Sisyphean work is hard and useless work. The origin of this phraseological unit is associated with the myth of the Corinthian king Sisyphus, against whom Zeus was angry.
The meaning of phraseological units
When one person says to another that he is engaged in Sisyphean labor, it means that he does not approve of the actions of this person and believes that he is wasting time and energy. "Sisyphean labor" is an unbearably difficult job that does not bring any results. This expression came into use in Russian speech from ancient Greek mythology. Sisyphus, the son of Aeolus and Enaret, suffered punishment for his dishonest acts, which angered the gods who doomed him to hard work - endless rolling of a huge stone up a mountain, which barely reached the top and fell down. Why Sisyphus deserved such a punishment is stated in The Myth of Sisyphus.
The myth of Sisyphus
Legend has it that Sisyphus was a dexterous, crafty, quirky ruler of the city of Corinth, who lived in a magnificent palace all his life, accumulating his untold wealth. He did not have a good relationship with the gods, because he was very boastful, selfish and disrespectful about them. Once Zeus was very angry with Sisyphus and sent the god of death Thanat to him to send him to the underworld of Hades. When Thanat came to the Corinthian palace, Sisyphus assumed the appearance of a cordial and hospitable host, as a result of which Thanat lost his vigilance and was chained. Sisyphus managed to escape his fate, but due to the fact that Thanat could not fulfill his duties, all people stopped dying, even those who were looking forward to their death - exhausted patients and seriously wounded.
Hades, the god of the kingdom of the dead, was in complete confusion, and the god of war Ares was very angry with Sisyphus and freed Thanat, who immediately took the soul of Sisyphus and went with her to the underworld. But the insidious Sisyphus was not buried by his wife, because he forbade her to do this, because intended to cunningly return to the world of the living in case of death. Under the pretext of the need to force his wife to bury his body, Sisyphus persuaded Hades to give him permission to return to his body for a short time. Of course, instead of acting by agreement, Sisyphus began to live for his own pleasure and have fun as before.
The enraged Hades again sent Thanat to take the deceiver into the realm of the dead, which was done. But the gods could not leave the cunning Sisyphus without punishment and invented a punishment corresponding to his deeds. The endless task of this deceiver in the underworld was to roll a giant stone into the mountain. The bottom line is that it was impossible to roll a stone of such a huge size up the mountain, as a result, it kept sliding down to the foot of the mountain, and Sisyphus had to strain all his strength to roll it up again and again.
