The Words We Use

King Tantalus had a talent for offending the gods. He was so offensive that he was condemned to an eternity of hunger and thirst. In one rendition of the story, Tantalus is said to have tried to partake of ambrosia, the food of the gods. It seems a plausible explanation for the wrath of the gods. Tantalus was, after all, the son of Zeus, the supreme Greek god, so he was in fact pretty close to being a god himself except for one small detail, which crops up again and again in Greek mythology. King Tantalus, like Achilles, was not immortal. Greek gods did not take kindly to those who tried to encroach upon their privilege. Perhaps it was out of fear that immortal wannabes such as Tantalus would catch onto their secret.

When you consider that the word ambrosia is derived from the Greek word for immortal, you may just be on to something. King Tantalus could have been attempting to partake of the food that was rightfully restricted to those who were true gods. The concept that the gods wished to protect was that all a mere mortal had to do was partake of a single morsel of ambrosia and he or she would have thereby become immortal, dining forever on the food of the gods.

The wrath of the gods was second only to the wrath of someone or other, Shakespeare stated I seem to recall, who had been scorned. Oh what the heck, it will come back to me in a moment.

Standing in a pool of water,King Tantalus, can you imagine, was condemned to remain forever a poor parched pauper. When he stooped to drink, the pool immediately swirled away. Abundant fruit hung from branches just above his head. When he reached for food, a breeze would blow the branches just out of reach.

It must be said that as cruel as they were, the Greek gods did do tantalize very well indeed. However that is enough excitement for one day, don't you agree? The next time we'll follow Odysseus, Commander of the Trojan Horse into battle, visit the land of the Lotus-eaters and learn why Aphrodite was a women to be reckoned with.

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