The Douches of Greek Mythology

Tantalus

Tantalus (TAN-ta-luss): a Greek king (and a son of Zeus) whose overconfidence made him attmempt to fool the gods.


Tantalus with white beard, 300bc ceramic vessel

Hijynx

Zeus invited him to Mount Olympus for a dinner with the gods. Tantalus would steal the gods' special food (ambrosia and nectar) in an attempt to make his citiznes of his kingdom immortal.

In his most notable antic, Tantalus invited the gods over for dinner, using a non-traiditional menu.

Tantalus for whatever reason, had decided his son, Pelops, would make a great dinner for the gods.


The secret is in the broth!

Chopping his child into segments, then boiled in the stew, he attemped to fool the gods at his macabre dinner party. Most of the gods caught on and refused the entree. Demeter, stressed from being worried about Persephone, who had been kidnapped, ended up eating a small peice of Pelops’ shoulder. oops.

The Punishment

Zeus took matters into his own hands and killed Tantalus. Tantalus had to spend his whole afterlife in the deepest regions of Hades. His torture was that of having to stand forever waist-deep in a pool of water, with a fruit tree dangling branches of ripe fruit over his head. Always terribly hungry and thirsty, as he bent down to drink the water around him, the water would drain away. Whenever he reached up to grab fruit, the branches would lift out of his reach, forever tantalizing Tantalus.