In Lydia, near Mount Sipila, there was a rich city called after Mount Sipila. This city was ruled by the favorite of the gods, the son of Zeus Tantalus. The gods rewarded him with everything in abundance. There was no one on earth who was richer and happier than King Sipylus, Tantalus. The richest gold mines on Mount Sipile gave him innumerable wealth. No one had such fertile fields, no one’s gardens and vineyards bore such beautiful fruits. In the meadows of Tantalus, the favorite of the gods, huge herds of fine-fleeced sheep, steep-horned bulls, cows and herds of horses as fast as the wind grazed. King Tantalus had an abundance of everything. He could have lived in happiness and contentment until a very old age, but excessive pride and crimes ruined him.
The gods looked at their favorite Tantalus as their equal. The Olympians often came to the golden halls of Tantalus and feasted merrily with him. Even to the bright Olympus, where no mortal ascends, Tantalus more than once ascended at the call of the gods. There he took part in the council of the gods and feasted at the same table with them in the palace of his father, the thunderer Zeus. Tantalus became proud from such great happiness. He began to consider himself equal to even the cloud-killer Zeus himself. Often, returning from Olympus, Tantalus took with him the food of the gods - ambrosia and nectar - and gave them to his mortal friends, feasting with them in his palace. Even those decisions that the gods made when conferring on bright Olympus about the fate of the world, Tantalus informed people; he did not keep the secrets that his father Zeus confided to him. One day, during a feast on Olympus, the great son Cronus turned to Tantalus and said to him:
- My son, I will fulfill whatever you wish, ask me for whatever you want. Out of love for you, I will fulfill any of your requests.
But Tantalus, forgetting that he was only a mortal, proudly answered his father, the aegis-powerful Zeus:
- I don't need your favors. I don't need anything. The lot that has befallen me is more beautiful than the lot of the immortal gods.
The Thunderer did not answer his son. He frowned menacingly, but restrained his anger. He still loved his son, despite his arrogance. Soon Tantalus twice cruelly insulted the immortal gods. Only then did Zeus punish the arrogant one.
In Crete, the homeland of the Thunderer, there was a golden dog. She once guarded the newborn Zeus and the wonderful goat Amalthea who fed him. When Zeus grew up and took away the power over the world from Cronus, he left this dog in Crete to guard his sanctuary. The king of Ephesus, Pandareus, seduced by the beauty and strength of this dog, secretly came to Crete and took it away on his ship from Crete. But where to hide this wonderful animal? Pandarey thought about this for a long time during his journey across the sea and finally decided to give the golden dog to Tantalus for safekeeping. King Sipila hid the wonderful animal from the gods. Zeus was angry. He called his son, the messenger of the gods Hermes, and sent him to Tantalus to demand the return of the golden dog. In the blink of an eye, fast Hermes rushed from Olympus to Sipylus, appeared before Tantalus and said to him:
“The king of Ephesus, Pandareus, stole a golden dog from the sanctuary of Zeus in Crete and gave it to you for safekeeping. The gods of Olympus know everything, mortals cannot hide anything from them! Return the dog to Zeus. Beware of incurring the wrath of the Thunderer!
Tantalus answered the messenger of the gods this way:
“It is in vain that you threaten me with the wrath of Zeus.” I have not seen a golden dog. The gods are wrong, I don’t have it.
Tantalus swore a terrible oath that he was telling the truth. With this oath he angered Zeus even more. This was the first insult inflicted by Tantalus on the gods. But even now the Thunderer did not punish him.
Tantalus brought upon himself the punishment of the gods as the next, second insult to the gods and a terrible crime. When the Olympians gathered for a feast in the palace of Tantalus, he decided to test their omniscience. King Sipila did not believe in the omniscience of the Olympians. Tantalus prepared a terrible meal for the gods. He killed his son Pelops and served his meat to the gods during a feast under the guise of a wonderful dish. The gods immediately comprehended Tantalus’s evil intent; none of them touched the terrible dish. Only the goddess Demeter, full of grief for her daughter Persephone, who was kidnapped from her, thinking only about her and not noticing anything around in her grief, ate the shoulder of young Pelops. The gods took a terrible dish, put all the meat and bones of Pelops in a cauldron and put it on a brightly blazing fire. Hermes, with his charms, again revived the boy. He appeared before the gods even more beautiful than he was before, the only thing missing was the shoulder that Demeter had eaten. By order of Zeus, the great Hephaestus immediately made a shoulder for Pelops from shiny ivory. Since then, all descendants of Pelops have a bright white spot on their right shoulder.
The crime of Tantalus overflowed the patience of the great king of gods and people, Zeus. The Thunderer overthrew Tantalus into the dark kingdom of his brother Hades; there he suffers a terrible punishment. Tormented by thirst and hunger, he stands in clear water. It reaches all the way to his chin. He only has to bend down to quench his painful thirst. But as soon as Tantalus bends down, the water disappears, and under his feet there is only dry black earth. The branches of fertile trees bend over Tantalus's head; juicy figs, ruddy apples, pomegranates, pears and olives hang low above his head; Heavy, ripe bunches of grapes almost touch his hair. Exhausted by hunger, Tantalus stretches out his hands for the beautiful fruits, but a gust of stormy wind blows in and carries away the fruitful branches. Not only hunger and thirst torment Tantalus, eternal fear squeezes his heart. A rock hangs over his head, barely holding on, threatening every minute to fall and crush Tantalus with its weight. This is how King Sipila, the son of Zeus Tantalus, suffers in the kingdom of the terrible Hades with eternal fear, hunger and thirst.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru