certain levity in regard to the gods. He stole their secrets’. If reason were what dictated his actions, he would surely treat those more powerful than himself with respect and avoid the theft of their secrets. Putting death in chains seems also to have been a risky action if he considered from a rational point of view.

However, it is clearly not reason that dictates Sisyphus’ actions. He appears to be an impulsive, spirited and passionate person. Also, his reaction to his wife’s throwing his unburied body into the middle of the public square indicates that human emotions (such as love), take precedence over reason. It was probably reason that dictated his wife should follow her husband’s dying wish, but Sisyphus expected and wanted his wife’s love for him to be the overriding factor in determining her actions. Comprehending the ‘values, depth, mystery, and meaning of life’ involves understanding such emotions as love which are not accessible to reason.