Sisyphus betrayed one of Zeus' secrets by revealing the whereabouts of the Asopid Aegina to her father, the river god Asopus, in return for causing a spring to flow on the Corinthian acropolis. He seduced Salmoneus' daughter Tyro in one of his plots to kill Salmoneus, only for Tyro to slay their children when she discovered that Sisyphus was planning on using them to eventually dethrone her father. From Homer onward, Sisyphus was famed as the craftiest of men. Sisyphus and his brother Salmoneus were known to hate each other, and Sisyphus consulted the Oracle of Delphi on just how to kill Salmoneus without incurring any severe consequences for himself. He took pleasure in these killings because they allowed him to maintain his iron-fisted rule.

He killed guests and travelers in his palace, a violation of guest-obligations, which fell under Zeus' domain, thus angering the god. King Sisyphus promoted navigation and commerce but was avaricious and deceitful.

Sisyphus was the founder and first king of Ephyra (supposedly the original name of Corinth). In other versions of the myth, Sisyphus was the true father of Odysseus by Anticleia instead of Laërtes. Another account related that Minyas was Sisyphus's son instead. He was the grandfather of Bellerophon through Glaucus, and Minyas, founder of Orchomenus, through Almus. Sisyphus married the Pleiad Merope by whom he became the father of Ornytion ( Porphyrion ), Glaucus, Thersander and Almus. He was the brother of Athamas, Salmoneus, Cretheus, Perieres, Deioneus, Magnes, Calyce, Canace, Alcyone, Pisidice and Perimede. Sisyphus was formerly a Thessalian prince as the son of King Aeolus of Aeolia and Enarete, daughter of Deimachus. German mythographer Otto Gruppe thought that the name derived from sisys (σίσυς, 'a goat's skin'), in reference to a rain-charm in which goats' skins were used. Beekes has suggested a pre-Greek origin and a connection with the root of the word sophos (σοφός, 'wise'). Through the classical influence on modern culture, tasks that are both laborious and futile are therefore described as Sisyphean ( / s ɪ s ɪ ˈ f iː ən/).

Hades punished him for cheating death twice by forcing him to roll an immense boulder up a hill only for it to roll back down every time it neared the top, repeating this action for eternity. In Greek mythology, Sisyphus or Sisyphos ( / ˈ s ɪ s ɪ f ə s/ Ancient Greek: Σίσυφος Sísyphos) was the founder and king of Ephyra (now known as Corinth). Persephone supervising Sisyphus in the Underworld, Attic black-figure amphora, c.

Camus the myth of sisyphus