Editing Tantalus

{{Short description|Greek mythological figure and son of Zeus}}
{{Other uses|Tantalus (disambiguation)}}
{{Use Oxford spelling|date=November 2023}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2023}}
{{Infobox deity
| type = Greek
| name = Tantalus
| image = Tantalus Gioacchino Assereto circa1640s.jpg
| caption = ''Tantalus'' by [[Gioacchino Assereto]]
| deity_of = Mythological King
| abode = [[Lydia]] or [[Phrygia]] or [[Paphlagonia]]
| consort = (i) [[Dione (mythology)#Nymph or sea-nymph|Dione]]<br />(ii) [[Euryanassa]]<br />(iii) [[Clytie]]<br />(iv) [[Eupryto]]
| parents = (1) [[Zeus]] and [[Pluto (mother of Tantalus)|Pluto]]<br />(ii) [[Tmolus (father of Tantalus)|Tmolus]] and Pluto
| children = [[Pelops]], [[Niobe]], [[Broteas]] and [[Dascylus]]
| successor = 
| predecessor = 
| member_of = 
| other_names = Atys
}}
{{Greek underworld}}

'''Tantalus''' ({{langx|grc|Τάνταλος}} {{Lang|grc-Latn|Tántalos}}), also called '''Atys''', was a [[Greek mythology|Greek mythological]] figure, most famous for his punishment in [[Tartarus]]: for either revealing many secrets of the gods, for stealing [[ambrosia]] from them, or for trying to trick them into eating his son, he was made to stand in a pool of water beneath a fruit tree with low branches, with the fruit ever eluding his grasp, and the water always receding before he could take a drink. This punishment, although the most well-known today, was a more unusual detail in surviving early Greek sources, where variants including a stone suspended above his head are more commonly recorded.<ref name="Fowlervol2">{{Cite book |title=Early Greek Mythography Vol.2 |last=Fowler |first=Robert |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2013 |page=369}}</ref>

The ancient Greeks used the proverb "Tantalean punishment" ({{langx|grc|Ταντάλειοι τιμωρίαι}}: {{Lang|grc-Latn|Tantáleioi timōríai}}) in reference to those who have good things but are not permitted to enjoy them.<ref>[[Suda|Suida]], s.v. [https://topostext.org/work/240#tau.78 tau.78]</ref> His name and punishment are also the source of the English word ''tantalize'', meaning to torment with the sight of something desired but out of reach; tease by arousing expectations that are repeatedly disappointed.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dictionary.com/browse/tantalize|title=Tantalize - Define Tantalize at Dictionary.com|website=dictionary.com|access-date=5 January 2023}}</ref> 'The rock of Tantalus' was also used as a proverbial expression by [[Pindar]] and [[Archilochus]],<ref name="PindarIsthmian8">Pindar, ''Isthmian 8'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0033.tlg004.perseus-eng1:8 10–12]</ref><ref name="Archilochus">Archilochus, [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/archilochus-fragments/1999/pb_LCL259.133.xml fr.91].</ref> in the same vein as the [[Sword of Damocles]], to suggest being unable to enjoy something because attempting to do so places one in a position of perpetual imminent peril.<ref name="Gantz531"/>

==Etymology==
[[Plato]] in the ''[[Cratylus (dialogue)|Cratylus]]'' (395e<ref>{{Cite web |title=Plato, Cratylus, section 383a, section 395e |url=http://nlp.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0171:text=Crat.:section=395e |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140808042918/http://nlp.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0171%3Atext%3DCrat.%3Asection%3D395e |archive-date=8 August 2014 |access-date=2025-04-28 |website=nlp.perseus.tufts.edu |url-status=live }}</ref>) interprets {{Lang|grc|Τάνταλος}} (''{{Lang|grc-Latn|Tántalos}}'') as {{Lang|grc|ταλάντατος}} ({{Lang|grc-Latn|talántatos}}) [<nowiki/>[[Accusative case|acc.]] {{Lang|grc|ταλάντατον}}: {{Lang|grc-Latn|talántaton}} in the original], "who has to bear much" from {{Lang|grc|τάλας}} ({{Lang|grc-Latn|tálas}}) "wretched". The Third [[Vatican Mythographers|Vatican Mythographer]] claims that the name means "wishing for a vision".<ref>Third Vatican Mythographer, 21 (=Pepin, p.&nbsp;249).</ref>

The word ''{{Lang|grc|τάλας}}'' (''{{Lang|grc-Latn|tálas}}'') is held by some to be inherited from [[Proto-Indo-European]], although [[Robert S. P. Beekes|R.&nbsp;S.&nbsp;P.&nbsp;Beekes]] rejects an Indo-European interpretation.<ref>[[Robert S. P. Beekes|R. S. P. Beekes]], ''Etymological Dictionary of Greek'', Brill, 2009, p.&nbsp;1449.</ref>

==Historical background==
There may have been a historical Tantalus, possibly the ruler of an [[Anatolia]]n city named "Tantalís",<ref>{{cite book | title = History of Art in Phrygia, Lydia, Caria And Lycia | page = 62 | isbn = 978-1-4067-0883-7|author= George Perrot|publisher=Marton Press|year= 2007|language= fr, en}}</ref> "the city of Tantalus", or of a city named "Sipylus".<ref>This refers to [[Mount Sipylus]], at the foot of which his city was located and whose ruins were reported to be still visible in the beginning of the [[Common Era]], although few traces remain today. See [[Sir James Frazer]], ''Pausanias, and other Greek sketches'' (later retitled ''Pausanias's Description of Greece'').</ref> [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] reports that there was a port under his name and a sepulcher of him "by no means obscure", in the same region.{{Citation needed|date=March 2025}}

Tantalus is sometimes referred to as "King of [[Phrygia]]",<ref>{{cite book|title= Bulfinch's Mythology|isbn=1-4191-1109-4|pages=1855–2004|author=Thomas Bulfinch|date=June 2004|publisher=Kessinger Publishing Company}}</ref> although his city was located in the western extremity of [[Anatolia]], where [[Lydia]] was to emerge as a state before the beginning of the first millennium BCE, and not in the traditional heartland of Phrygia, situated more inland. References to his son as "Pelops the Lydian" led some scholars to the conclusion that there would be good grounds for believing that he belonged to a primordial house of [[Lydia]].<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":4" /><ref name="Gantz536">{{Cite book|last=Gantz|first=Timothy|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/26304278|title=Early Greek myth : a guide to literary and artistic sources|date=1993|publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press|isbn=0-8018-4410-X|location=Baltimore|pages=536|oclc=26304278}}</ref>

Other versions name his father as [[Tmolus (father of Tantalus)|Tmolus]], the name of a [[List of Kings of Lydia|king of Lydia]] and, like Sipylus, of another mountain in ancient Lydia. The location of Tantalus' mortal mountain-fathers generally placed him in Lydia;<ref>[[Pindar]], ''Olympian Odes'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0162 1.24–38], 9.9; [[Strabo]], 1.3.17; Pausanias, 5.1.6 & 9.5.7</ref> and more seldom in [[Phrygia]]<ref name=":3">Strabo, 12.8.21</ref> or [[Paphlagonia]],<ref name=":4">
us Siculus, 4.74</ref> all in [[Asia Minor]].

The geographer [[Strabo]] states that the wealth of Tantalus was derived from the mines of Phrygia and [[Mount Sipylus]]. Near Mount Sipylus are archaeological features that have been associated with Tantalus and his house since Antiquity. Near [[Mount Yamanlar]] in [[İzmir]] (ancient [[Smyrna]]), where the Lake Karagöl (Lake Tantalus) associated with the accounts surrounding him is found, is a monument mentioned by Pausanias: the [[Tholos (Ancient Rome)|tholos]] "tomb of Tantalus" (later [[Christianization|Christianized]] as "Saint Charalambos's tomb") and another one in Mount Sipylus,<ref>Various sites called the "tomb of Tantalus" have been shown to travellers since the time of Pausanias.</ref> and where a "throne of Pelops", an altar or bench carved in rock and conjecturally associated with his son is found.

Based on a similarity between the names Tantalus and [[Hantili]], it has been suggested that the name Tantalus may have derived from that of these two [[Hittites|Hittite]] kings.<ref>{{cite book | title = The East Face of Helicon: West Asiatic Elements in Greek Poetry and Myth| page = 475| isbn = 978-0-19-815221-7 | author= M. L. West|publisher= [[Oxford University Press]] |year= 1999}}</ref>

==Family==
Tantalus was generally said to be a son of [[Zeus]]<ref name="Gantz533"/> and a woman named [[Pluto (mother of Tantalus)|Pluto]].<ref>Junk, Tim (2006) [https://referenceworks-brillonline-com.wikipedialibrary.idm.oclc.org/entries/brill-s-new-pauly/pluto-e929020?s.num=18&s.au=%22Parker%2C+Robert+%28Oxford%29%22 s.v. Pluto <nowiki>[1]</nowiki> Mother of Tantalus (by Zeus)], in [https://referenceworks.brill.com/display/package/bnpo ''Brill’s New Pauly Online''].</ref> In a few sources [[Tmolus (mythology)|Tmolus]] is given as the father.<ref name="Gantz536"/><ref>Scholium ad [[Euripides]], ''Orestes'' [https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_qIOkKvKoZcQC/page/n109/mode/2up 5].</ref> The identity of his wife is variously given: generally as [[Dione (mythology)|Dione]] the daughter of [[Atlas (mythology)|Atlas]];<ref>Ovid, ''[[Metamorphoses]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Ov.%20Met.%206.174&lang=original 6.174]'';'' [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''[[Fabulae]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/206#82 82 & 83]</ref> [[Euryanassa]], daughter of [[Pactolus]], a river-god of Anatolia;<ref>Scholia ad Euripides, ''[[Orestes (play)|Orestes]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Eur.%20Orest.%205&lang=original 5]; [[Tzetzes]] on [[Lycophron]], 52</ref><ref>[[Pseudo-Plutarch]], ''Parallela minora'' [https://topostext.org/work/270#33 33].</ref> [[Clytie|Clytia]], the child of [[Amphidamas|Amphidamantes]];<ref>Scholia ad Euripides, ''[[Orestes (play)|Orestes]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Eur.%20Orest.%2011&lang=original 11]</ref> and [[Eupryto]].<ref>Apostol. ''Cent.'' 18.7</ref>

Tantalus was the father of [[Pelops]], [[Niobe]], [[Broteas]]. A scholium on the ''[[Argonautica]]'' of [[Apollonius Rhodius]] adds [[Dascylus]] as a child of Tantalus.<ref>Scholia on [[Apollonius Rhodius]], ''Argonautica'' 2.752</ref> Through [[Pelops]], Tantalus was the progenitor of the [[House of Atreus]], which was named after his grandson [[Atreus]] and which was plagued by misfortune, making the house the subject of many Greek [[Tragedy|tragedies]].
{| class="wikitable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"
|+class="nowrap" | Comparative table of Tantalus' family
! rowspan="2" |Relation and Name
! colspan="23" |Sources
|-
|''<small>Pin.</small>''
|<small>''Sch. ad Eur.''</small>
|''<small>Aris.</small>''
|''<small>Iso.</small>''
|''<small>Sch. Ap. Rh.</small>''
|''<small>Lyc.</small>''
|''<small>Dio. Sic.</small>''
|''<small>Hor.</small>''
|''<small>Par.</small>''
|''<small>Ov.</small>''
|''<small>Str.</small>''
|''<small>Stat.</small>''
|''<small>Apd.</small>''
|''<small>Tac.</small>''
|''<small>Plut.</small>''
|''<small>Hyg.</small>''
|''<small>Pau.</small>''
|''<small>Clem.</small>''
|''<small>Anti.</small>''
|''<small>Non.</small>''
|''<small>Ser.</small>''
|''<small>Gk. Ant.</small>''
|''<small>Tzet.</small>''
|-
| colspan="24" |''Parentage''
|-
|Tmolus and Pluto
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|✔
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|✔
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|Zeus
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|✔
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|✔
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|✔
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|✔
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|Zeus and Pluto
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|✔
|✔
|✔
|✔
|✔
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|-
| colspan="24" |''Spouse''
|-
|Euryanassa
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|✔
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|✔
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|✔
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|Dione
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|✔
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|✔
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|✔
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|Eupryto
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|✔
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|-
| colspan="24" |''Children''
|-
|Pelops
|✔
|✔
|✔
|✔
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|✔
|✔
|✔
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|✔
|✔
|✔
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|✔
|✔
|✔
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|✔
|✔
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|Niobe
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|✔<ref name=":2">Not named but certainly describes her</ref>
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|✔
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|✔
|✔
|✔
|✔<ref name=":2" />
|✔
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|✔
|✔
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|✔
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|✔
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|Dascylus
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|✔
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|Broteas
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|✔
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|}

[[File:Mount Yamanlar Karagol IzmirTurkey.jpg|right|200px|thumb|''Karagöl'' ("The black lake") in [[Mount Yamanlar]], [[İzmir]], [[Turkey]], associated with the accounts surrounding Tantalus and named after him as Lake Tantalus]] [[File:De val van Tantalus.jpg|thumb|245x245px|Print of the fall of Tantalus. Preserved in the [[Ghent University Library]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=De val van Tantalus |url=https://lib.ugent.be/viewer/archive.ugent.be:D1FE9D80-78F2-11EA-9B8B-089BA936FAF6#?c=&m=&s=&cv=&xywh=-2314,-244,9072,4868 |access-date=2 October 2020 |website=lib.ugent.be}}</ref>]]

Tantalus's grave-sanctuary stood on [[Mount Sipylus|Sipylus]]<ref>Pausanias, 2.22.3</ref> but honours were paid him at [[Argos, Peloponnese|Argos]], where local tradition claimed to possess his bones.<ref>Pausanias, 2.22.2</ref> In [[Lesbos]], there was another hero-shrine in the small settlement of Polion and a mountain named after Tantalus.<ref>[[Stephen of Byzantium]], noted by Kerenyi 1959:57, note 218.</ref>

==Mythology==
The oldest surviving reference to Tantalus is the ''[[Odyssey]]''. [[Odysseus]] sees him there when he journeys to [[Hades]], standing in a pool of water up to his chin beneath a fruit tree with low branches. Whenever Tantalus reached for the fruit, the wind blew the branches out of his reach; whenever he tried to drink, the water receded before he could reach it.<ref>[[Homer]], ''[[Odyssey]]'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg002.perseus-eng1:11.567-11.600 11.582–92].</ref> However, the crime for which this is the punishment is not mentioned.<ref name="Gantz531">{{Cite book|last=Gantz|first=Timothy|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/26304278|title=Early Greek myth : a guide to literary and artistic sources|date=1993|publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press|isbn=0-8018-4410-X|location=Baltimore|pages=531}}</ref>

In other surviving early Greek sources, a more popular variant of the punishment is that of a stone perpetually hanging above Tantalus's head.<ref name="Fowlervol2"/> The rock is mentioned in fragments of Archilochus,<ref name="Archilochus"/> [[Alcman]],<ref>''Poetae Melicorum Graecorum Fragmenta'', Alcman, fragment 79.</ref> [[Alcaeus]], and [[Pherecydes of Athens|Pherecydes]].<ref name="Gantz531"/> The crime for which this is the punishment is, however, absent from the fragments.

Pausanias ({{circa|110–180}} CE) reports that in the Knidian lesche, a building at [[Delphi]] full of paintings by [[Polygnotus]] depicting different mythological scenes, Tantalus is shown enduring both the punishment of the retreating food and drink recorded in the ''Odyssey'' and that of the rock hanging above his head. Pausanias states that Polygnotus is following the tradition of the poet Archilochus, but adds that he does not know whether [[Archilochus]] was the origin of this variant or whether he was following another source.<ref>Pausanias, ''Description of Greece'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.perseus-eng1:10.31.12 10.31.12].</ref> Apollodorus also records both punishments together.<ref name="ApollodorusEpitomeE2">Apollodorus, ''Epitome'' [http://data.perseus.org/texts/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg002.perseus-eng1 E.2].</ref> Other allusions to the story generally tend to continue to refer to either the rock alone, or the rock and the receding food and water.<ref name="Gantz534"/> Further reference to the punishment but without mention of the specific crime are found in [[Horace]] (65 BCE–8 CE), who mentions the receding water in the first ''[[Satires (Horace)|Satire]]'',<ref>Horace, ''Satires'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0893.phi004.perseus-lat1:1.1.61-1.2.63 1.1.61]</ref> and [[Lucretius]] ({{circa|99}}–55 BCE), mentions Tantalus's fear of a boulder hanging in the air.<ref>Lucretius, ''[[De rerum natura]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/668#3.978 3.978–83].</ref>

Despite the crime of attempting to feed his son to the gods being the most well-known variant today, in antiquity there were multiple variants reporting different crimes. Most, but not all, of these involve a feast to some degree. References to the attempt to feed the gods his dismembered son appear comparatively late in the surviving sources.

===Feasting===
The earliest account of Tantalus's crime is that found in a fragment of the ''[[Nostoi]]'' preserved in the ''[[Deipnosophistae]]'' of [[Athenaeus]]. Tantalus is punished by Zeus after Zeus swears an oath to give him anything he asks for, and Tantalus asks to be allowed to live like the gods. Zeus is bound by his oath to do this, but as a punishment Zeus places a giant rock above his head so that, although Tantalus has access to a banquet akin to that which the gods enjoy, fear of the rock falling prevents him from ever enjoying it.<ref name="Gantz531"/><ref>''Nostoi'' fr. 4 in ''Poetae Epici Graeci'' ed. A. Bernabé. (1987) 1, p. 96.</ref>

The variant in which Tantalus attempts to feed the gods his dismembered son is, however, clearly familiar to audiences by the time of Pindar ({{circa|518–438}} BCE).<ref name="Gantz532">{{Cite book|last=Gantz|first=Timothy|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/26304278|title=Early Greek myth : a guide to literary and artistic sources|date=1993|publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press|isbn=0-8018-4410-X|location=Baltimore|pages=532}}</ref> In his first ''Olympian Ode'', Pindar initially alludes to the story in which Pelops is killed, [[Human cannibalism|served as food]], and partially eaten, by explaining that [[Clotho]], one of the three [[Moirai|Fates]], revived Pelops in a cauldron, replacing his shoulder with one of ivory.<ref>Pindar, ''Olympian 1'', 25–27.</ref> A scholiast commenting on this passage in Pindar reports that according to [[Bacchylides]] ({{Circa|518}}–{{Circa|451 BCE}}), it was Rhea who revived Pelops by placing him in a cauldron.<ref>Scholiast on Pindar ''Olympian 1'', 40a: = Bacchylides, [https://archive.org/details/carminacumfragme0000bacc/page/108/mode/2up fr. 42 SM]</ref>

However, in ''Olympian 1'' Pindar rejects this version, implying that it is a lie and adding that it is better to speak well of the gods.<ref>Pindar, ''Olympian 1'', 28–35.</ref><ref name="Gantz532"/> He then relates a different account in which Tantalus invited the gods to a meal to repay them for inviting him to feast with them. Nothing went amiss with the meal, but Poseidon, on seeing Pelops, was overcome with desire for him and carried him off in his chariot.<ref>Pindar, ''Olympian 1'', 39–46.</ref> The sudden disappearance of Pelops, and the failure of attempts to find him, led envious neighbours to spread rumours that he had been killed, cooked, and eaten. Pindar's choice of words in describing these rumoured events imply that the gods also participated in the act of killing Pelops. Although it is possible Pindar is reporting a variant he was aware of, Douglas Gerber suggests that the implication that the gods participated in the gruesome acts is meant to elevate the horror of the scene, and thus simultaneously make it seem less believable.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Gerber|first=Douglas|title=Pindar's 'Olympian One' - A Commentary|date=1982|publisher=University of Toronto Press|page=85}}</ref> In a similar vein, in the ''[[Iphigenia in Tauris]]'' of [[Euripides]], [[Iphigenia]] refers to the 'feast of Tantalus' that the gods attended and enjoyed as unworthy of belief.<ref>Euripides, ''Iphigenia in Tauris'' vv.385–91.</ref> It is unclear, however, whether her denial is that the gods enjoyed the meal, or that they ate it at all, or that Tantalus attempted to feed the gods his son,<ref name="Kyraikou">{{cite book |last1=Kyriakou |first1=Poulheria |title=A commentary on Euripides' Iphigenia in Tauris |date=2006 |publisher=W. de Gruyter |page=144|isbn=978-3-11-019099-1}} on 385–91.</ref> and whether Euripides meant Iphigenia's denial to follow Pindar's variant in which Tantalus is the victim of the rumours of envious neighbours cannot be established by what is given in the play.<ref name="Kyraikou"/> In Euripides's ''[[Helen (play)|Helen]]'' the character of Menelaus, mentions Pelops in relation to a feast, but the feast is referred to one which Pelops himself was 'persuaded' to make.<ref>Euripides, ''Helen'',388–89.</ref> The text, however, is generally considered corrupt, rather than referring to an otherwise unkown variant in which Pelops himself agreed to host a banquet.<ref name="Burian214">{{Cite book|last=Burian|first=Peter|title=Euripides - Helen|date=2007|publisher=Aris & Phillips Classicas Texts, Oxbow Books|page=214}}</ref>

After denying that Tantalus's crime was that of the cannibal banquet, Pindar then claims that his offence was stealing nectar and [[ambrosia]] from the gods – substances which they had used to make him immortal – and giving it to his friends. Zeus's punishment for Tantalus is to hang a boulder above his head, from which he then perpetually flees.<ref>Pindar, ''Olympian 1'', 55–64.</ref> It is unclear where Pindar imagines Tantalus's punishment as taking place. Some have argued that in the ''Nostoi'' Tantalus's punishment took place on Olympus and that Pindar was following this model. Gerber points out, however, that there are no other instances in which a mortal's punishment takes place on Olympus, and adds that it is difficult to imagine that the gods would enjoy the constant presence of the suffering Tantalus at their banquets.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Gerber|first=Douglas|title=Pindar's 'Olympian One' - A Commentary|date=1982|publisher=University of Toronto Press|page=99}}</ref> The punishment of the hanging rock is also mentioned by [[Electra]] in Euripides's ''Orestes'', where Tantalus is located somewhere between heaven and earth, flying hither and thither in the air (ἀέρι ποτᾶται) in an attempt to escape the bolder above his head. The crime for which this is the punishment is, however, not detailed.<ref>Euripides, ''Orestes'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0006.tlg016.perseus-eng1:1-33 v.7].</ref> A scholiast on the passage states that he was placed in the sky so that he was far enough from Olympus so as not to be able to hear the conversation of the gods, and far enough away from mortals so as not to be able to tell them anything he had already heard.<ref name="Gantz533">{{Cite book|last=Gantz|first=Timothy|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/26304278|title=Early Greek myth : a guide to literary and artistic sources|date=1993|publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press|isbn=0-8018-4410-X|location=Baltimore|pages=533}}</ref> Similarly, [[Diodorus Siculus]] (1st century BCE) recounts that his crime was sharing with mortals the intimate conversations of the gods,<ref>Diodorus Siculus, ''Library'', [https://topostext.org/work/133#4.74.1 4.73.1]</ref> an explanation which [[Publius Ovidius Naso|Ovid]] also gives in the ''[[Ars Amatoria]]''.<ref>Ovid, ''Ars Amatoria'', 2.605–6.</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Janka |first1=Markus |title=Ovid, Ars amatoria: Buch 2 Kommentar |date=1997 |publisher=C. Winter |isbn=3-8253-0593-7|pages=427–28}} on vv.605–6.</ref> Apollodorus gives both the theft of ambrosia and the sharing of the secrets of the gods as his crimes.<ref name="ApollodorusEpitomeE2"/>

The first surviving source to name the Demeter as the god who ate part of Pelops is the ''Alexandra'' of [[Lycophron]] ({{circa|300}} BCE), in which she is referred to via several epithets. The details given are that she ate the shoulder of the grandfather of Menelaeus (who is himself cryptically referred to by way of his genealogy), but nothing is said about how Pelops's shoulder came to be eaten, its replacement, or the punishment of Tantalus.<ref>Lycophron ''Alexandra'' [https://archive.org/details/alexandraoflycop00lyco/page/18/mode/2up 152–55].</ref> In the ''Metamorphoses'' Ovid relates in book 6 that Pelops has a shoulder of ivory because he was cut up by his father, and that the gods restored him, except for a part of his shoulder which was absent (''defuit''),<ref>Ovid, ''Metamorphoses'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0959.phi006.perseus-eng1:6.382-6.411 6.403–11].</ref> and in books 4 and 10 the punishment of Tantalus is mentioned in passing and includes receding waters and retreating trees.<ref>Ovid ''Metamorphoses'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0959.phi006.perseus-eng1:4.416-4.480 4.458–59], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0959.phi006.perseus-lat1:10.1-10.85 10.41–42]</ref> The story is also mentioned in the ''[[Fabulae]]''. The details given are that Pelops was dismembered by Tantalus at a feast of the gods, that [[Ceres (mythology)|Ceres]] – the Roman counterpart to Demeter – ate a part of his arm, that the gods restored him to life, and that Ceres replaced the part of his shoulder that was missing with ivory.<ref>Hyginus, ''Fabulae'', [https://topostext.org/work/206#83 83].</ref> An explanation for why Demeter alone would fail to notice the content of the meal is given in later sources, with a scholium on Lycophron stating that Demeter was distracted by the loss of her daughter [[Persephone]].<ref>Scholium ad Lycophron [https://archive.org/details/lycophronisalexa02lycouoft/page/70/mode/2up 152].</ref>

Likewise, an explanation as to why Tantalus attempted to feed is son to the gods is not found in any sources until [[Servius the Grammarian|Servius]] (early 5th century CE),<ref name="Gantz534"/> who gives as Tantalus's motivation a desire to test the gods.<ref>Servius on [[Vergil]]'s ''Georgics'' [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Serv.+G.+3.7&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2007.01.0092 3.7].</ref> A scholium on Lycophron suggests that this was a gesture of hospitality,<ref name="Gantz534"/><ref>''ad Lycophron'' [https://archive.org/details/lycophronisalexa02lycouoft/page/70/mode/2up 152] (=p. 70).</ref> but gives no explanation as to why it should be interpreted as such.

The story of Tantalus is also reported by the [[Vatican Mythographers]]. The first mythographer states that it was Ceres who ate Pelops's shoulder, and it was her who gave him the ivory shoulder. The mythographer offers an allegorical interpretation of Ceres's involvement, explaining that she is the deity who ate him because goddess of earth, and earth consumes the bodies of the dead, but leaves the bones.<ref>First Vatican Mythographer, 12. (=Pepin, p.&nbsp;18)</ref> The second and third mythographers also state that it was Ceres who ate part of Pelops, for the same allegorical reason, but does not mention the ivory replacement for the lost part, and instead states that it was [[Mercury (mythology)|Mercury]] who restored Pelops to life, and explains that this is because Mercury is the god of intelligence.<ref>Second Vatican Mythographer 124. (=Pepin, p.&nbsp;148)</ref><ref>Third Vatican Mythographer, 21. (=Pepin, p.&nbsp;249).</ref>

A Scholium on Lykophron suggests that either Tantalus 'was attempting to be hospitable, or to make a significant contribution to the ''eranos'' to which the gods had invited him (''schol ad Lyc.'' 152, = ''ad Ol.'' 1.40a). The scholiast also notes that according to some it is either Themis or Thetis (the scholium survives in several manuscripts, and the name differs between them) who ate the shoulder.<ref name="Gantz535">{{Cite book|last=Gantz|first=Timothy|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/26304278|title=Early Greek myth : a guide to literary and artistic sources|date=1993|publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press|isbn=0-8018-4410-X|location=Baltimore|pages=535|oclc=26304278}}</ref>

===The golden dog===
In a different tradition, Tantalus was implicated in the theft of the gold dog which [[Rhea (mythology)|Rhea]] had once put to watch over the goat nourising the infant Zeus when she hid him in a cave on [[Crete]]. The story is recorded by [[Antoninus Liberalis]] as well as in scholia on Pindar's ''Olympian'' 1 and on the ''Odyssey''.<ref name="Gantz535"/>

Apollodorus reports that [[Pandareus]] stole a golden dog who guarded the cave in Crete in which Rhea had hidden him from [[Cronus]]. Rhea had initially set the dog to guard the goat which was providing Zeus with milk. Later, after making the goat 'an immortal' Zeus ordered the dog to continue guarding the Cretan cave. Having stolen the god, Pandareus then gave it to Tantalus for safekeeping. When he later returned and asked for the dog, Tantalus swore and oath that he had never received it. Zeus punished Pandareus for the theft by turning him to stone and Tantalus for swearing a false oath by striking him with a thunderbolt and placing mount Sipylus on top of him.<ref>Antoninus Liberalis, ''Metamorphoses'' [https://topostext.org/work/216#36 36]</ref> Variants of this appear in late sources: scholia on the ''Odyssey'' state that Zeus told Hermes to go to Tantalus and retrieve the dog, and it was Hermes to whom Tantalus lied, and another variant is reported therein in which Tantalus himself steals the dog.<ref name="Gantz535"/> in another version, it was a mechanical dog crafted by [[Hephaestus]] to guard a temple of Zeus<ref>[[Eustathius of Thessalonica]], ''On [[Homer]]'s [[Odyssey]]'' [https://books.google.com/books?id=ZP4NAAAAYAAJ&pg=RA1-PA216 19.710]</ref>). There were multiple plays, now lost, written about Tantalus in antiquity, and it is generally assumed that they relate to this incident rather than anything involving a feast.<ref name="Gantz534">{{Cite book|last=Gantz|first=Timothy|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/26304278|title=Early Greek myth : a guide to literary and artistic sources|date=1993|publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press|isbn=0-8018-4410-X|location=Baltimore|pages=534}}</ref>

==Tantalus in art==
To date all known depictions of Tantalus in ancient art date from the fifth century BCE onwards.<ref name="Kossatz-Diessmann843">Kossatz-Diessmann, Anneliese (1994) [[Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae|LIMC]] vol 7.1 s.v ''Tantalos'' (= p. [https://archive.org/details/limc_20210516/Lexicon%20Iconographicum%20Mythologiae%20Classicae/LIMC%20VII-1%20Oidipous-Theseus/page/n435/mode/2up 843])</ref> 
Tantalus is depicted on the [[name vase]] of the [[Underworld Painter]] – an [[Apulian vase painting|apulian]] red-figure [[krater|volute-krater]] illustrating the palace of Hades and Persephone surrounded by scenes from the underworld. He is pictured in the lower right corner of the painting, pointing to a rock hanging over him from which he is attempting to flee.<ref name="Kossatz-Diessmann841">Kossatz-Diessmann, Anneliese (1994) [[Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae|LIMC]] vol 7.1 s.v ''Tantalos'' (= p. [https://archive.org/details/limc_20210516/Lexicon%20Iconographicum%20Mythologiae%20Classicae/LIMC%20VII-1%20Oidipous-Theseus/page/n435/mode/2up 841])</ref> This vase, and the painting of Polygnotes described by Pausanias are to date the only known artistic representations of the punishment of the rock.<ref name="Kossatz-Diessmann843"/>

He is also shown in an underworld scene on the back lower register of the [[Velletri Sarcophagus]], to the right of the central carving of [[Charon]] in the boat which escorts the departed to the underworld. Tantalus is shown naked, standing in water which reaches up to his knees. The position in which he is holding his hands suggestes that he is attempted to raise to his mouth water which he has scooped up in his cupped hands.<ref name="Kossatz-Diessmann841"/>

<gallery class="center" mode="packed">
File:Tantalus by HGoltzius CCornelius 1588.jpg|[[Engraving]] by [[Hendrik Goltzius]] and C. Cornelius (1588)
File:Tantalus Gioacchino Assereto circa1640s.jpg|[[Oil painting]] by [[Gioacchino Assereto]] (circa 1640s)
</gallery>

== See also ==

* [[Child cannibalism]]
* [[Lycaon (king of Arcadia)]]
* [[Prometheus]]
* [[Sisyphus]]
* [[Xenia (Greek)|Xenia]], the Greek concept of hospitality, which Tantalus is described as breaking

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Bibliography==
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*{{cite EB1911 |wstitle=Tantalus |volume=26 |page=401}}
* Bacchylides ''Carmina cum fragmentis'' eds B. Snell and H. Maehler. Teubner. 1970.
* {{Cite book|last=Burian|first=Peter|title=Euripides - Helen|date=2007|publisher=Aris & Phillips Classicas Texts, Oxbow Books|page=214}}
*Diodorus Siculus, ''The Library of History'' translated by [[Charles Henry Oldfather]]. Twelve volumes. [[Loeb Classical Library]]. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd. 1989. Vol. 3. Books 4.59–8. [http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/home.html Online version at Bill Thayer's Web Site]
*Diodorus Siculus, ''Bibliotheca Historica. Vol 1–2''. Immanel Bekker. Ludwig Dindorf. Friedrich Vogel. in aedibus B. G. Teubneri. Leipzig. 1888–1890. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:2008.01.0540 Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library].
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*{{cite book |last=Gantz |first=Timothy |author-link=Timothy Gantz |title=Early Greek Myth |publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press |location=Baltimore |year=1993}}
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*Homer, ''The Odyssey'' with an English Translation by A.T. Murray, Ph.D. in two volumes. Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1919. {{ISBN|978-0674995611|}}. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0136 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.] [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0135 Greek text available from the same website].
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* {{cite book |last1=Janka |first1=Markus |title=Ovid, Ars amatoria: Buch 2 Kommentar |date=1997 |publisher=C. Winter |isbn=3-8253-0593-7}}
* {{cite book | last=Kerenyi | first=Karl | author-link=Károly Kerényi | title=The Heroes of the Greeks | publisher=Thames and Hudson | location=New York/London | year=1959}}
*{{cite book |last1=Kyriakou |first1=Poulheria |title=A commentary on Euripides' Iphigenia in Tauris |date=2006 |publisher=W. de Gruyter |isbn=978-3-11-019099-1}}
*Pausanias, ''Description of Greece'' with an English Translation by W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., and H.A. Ormerod, M.A., in 4 Volumes. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1918. {{ISBN|0-674-99328-4}}. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0160 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library]
*Pausanias, ''Graeciae Descriptio.'' ''3 vols''. Leipzig, Teubner. 1903. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0159 Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library].
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*Ovid, ''Metamorphoses.'' Hugo Magnus. Gotha (Germany). Friedr. Andr. Perthes. 1892. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0029 Latin text available at the Perseus Digital Library].
*Peppin, Ronald E. ''The Vatican mythographers - an English translation''. Fordham University Press. 2008.
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* {{cite DGRBM |year=1848|title=Ta'ntalus |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0104%3Aalphabetic+letter%3DT%3Aentry+group%3D1%3Aentry%3Dtantalus-bio-1}}
*[[Strabo]], ''The Geography of Strabo.'' Edition by H.L. Jones. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd. 1924. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0198%3Abook%3D6%3Achapter%3D1%3Asection%3D1 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.]
*Strabo, ''Geographica'' edited by A. Meineke. Leipzig: Teubner. 1877. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0197 Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.]
*[[Suda|Suida]], ''Suda Encyclopedia'' translated by Ross Scaife, David Whitehead, William Hutton, Catharine Roth, Jennifer Benedict, Gregory Hays, Malcolm Heath Sean M. Redmond, Nicholas Fincher, Patrick Rourke, Elizabeth Vandiver, Raphael Finkel, Frederick Williams, Carl Widstrand, Robert Dyer, Joseph L. Rife, Oliver Phillips and many others. [https://topostext.org/work/240 Online version at the Topos Text Project.]

==External links==
* [https://iconographic.warburg.sas.ac.uk/category/vpc-taxonomy-000306 The Warburg Institute Iconographic Database (images of Tantalus)]
* {{Commons category-inline|Tantalus}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Children of Zeus]]
[[Category:Kings of Phrygia]]
[[Category:Kings in Greek mythology]]
[[Category:Condemned souls in Tartarus]]
[[Category:Mythological people from Anatolia]]
[[Category:Deeds of Zeus]]
[[Category:Incidents of cannibalism]]
[[Category:Progenitors in Greek mythology]]
[[Category:Atreidai]]