In Greek mythology, Sisyphus was condemned to roll a boulder uphill forever.
Sisyphus was the legendary founder and king of Corinth, known for exceptional cunning. Ancient stories say he repeatedly deceived the gods, including by revealing Zeus’s secrets and by tricking Thanatos, the personification of death, into chains. While death was restrained, mortals could not die, disrupting the natural order.
After Sisyphus was taken to the Underworld, he used another deception to return temporarily to the world of the living. The gods eventually punished him with an endless task: pushing a huge stone up a hill, only for it to roll back down whenever it neared the summit.
The expression “Sisyphean task” now describes work that is repetitive and apparently futile. Sisyphus is often confused with Tantalus, who suffered eternal hunger and thirst, or Ixion, who was bound to a rotating wheel.