Tantalus

Tantalus
Mythological King
Tantalus by Gioacchino Assereto
Other names	Atys
Abode	Lydia or Phrygia or Paphlagonia
Genealogy
Parents	(1) Zeus and Pluto (ii) Tmolus and Pluto
Consort	(i) Dione (ii) Euryanassa (iii) Clytie (iv) Eupryto
Children	Pelops, Niobe, Broteas and Dascylus

Tantalus (Ancient Greek: Τάνταλος Tántalos), also called Atys, was a Greek mythological figure, most famous for his punishment in Tartarus: for either revealing many secrets of the gods, for stealing ambrosia from them, or for trying to trick them into eating his son, he was made to stand in a pool of water beneath a fruit tree with low branches, with the fruit ever eluding his grasp, and the water always receding before he could take a drink. This punishment, although the most well-known today, was a more unusual detail in surviving early Greek sources, where variants including a stone suspended above his head are more commonly recorded.^[1]

The ancient Greeks used the proverb "Tantalean punishment" (Ancient Greek: Ταντάλειοι τιμωρίαι: Tantáleioi timōríai) in reference to those who have good things but are not permitted to enjoy them.^[2] His name and punishment are also the source of the English word tantalize, meaning to torment with the sight of something desired but out of reach; tease by arousing expectations that are repeatedly disappointed.^[3] 'The rock of Tantalus' was also used as a proverbial expression by Pindar and Archilochus,^[4][5] in the same vein as the Sword of Damocles, to suggest being unable to enjoy something because attempting to do so places one in a position of perpetual imminent peril.^[6]