Tantalus (Tan´talus). Father of Niobe and Pelops, who, as a punishment for serving up his son Pelops as meat at a feast given to the gods, was placed in a pool of water in the infernal regions; but the waters receded from him whenever he attempted to quench his burning thirst. Hence the word “tantalizing”.
Speaking of this god, Homer’s Ulysses says: “I saw the severe punishment of Tantalus. In a lake, whose waters approached to his lips, he stood burning with thirst, without the power to drink. Whenever he inclined his head to the stream, some deity commanded it to be dry, and the dark earth appeared at his feet. Around him lofty trees spread their fruits to view; the pear, the pomegranate, and the apple, the green olive, and the luscious fig quivered before him, which, whenever he extended his hand to seize them, were snatched by the winds into clouds and obscurity.”
“There, Tantalus, along the Stygian bound,
Pours out deep groans,- his groans through hell resound.
E’en in the circling flood refreshment craves
And pines with thirst amidst a sea of waves.”
“… And of itself the water flies
All taste of living wight, as once it fled
The lip of Tantalus.”
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