In Greek mythology, Sisyphus committed an array of pretty heinous crimes, leading him to the “unfortunate” end we all know and laugh about.

Sisyphus (or Sisyphos) was the king of Ephyra, a city-state now known as Corinth in Greece. Sisyphus was known for being greedy and deceitful, often killing guests and travelers in his palace to maintain his status as a powerful king. These killings were a violation of Xenia, an ancient Greek concept of hospitality, and angered the god Zeus. Apart from being on Zeus’ naughty list, he was also known for hating his brother, Salmoneus, and consulted the Oracle of Delphi on how to kill his sibling without facing consequences. Sisyphus was known as one of the crafiest men, and went to extreme lengths to dethrone/kill his brother. For example, seducing Salmoneus’ daughter and having children just to kill Salmoneus and take the throne. Unfortunately for Sisyphus, Salmoneus’ daughter caught on, and killed their children.

Now, we can already see Sisyphus is a pretty bad person, but in the face of the Gods, it gets even worse when Sisyphus decided to betray one of Zeus’ secrets for, get this, a SPRING to flow in the Ephyrian acropolis. In retaliation, Zeus ordered Thanatos to chain Sisyphus in Tartarus, one of the regions in the underworld, which is where souls are judged and where the wicked receive divine punishment. We know Sisyphus is crafty, so he came up with the idea of asking Thanatos to demonstrate how the chains worked. Thanatos decided to grant him this wish, and Sisyphus took this opportunity to trap Thanatos and escape. Once Thanatos was bound by the chains, nobody on Earth died anymore, causing problems. Ares, the god of war, was annoyed that battles lost their fun, due to none of his opponents ever dying. Thus, he intervened and freed Thanatos, allowing for death to take place once again, and turned Sisyphus in.

As a punishment for his crimes, Hades made Sisyphus roll a boulder endlessly up a steep hill in Tartarus. This punishment was reserved to Sisyphus, due to his belief that he was too clever for Zeus. This made Hades enchant the boulder in a way that made the boulder roll away from Sisyphus before he could reach the top, which left Sisyphus to an eternity of useless effort and unending frustration.