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Tantalus

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Tantalus

In Greek mythology, a king of Lydia, son of Zeus, and father of Pelops and Niobe. He offended the gods by divulging their secrets and serving them human flesh at a banquet. His crimes were punished in Tartarus (a part of the underworld for the wicked) by the provision of food and drink he could not reach. The word ‘tantalize’ derives from his torment.

Afflicted with raging thirst and hunger, he stood in a lake which ebbed away when he stooped to drink, while above his head hung fruits which swung away when he tried to grasp them. In his dramatization Orestes, Euripedes substituted the fruits for a rock which was ever ready to fall and crush him.

His name has been given to the tantalus, a lockable container for wine bottles, which leaves the drink visible but unobtainable.
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? Mentioned in ? References in classic literature
 
No, Dick; you must taste a little of the torture of Tantalus just now.
Five Weeks in a Balloon by Verne, Jules View in context
And now it is the time; from Hell's abyss Come thirsting Tantalus, come Sisyphus Heaving the cruel stone, come Tityus With vulture, and with wheel Ixion come, And come the sisters of the ceaseless toil; And all into this breast transfer their pains, And (if such tribute to despair be due) Chant in their deepest tones a doleful dirge Over a corse unworthy of a shroud.
Don Quixote by Cervantes, Miguel View in context
Then he raised to his lips the repast that, like a voluntary Tantalus, he refused himself; but he thought of his oath, and he would not break it.
The Count of Monte Cristo by Dumas, Alexandre View in context
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