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  • Sisyphus

    From David Dalton@dalton@nfld.com to alt.mythology, humanities.classics, soc.culture.greek, alt.religion.druid on Tue May 12 03:49:54 2026
    From Newsgroup: alt.religion.druid

    Did Sisyphus ever get over the top?

    Maybe not, but Wikipedia says that Ovid said that
    Sisyphus sat on his boulder at one point.
    --
    https://www.nfld.com/~dalton/dtales.html Salmon on the Thorns (mystic page) rCLI gave my love a golden feather; I gave my love a heart of stone; When you find a golden feather it means yourCOll never lose your way back homerCY(RR)

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  • From Ed Cryer@ed@somewhere.in.the.uk to alt.mythology,humanities.classics,soc.culture.greek,alt.religion.druid on Tue May 12 17:08:24 2026
    From Newsgroup: alt.religion.druid

    David Dalton wrote:
    Did Sisyphus ever get over the top?

    Maybe not, but Wikipedia says that Ovid said that
    Sisyphus sat on his boulder at one point.


    That's intriguing.
    Give me the Ovid reference so that I can see the context.
    I wonder if Prometheus is still chained to his rock. Maybe he no longer
    has his vitals pecked out daily by vultures. And Tantalus; does he still
    stand in his pool? How about Ixion; still chained to the wheel?

    I think the Sisyphus myth is probably the best known to us today. Who
    wants life to be a Greek tragedy?
    Albert Camus talks about this in his book; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Myth_of_Sisyphus
    Life is absurd; totally irrational, he says. But concludes
    "The struggle itself towards the heights is enough to fill a man's
    heart. One must imagine Sisyphus happy."

    Ed

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  • From David Dalton@dalton@nfld.com to alt.mythology, humanities.classics, soc.culture.greek, alt.religion.druid on Tue May 12 15:21:43 2026
    From Newsgroup: alt.religion.druid

    On May 12, 2026, Ed Cryer wrote
    (in article <10tvjbg$232a6$1@dont-email.me>):

    David Dalton wrote:
    Did Sisyphus ever get over the top?

    Maybe not, but Wikipedia says that Ovid said that
    Sisyphus sat on his boulder at one point.

    That's intriguing.
    Give me the Ovid reference so that I can see the context.

    From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sisyphus
    (under Literary interpretations) ;

    Ovid (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ovid), the Roman poet, makes r
    eference to Sisyphus in the story of Orpheus and Eurydice (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orpheus_and_Eurydice). When
    Orpheus descends and confronts Hades and Persephone, he
    sings a song so that they will grant his wish to bring Eurydice
    back from the dead. After this song is sung, Ovid shows how
    moving it was by noting that Sisyphus, emotionally affected for
    just a moment, stops his eternal task and sits on his rock, the
    Latin wording being inque tuo sedisti, Sisyphe, saxo ("and you
    sat, Sisyphus, on your rock").
    --
    https://www.nfld.com/~dalton/dtales.html Salmon on the Thorns (mystic page) rCLI gave my love a golden feather; I gave my love a heart of stone; When you find a golden feather it means yourCOll never lose your way back homerCY(RR)

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  • From Ed Cryer@ed@somewhere.in.the.uk to alt.mythology,humanities.classics,soc.culture.greek,alt.religion.druid on Wed May 13 08:55:51 2026
    From Newsgroup: alt.religion.druid

    David Dalton wrote:
    On May 12, 2026, Ed Cryer wrote
    (in article <10tvjbg$232a6$1@dont-email.me>):

    David Dalton wrote:
    Did Sisyphus ever get over the top?

    Maybe not, but Wikipedia says that Ovid said that
    Sisyphus sat on his boulder at one point.

    That's intriguing.
    Give me the Ovid reference so that I can see the context.

    From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sisyphus
    (under Literary interpretations) ;

    Ovid (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ovid), the Roman poet, makes r
    eference to Sisyphus in the story of Orpheus and Eurydice (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orpheus_and_Eurydice). When
    Orpheus descends and confronts Hades and Persephone, he
    sings a song so that they will grant his wish to bring Eurydice
    back from the dead. After this song is sung, Ovid shows how
    moving it was by noting that Sisyphus, emotionally affected for
    just a moment, stops his eternal task and sits on his rock, the
    Latin wording being inque tuo sedisti, Sisyphe, saxo ("and you
    sat, Sisyphus, on your rock").


    I think that's just Ovid being cute.
    I find it quite a comical addition to the standard classical effects of Orpheus' music-playing; stilling animals, stopping rivers flowing etc.

    Ed
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