Classical Sinners in the Underworld:

A Tantalizing Sisyphean Task

TANTALUS IXION SISYPHUS

Pierre-Paul Rubens (1577-1640)Ixion , King of the Lapiths, Deceived by Zeus

Ixion is bound to the wheelPainting from the House of the Vettii, Pompeii. 62-79 AD

Attic Red FigureKantharosAttributed to the Amphitrite PainterMuseum Catalogue Number: London E 155, Beazley Archive Number: 212127

• Red-figure

Red-figure, c. 330 B.C.Staatliche Museen, Berlin

Cornelisz van Haarlem, Cornelis Ixion, 1588

Jusepe de Ribera 1588-1656Ixion1632Oil on canvasMuseo del Prado, Madrid.

Jules-Élie Delaunay (1828 – 1891)

Ixion SoftwareThe Industry’s Fastest Oracle Replication Solution

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Oracle Replication and Ixion’s Wheel

Ixion Motorcycle Clubs

Ixion Biotechnology

Ixion Biotechnology is dedicated to discovering and developing breakthrough cell-based therapies for insulin-dependent diabetes.

Sisyphus

Name vase of the Underworld Painter (Munich)

Alt Linux Sisyphus

http://www.altlinux.com/index.php?module=sisyphus

Sisyphus GamingThe constant cycle of hardware upgrades and more complex games can leave a gamer feeling like the legendary Sisyphus.

Simon Abramovitch in Escapist Magazine

The fact is, technology will always be moving forward, keeping the cycle running fluidly, trapping high-road gamers into a never-ending struggle for more, ringing the familiar bells of the perennially dissatisfied middle-class American. Buy, consume, then buy some more.The case is like that of the mythical Sisyphus, eternally pushing a stone up a mountain slope, whence the stone falls back under its own weight, and the climb begins anew. That high road can perhaps be likened to this slope, with the endless cycle of renewed and heightened expectations keeping any end inevitably unreachable. Perhaps, as with our look back at early games, there is indeed wisdom in classics.

http://www.sisyphusproductions.com

Franz von Stuck1863-1928

Camus’ Absurd Hero

Sisyphus and Teaching

Sisyphus the Rap VersionFunky dude name of Sisyphus be walkin' up a hill And the rock he be rollin' weigh so much he wanna kill And the gods all be laughin' when he get up to the top 'Cause the rock won't be stayin' They all know it gonna drop But Sisyphus be cool Well, you know he aint no fool 'Cause the rock be his thing And the mountain be his too And the gods can't beat him, no matter what they do So though his burden's heavy And his body tired and torn You know there aint no funky fate Can't be overcome by scorn!

Stills Stephen Lyrics - Myth Of Sisyphus (Stephen Stills, Kenny Passarelli Lyrics (1975)

Are you leavin'Bein' aloneAlways made you so sadI got memories of the cityFollowin' me everywhere I go

Are you mad with heartacheGot a country homeAnd you a ParisienneGonna take all your sorrowsRight along with you when I'm gone

And I got to go awayOnly need a couple of daysI got one more chance to sing itAnd I ain't gon' waste my time'Cause everything including youIs on the line

Are you troubledFeelin' badAnd no one seems to careGot the myth of SisyphusFallin' on you like a rolling stone

Joseph Keppler, Sr. — Tantalus. From the front cover of the October 8th, 1884 issue of Puck magazine. Based on the Greek Myth, it shows former Speaker of the House, and Republican nominee for President, James G. Blaine, tantalized by the oh, so close, but never reachable to him, goal of the Presidency, along with the spoils, patronage, and other riches, that the thoroughly corrupt Blaine lusted after.

Tantalus

Honore Daumier [French Realist Illustrator, 1808-1879]

Scottish cartoonist Douglas Noble

Tantalus Tantalus

Tantalus Monkeys

Tantalum

• Symbol: Ta 

• Atomic Number: 73 

Why is this object called a tantalus?

A three bottle rack style tanatalus.

A Wine to Tantalize?

Tantalus Mountain Range

The Tantalus Range is a small but spectacular subrange of the Pacific Ranges of the Coast Mountains in southern British Columbia, Canada.

Tantalus Interactivehttp://www.tantalus.com.au/

Tantalus

Standing in water, but dying of thirstThis is my thanks and this is my curseTry as I might, the fruit on the treesAll remain beyond reach, beyond wishes or pleading forOne last chance

Waiting for time to pass me byWaiting for freedom, waiting to dieWhere can I go, in a world without hope?There is never a place for a soul that has broken so

Trust in no one - Trust in no one

Linking the chains that weigh down your reasonNothing to blame, but the actions you chooseDriven insane by the conscience of treasonRunning in vein from a life of abuse

The closer I get the further I amThe journey I make is the course of the damnedThe distance I go is no distance at allAnd I climb to the sky but find myself falling so

Trust in no one - Trust in no one

Quench my thirst - Fill my heartFeed my mind - Don't leave me starving Hold my hand - stay close byTalk to me - Don't leave me crying here

Standing in water, yet dying of thirstThis is my thanks and this is my curseEmpty forgiveness for old indiscretionsAnd such condemnation for just one transgression

Find me now - set me freeFind me now - set me free

Waiting for time to pass me byWaiting for freedom, waiting to dieWhy do you smile at my timeless ordeal hereAnd why do you laugh at my hopeless appeal for your mercy?

Tear away the chains - Free me nowNo one else to blame – Let me goTear away the chains - Free me nowDriving me insane – Let me goTear away the chains - Free me nowNo one else to blame – Let me goTear away the chains - Free me nowDriving me insane – Let me go

STARGATE Episode 110“THE TORMENT OF

TANTALUS”

IThe trees let down their branches to his out-stretched hands,

lowerand still lower,

the branchesbending like a tautbow from the weight of the fruitthat flashes

everywhereamong the leaves, right therebeyond his fingers, athis fingers, the dazzlinglusciousness

brushinghis fingertips so faintlythat there isn’t anydifference

now betweena promised touch

and touch.

Yet Do I Marvelby Countee Cullen (1903-1946)

Yet Do I Marvelby Countee Cullen

I doubt not God is good, well-meaning, kind,And did He stoop to quibble could tell whyThe little buried mole continues blind,Why flesh that mirrors Him must someday die,Make plain the reason tortured TantalusIs baited by the fickle fruit, declareIf merely brute caprice dooms SisyphusTo struggle up a never-ending stair.Inscrutable His ways are, and immuneTo catechism by a mind too strewnWith petty cares to slightly understandWhat awful brain compels His awful hand.Yet do I marvel at this curious thing:To make a poet black, and bid him sing.

Classical Sinners in the Underworld:

A Tantalizing Sisyphean Task