Sisyphus Captures Death

***Miscellaneous Myths: Sisyphus Captures Death*** is the eighteenth episode of the *Miscellaneous Myths* by *Red*. This video is about the myth of Sisyphus; a mortal king who went to great lengths to avoid dying and paying for his various misdeeds he committed while alive, only to die and be punished in the end. Sisyphus' punishment in Tartarus is among the most iconic, along with Tantalus's.

## Summary

Capturing death is something that while sounds good on paper, has consequences, as usually nobody dies as a result. Fear of dying is widespread, but because someone's job is unpleasant doesn't mean it shouldn't get done at all.

Greek myth, other than psychopomps like Hermes, had an actual death personification, Thanatos, a not much liked deity as he was a constant reminder of people's own mortality, and who features prominently in the story of Sisyphus. Sisyphus is a king and a terrible host, as he murders and robs his guests. This violation of guest right angers Zeus, who decides to deal with Sisyphus as soon as possible; Hades suggests they kill him.

So the gods dispatch Thanatos (Death) to Sisyphus to collect him. Sisyphus doesn't fail to notice the dark looming figure carrying heavy chains, so he pretends to be awed by the craftmanship of said chains. He pretends to examine the chains, and, catching Thanatos off-guard, uses them to chain up the god in his own shackles. Then he stuffs him in a chest.

With Thanatos captured, and unable to do his job, people cease to die, which eventually pisses off Ares, the god of war, as war is no fun if nobody's dying. After a month of searching, Ares finds and frees Thanatos, whereupon the two of them drag Sisyphus into the Underworld so he can get his well-deserved punishment. In the Underworld, Sisyphus goes to Persephone and tells her that his wife has left him unburied and failed to show the proper honour to his dead body (an order her himself had given her earlier). Persephone sympathizes, so she lets him go back to the surface and settle the matter, but return after everything's alright.

Naturally, once free, Sisyphus doesn't return to the Underworld, and instead continues to live his long life as before, as Thanatos cannot be persuaded to try to collect him again. Eventually, he does die in his old age, and when he finally gets back to the Underworld, he is met with Thanatos, Hades and Persephone, all three very much exasperated. Sisyphus is punished by having to roll a boulder up a mountain; every time he's almost at the top, the boulder rolls down and he has to repeat the process for an eternity. He is forced to do something useless over and over again, much like in life he tried to avoid death, which was ultimately pointless.

## Credits

In the credits, Red sings *(Don't Fear) The Reaper* by Blue Öyster Cult. She says that in some versions, Sisyphus captures Hades instead, with the same results, and that sometimes he is initially punished for spilling some Zeus-related secret.

## Characters appearing

Sisyphus

Poseidon

Zeus

Hades

Thanatos

Ares

Athena (cameo)

Aphrodite (cameo)

Merope

Persephone

## Notes

1. ↑ Namely, revealing Aegina's whereabouts to her father the river god Asopus after Zeus abducted her.

## Links

Watch Sisyphus Captures Death on youtube.