I was discussing mythology with one of my students when he opined Tantalus wasn’t being treated fairly. Should he be condemned for all eternity? (One might also note that he would likely also be punished for not feeding guests, but that’s just a hypothetical). If the choice were up to you, would he be freed? How much suffering is enough for certain crimes?
He tried to feed his son to the gods. I’d say he received a just sentence.
You don’t have to dig back into ancient mythology to face the concept of eternal punishment…
True. It was just the example that got me pondering.
Why punishment? The struggle itself … is enough to fill a man’s heart. One must imagine Tantalus happy.
Medusa did nothing wrong.
This is a much better example. Tantalus killed his own son- and then tried to trick Zeus into eating him.
Medusa was raped by Poseidon in Athena’s temple. Instead of lashing out at the sea king, Athena decides it was Medusa’s fault.
The whole idea of eternal punishment always seems to me to have been made up by somebody with no notion at all of eternity.
Or empathy.
Norse mythology didn’t have a concept of eternal punishment. Loki was chained into a cave with venom dripping on his face, and that was to last for a good long while, but eventually, Ragnarok was going to come, and then that torment would be over.
I don’t know if Greek and Roman mythologies originally had the concepts being of an eternal punishment/reward, or if that is something that was later tacked on by Christian mythology.
Were the folks in Hades ever set to get out?
IIRC Zeus eventually allowed Prometheus to be freed by Hercules.
ETA Ninja’d
Poseidon eventually allowed Ulysses to return home.
Re Ragnarok
At that time, Loki would lead a ship of the evil dead and army of giants up the rainbow bridge (which would crack under the weight). IIRC He and damn near everyother deity would die. Balder would then rise from the dead and start humanity and the pantheon over. I think Vidar would survive as well.
ETA
In Greek mythology, most people were neither punished nor rewarded at death. Hades was a place of blandness.
I don’t think anything you can do in mortal life could warrant eternal punishment. The suffering you cause on earth is fundamentally finite, no matter how much you cause.
I could see segregation from others as a punishment (like prison) until you’re deemed safe to re-enter afterlife society, but not eternal punishment.
The rule is, don’t fuck with the gods. Deserve’s got nothing to do with it.
Yeah pretty much. As with any “judgment” scenario, what’s “fair” isn’t up to you, it’s entirely the purview of whoever is the authority.
You are, of course, assuming a benevolent god.
It’s possible that the universe was made entirely to create beings who are doomed to suffer for eternity solely for the amusement of said god.
I see we’ve read the same book.
More than one, I would guess.
No doubt.
It’s only in Ovid’s Metamorphoses that we have the story of Medusa becoming a monster because of being raped by Poseidon. In the earlier myths (which were around for several hundred years before that, at least), Medusa was one of three monstrous sisters, daughters of Ketos and Phorkys. So, like Lady Gaga, she was Born This Way. Which makes it alright, I guess.
The punishments in the Greek myths are frequently over-the-top and undeserved. I’ll agree that Tantalus ought to be made to suffer, but Arachne got turned into a spider by a vindictive Athena for beating her in a contest.
Sisyphus’ punishment was supposed to be for thinking himself cleverer than Zeus (do I see a pattern here?) In the oldest myths he isn’t rolling that rock perpetually uphill, but it’s something else. I think he might be getting repeatedly buried under that rock, Wile E. Coyote-style.
Or consider Ixion, who tried to seduce Hera, Zeus’ wife. He was sentenced to be bound to a fiery wheel, spinning through the heavens (or Tartaros, later) for all time. Zeus was a vindictive sonuvabitch, especially considering HIS record of dalliances.
Yeah especially given Greek myths are replete with stories of people being “punished” by the Gods who did absolutely nothing wrong in the slightest, especially the countless women raped by Zeus or one of the other Gods and then punished for it by Hera or another deity. In comparison Tantalus had it coming.