ABSTRACT
Tantalus offended the gods, and was punished for eternity in Tartarus. By eating at the gods’ table and listening to their conversation, he had become immortal. But how he earned the dire fate which then descended upon him was variously recounted. For one thing, he invited the gods to dine with him, and when they came he presumptuously tested their omniscience by killing his son Pelops, cooking his flesh, and serving it up to them in a stew. All the gods realised the gruesome character of the dish except Demeter, who, in her grief for her lost Persephone, absent-mindedly gnawed Pelops’ shoulder. Then Hermes fetched Pelops from the Underworld and the gods restored him to life, replacing his damaged shoulder with ivory; but thenceforth Tantalus was hateful to them. He was also said to have stolen nectar and ambrosia from the gods’ table to give to his friends, and to have told mortals the secrets he had heard there. Yet another story of his wickedness tells how Pandareos stole from a shrine of Zeus a wonderful golden guarddog, which he gave to Tantalus to look after. Hermes was sent by Zeus to claim the dog, and Pandareos later asked for it back, but on both occasions Tantalus swore an oath that he knew nothing of the dog and had never seen it.
