Tantalus
Punished shade unable to drink the water around him or grasp the fruit above.
Overview
Tantalus is one of the punished shades Odysseus sees in Odyssey 11. Water reaches his chin, but whenever he bends to drink it recedes. Pears, pomegranates, apples, figs and olives hang above him, yet wind tosses the fruit away whenever he reaches. The scene describes the form of punishment with precision but does not give the offences known from longer traditions about Tantalus. This account does not fill Homer’s silence with the most familiar later explanation; it keeps the visible pattern of endless deprivation together with the fact that Homer does not state the offence here.
Relationships
- Descent to the Underworldappears as a punished shade
Odysseus sees Tantalus unable to reach the water and fruit around him.
- Punishments in Hadesis punished in
Odyssey 11 uses Tantalus as one figure in the afterlife punishment scene.
Story appearances
- Gates of the UnderworldPunished shade denied nearby water and fruit
Punished shade denied nearby water and fruit, part of the Underworld story's crossings, losses, judgments or guarded spaces.
Ancient sources
MythWeave distinguishes ancient-source evidence from later adaptations and modern interpretation.