Punished by the gods!

[Zak Roy Yoballa]

This thread is dedicated to the punishments handed down by various mythological dieties upon the offending individuals.

[Zak Roy Yoballa]

This is the story of Echo and Narcissus.


It is, like many stories in Greek Mythology, sad and very unfair. But I guess that's life.

Our story begins with Echo and Zeus. That ever-cheatin' God was at it again, this time with the young nymph Echo. Now, at that time (just in case you may have picked up on the significance of her name) Echo was a nymph like any other and a very talkative one at that. They were making out or making love or whatever, believing that all was well. But Hera was NOT a happy camper. She had followed Zeus, expecting JUST that kind of behavior out of him. She came down to Earth to apprehend her "too-much-love-for-one-woman" husband, but Zeus, being godly, sensed her coming. He instructed Echo to keep Hera busy until he could get away.

Echo did just that. Hera confronted her with the affair, but Echo created a long and very untrue story for Hera, giving her lover enough time to escape. Now, Rhea (Hera's mom) didn't raise no fool. She knew she had been tricked, and by a nymph at that! She turned on Echo and declared:

"That tongue of yours, by which I have been tricked, shall have its power curtailed and enjoy the briefest use of speech."
Ovid, Metamorphoses 3.365

From that moment on the talkative Echo could barely use her voice, and could only repeat the words that those around her said. She was lonely, and couldn't really talk to other nymphs because of her condition, and secluded herself deep in the woods.

One day, a very handsome young man came along. His name, surprise surprise, was Narcissus. Echo fell in love with him at once. Echo wanted to call out, "Wait! I love you!" But her voice was frozen in her throat by Hera's curse. The young man went deeper and deeper into the forest, until he came upon a calm stream. He was thirsty and so he bent over to drink, but as he leaned over he caught sight of his reflection in the water. He was as taken by his beauty as Echo had been, but without her barrier. He immediatly spoke to his reflection, "I love you." Echo, nearby and hearing her chance quickly responded, "love you . . ." But it was too late, Narcissus was too engrossed with himself to notice the nymph. His love was his obsession and would not leave the stream to eat, nor disturb his image to drink and so he died of thirst and hunger and unrequited self-love. Where he had lain a flower grew, the narcissus 2, the same flower that wooed the innocent Persephone. Poor Echo pined away and died for the same things, but when she died not even her bones remained, some say they were turned to stone. But Gaia preserved Echo's voice, the one thing she had been denied in life, and to this day her voice sounds everywhere.


Another story of Echo excludes Narcissus altogether. In this version she was educated by Nymphs and taught music by the Muses. She fled from all men, and loved her virginity. Pan became angry with her and attacked her music because he couldn't touch her beauty. He made the goatherds and shepherds insane and they ripped poor Echo apart and flung her pieces across the Earth. But Gaia buried them and preserved their beauty and the Muses decreed that they would forever sing out, imitating all things.





So watch out you chatty Cathies and you mirror dwelling young men!

ZRY

[Zak Roy Yoballa]

Tantalus

Tantalus, also Tántalos, in Greek mythology became a famous inhabitant of Tartarus, the portion of the Underworld reserved for the punishment of evildoers.
He was the father of Pelops and Niobe.

Tantalus was a son of Zeus and the nymph Plouto (not to be confused with the Roman name for Hades). Thus he was a king in the primordial world. He was associated with Phrygia or Lydia in Asia Minor. Like Lycaon, Tantalus tried to trick the Olympian gods back into their older identities by offering them a sacrifice-banquet of human flesh. Already blamed for having stolen the dog of Hephaestus (god of metals) (alternatively, he convinced his friend, Pandareus to do so), Tantalus killed his own son Pelops just to test the powers of the gods. He mutilated the dead body to make it unrecognisable, and served it as meat for the gods. The gods were aware of his plan, so they didn't touch the offering; only Demeter, disturbed by the rapture of her daughter Persephone, (or Dionysus) did not realise what it was and had a little of the baby's shoulder. Hermes, ordered by Zeus, brought the baby to life again (he collected the parts of the body and boiled them in milk) and rebuilt his shoulder in dolphin's ivory.

The kernel of myth embodied in this tale reinforces Olympian suppression of human sacrifice, which had apparently been offered in earlier times, especially to Demeter in her earlier embodiment as the Great Goddess, but which was now taboo.

Tantalus' punishment, now proverbial for endless efforts to achieve results, was to stand in a pool of water beneath a fruit tree with low branches. Whenever he reached for the fruit, the branches raised his intended meal from his grasp. Whenever Tantalus bent down to get a drink, the water receded before he could get any.

Tantalus is the origin of the English word "tantalize." The idea being that when a person tantalizes someone else, that person is making them like Tantalus: there is something desirable that is always just out of that person's reach.

A Tantalus, by an obvious analogy, is also the term for a type of drinks decanter stand in which the bottle stoppers are firmly clamped down by a locked metal bar, as a means of preventing servants from stealing the master's liquor.

from sciencedaily.com

ZRY

[Zak Roy Yoballa]

The gods had condemned Sisyphus to ceaselessly rolling a rock to the top of a mountain, whence the stone would fall back of its own weight. They had thought with some reason that there is no more dreadful punishment than futile and hopeless labor.

If one believes Homer, Sisyphus was the wisest and most prudent of mortals. According to another tradition, however, he was disposed to practice the profession of highwayman. Opinions differ as to the reasons why he became the futile laborer of the underworld.

To begin with, he is accused of a certain levity in regard to the gods. He stole their secrets. Egina, the daughter of Esopus, was carried off by Jupiter. The father was shocked by that disappearance and complained to Sisyphus. He, who knew of the abduction, offered to tell about it on condition that Esopu s would give water to the citadel of Corinth. To the celestial thunderbolts he preferred the benediction of water. He was punished for this in the underworld.

Homer tells us also that Sisyphus had put Death in chains. Hades could not endure the sight of his deserted, silent empire. He dispatched the god of war, who liberated Death from the hands of her conqueror.

It is said that Sisyphus, being near to death, rashly wanted to test his wife's love. He ordered her to cast his unburied body into the middle of the public square. Sisyphus woke up in the underworld. And there, annoyed by an obedience so contrary to human love, he obtained from Pluto permission to return to earth in order to chastise his wife.

But when he had seen again the face of this world, enjoyed water and sun, warm stones and the sea, he no longer wanted to go back to the infernal darkness. Recalls, signs of anger, warnings were of no avail. Many years more he lived facing the curve of the gulf, the sparkling sea, and the smiles of earth. A decree of the gods w as necessary. Mercury came and seized the impudent man by the collar and, snatching him from his joys, lead him forcibly back to the underworld, where his rock was ready for him.

This is an exerpt from Albert Camus.


And I thought life in prison doing hard labor was bad!

ZRY

[Zak Roy Yoballa]

I found this nice small break down of Prometheus which includes his punishment by Zeus.

Prometheus was a Titan from Greek myth, born from the union of the Titan Iapetus and the Nymph Asia he was one of four children born to the pair. The siblings of Prometheus included Menoetius, Atlas and Epimetheus, all of them Titans. The name Prometheus means foresight, his brother's name Epimetheus means hindsight.

Their father, Iapetus led the revolt against the Gods, his children Menoetius and Atlas joined with him, while his other two sons, Prometheus and Epimetheus sided with the Gods. Menoetius was killed during the revolt and Atlas was given the weight of the world to bear for his actions during the revolt.

According to the myths, a horrendous headache overcame Zeus and no healer of the realm was able to help the Lord of the Gods. Prometheus came to him and declared that he knew how to heal Zeus, taking a rock from the ground Prometheus proceeded to hit Zeus in the head with it. From out of Zeus' head popped the Goddess Athena, with her emergence Zeus' headache disappeared.

Prometheus and Epimetheus journeyed to Earth from Olympus, they ventured to the Greek province of Boitia and made clay figures. Athena took the figures and breathed life into them, the figures that Prometheus had created became Man and honored him. The figures that his brother Epimetheus had created became the beasts, which turned and attacked him.

Zeus was angered by the brother's actions, he forbade the pair from teaching Man the ways of civilization, Athena chose to cross Zeus and taught Prometheus so that he might teach Man.

For their actions, Zeus demanded a sacrifice from Man to the Gods to show that they were obedient and worshipful. Man went to Prometheus to inquire which parts belonged to Zeus and the Gods, and which parts belonged to Man. At Prometheus instructions, Man sacrificed an ox and placed the sacrifice into two bags. In the first bag the bones were placed with the fat from the ox placed on top to conceal them. In the second bag the meat was placed with the intestines on top to conceal them as well. Prometheus called for Zeus to choose which portion of the sacrifice he and the other Gods demanded. Zeus chose the bag with the fat on top, giving the Gods the bones of the ox as their sacrifice.

Zeus was angered by the actions of Man and Prometheus, he forbade the Gods to give fire to Man. Prometheus was upset with Zeus' proclamation and was determined to bring fire to Man, but Zeus had guarded the entrance to Olympus. Athena told Prometheus about an unguarded back entrance to Olympus where he would be able to enter with ease.

Prometheus snuck into Olympus at night through the back entrance that Athena had told him of. He made his way to the Chariot of the Sun and lit a torch from the fires that burned there. Extinguishing the torch, Prometheus carried the still hot coals down the mountain in a pithy fennel stalk to prevent being seen. Upon reaching the lands of Men, Prometheus gave to them the coals, breaking Zeus' order by giving fire to Man.

Zeus was extremely angered by Prometheus' actions, he had not wanted fire to be given to Man, Zeus set out to make a trap for Prometheus. Zeus gathered the gifts of the Gods and created Pandora and her box, into the box he placed all the horrors of the world. Pandora was sent to Prometheus as a gift from Zeus himself.

Prometheus saw the curse that Pandora and her box carried, he refused the gift, giving it instead to his brother Epimetheus who opened the box and released the chained horrors upon the world.

Zeus was personally affronted by Prometheus actions, he had refused a gift from the Lord of the Gods himself. At Zeus order Prometheus was chained to a rock in the Caucasus Mountains where his torture was to be carried out. Every day a great Eagle would come to Prometheus and eat his liver, leaving only at nightfall when the liver would begin to grow back once more, only to repeat the process again the next day.

Zeus offered to free Prometheus if he would tell the secret of the prophecy that told of the dethroning of Zeus one day, Prometheus refused. The mother of Prometheus, the Nymph Asia, also had the gift of Foresight and went to Zeus and told him the secret of the prophecy. The prophecy told that the offspring of Zeus and the Nymph Clymene would one day rise up and destroy Zeus and Gods.

Zeus sent Heracles to free Prometheus from the rock, but required that Prometheus still be bound to the rock for the rest of eternity. A link of the chain he had been bound with was set with a chip of the rock and Prometheus was required to carry it with him always. Men also created rings with stones and gems set into them to commiserate with him and to honor Prometheus for the actions he had taken on their behalf.

Throughout history, Prometheus has symbolized unyielding strength that resists oppression.



I wonder if Ethon the Eagle had cholesterol issues with eating a titainic liver everyday?

ZRY

[Zak Roy Yoballa]

This is a preety good stroy of Scylla and how she became the monster that she is.  Not exactly punished by the gods but close enough

ZRY

[Zak Roy Yoballa]

Who could forget this classic tale of greed:  Midas

The Myth of Midas
Midas was a king of Phrygia, a region nowadays part of Turkey. One day some of his farmhands brought him a satyr they had caught napping in the vineyard. This creature, part man, part goat, still groggy and much the worse for wear, had been thoroughly trussed up to keep him from escaping. Midas immediately recognized Silenus, right-hand satyr to the god Dionysus, and ordered him set free.

Silenus explained that he and his master had just returned from the East where they had been engaged in spreading the cultivation of the grape. Dionysus had brought back a tiger or two, an ever-expanding flock of followers and one very drunken satyr. Silenus had conked out in Midas's vineyard to sleep it off. Now he was grateful to the king for treating him with dignity, and so was Dionysus. The god was so pleased, in fact, that he offered to grant whatever Midas should wish for.

Now, you didn't get to rule a kingdom in those days without a pretty active grasp of what makes for a successful economy. Midas didn't have to think twice. As the simplest plan for the constant replenishment of the royal treasury, he asked that everything he touch be turned to gold.

Arching a godly eyebrow, Dionysus went so far as to ask if Midas were sure. To which the king instantly replied, "Sure I'm sure." So Dionysus waved his pinebranch sceptre and conferred the boon.

And Midas rushed back home to try it out. Tentatively at first, he laid a trembling fingertip upon a bowl of fruit and then a stool and then a wooly lambkin. And when each of these had been transmuted in a trice into purest gold, the king began to caper about like the lambkin before its transformation.

"Just look at this!" he crowed, turning his chariot into a glittering mass of priceless-though-worthless transportation. "Look what daddy can do!" he cried, taking his young daughter by the hand to lead her into the garden for a lesson in making dewy nature gleam with a monotonous but more valuable sheen.

Encountering unexpected resistance, he swung about to see why his daughter was being such a slug. Whereupon his eyes encountered, where late his child had been, a life-size golden statue that might have been entitled "Innocence Surprised".

"Uh oh," said Midas, and from that point on the uh-oh's multiplied. He couldn't touch any useful object without it losing in utility what it gained in monetary value, nor any food without it shedding all nutritional potency on its leaden way down his gullet.

In short, Midas came to understand why Dionysus had looked askance when asked to grant the favor. Fortunately, the god was a good sport about it. He allowed Midas to wash away his magic touch in the river Pactolus, which ever after enjoyed renown for its shimmering deposits of gold.


From mythweb

ZRY

[Zak Roy Yoballa]

For those who don't know where the "MR. ATLAS" body building picture came from here is the story....

The Myth of Atlas
Atlas was a Titan, one of the firstborn sons of Earth. Atlas made the mistake of siding with his brother Cronus in a war against Zeus. In punishment, he was compelled to support the weight of the heavens by means of a pillar on his shoulders. He was temporarily relieved of this burden by Heracles, who needed the Titan's aid in procuring the Golden Apples of the Hesperides. In connection with another heroic quest, Atlas divulged the whereabouts of the Graeae to Perseus.

The encounter of Atlas and Heracles came about when Eurystheus, the great hero's cousin and taskmaster, challenged him to retrieve the Golden Apples of the Hesperides. The Hesperides, or Daughters of Evening, were nymphs assigned by the goddess Hera to guard certain apples which she had received as a wedding present. These were kept in a grove surrounded by a high wall and guarded by a dragon named Ladon, whose many heads spoke simultaneously in a babel of tongues. The grove was located in some far western land in the mountains named for Atlas.

Heracles had been told that he would never get the apples without the aid of Atlas. The Titan was only too happy to oblige, since it meant being relieved of his burden. He told the hero to hold the pillar while he went into the garden of the Hesperides to retrieve the fruit. But first, Heracles would have to do something about the noisily vigilant dragon, Ladon.

This was swiftly accomplished by means of an arrow over the garden wall. Then Heracles took the pillar while Atlas went to get the apples. He was successful and returned quickly enough, but in the meantime he had realized how pleasant it was not to have to strain for eternity keeping heaven and earth apart. So he told Heracles that he'd have to fill in for him for an indeterminate length of time. And the hero feigned agreement to this proposal. But he said that he needed a cushion for his shoulder, and he wondered if Atlas would mind taking back the pillar just long enough for him to fetch one. The Titan graciously obliged, and Heracles strolled off, omitting to return.

From mythweb

ZRY

[Zak Roy Yoballa]

A lesser known one for most of us but a very valuable lesson


Ixion
by Andrea Higgins and Dale Grote
Though little information survives about him, Ixion is a fundamental character in Greek mythology. The most complete account of Ixion's tale comes from Pindar in his Pythian Odes. Ixion was the son the Phlegyas, descendent of Ares, and king of the Lapiths in Thessaly. He is significant in many respects, but is chiefly known as the first human to shed kindred blood. This occurred when Ixion invited his father-in-law, Deioneus, to come and collect the price that Ixion owed him for his bride. Upon his arrival, Deioneus fell into a pit filled with burning coals Ixion had camouflaged.
Because this was a crime new to the human race, nobody could purify Ixion and he wandered an exile. Zeus took pity on him and decided not only to purify Ixion, but to invite him to Olympus as a guest. Once in Olympus though, Ixion became so enamored of Hera, and he desired to sleep with her. Zeus did not believe that Ixion would be so disrespectful as to have designs upon the wife of his host. To see if the rumors were true, Zeus made an image of Hera out of a cloud, and impregnated it. The cloud bore Ixion the monster Centaurus, who was unloved by the Graces and had no honor among men or the gods. Centaurus then mated with the mares of Mt. Pelion in Magnesia, and so from Ixion the race of centaurs was born.

To punish him, Zeus bound Ixion to a winged (sometimes flaming) wheel, which revolved in the air in all directions. Also, by order of the gods, Ixion was forced to call out continuously call out: "You should show gratitude to your benefactor." Ixion became one of the more famous sinners on display on Tartarus, and most writers mention him when describing the place. For example, Ovid wrote of him, and Vergil, with his moralistic interpretation of how sin should be punished, awards Ixion a special mention in the Aenead.

The focus of Ixion's mythology on the guest/host relationship shows the venerable age of Ixion's story. Of all the attributes Zeus became associated with, he was originally particularly worried that the custom of Xenia, the formal institution of friendship that ensured traveling archaic Greeks could count on each other for safety in antiquity, be enforced (for more on this in all the Greek world see Powell 150; the importance of the guest/host relationship is fundamental to all world mythology, take the Biblical story of Sodom and Gommorah, for example).

Aeschylus remembered Ixion's role as the purified progenitor of blood guilt in the Euminides. Athena, before she will hear Orestes' case refers to him as Ixion, an allusion Orestes balks at and tries to convince her is false (Euminides. 450-455).

Pirithous, king of the Lapiths, good friend of Theseus, and important in later myth, is considered to be one of Ixion's children. There is another claimant to Pirithous' paternity though. Zeus, in the Iliad 14. 317-318, claims to have seduced Dia, Ixion's wife, and fathered Pirithous.


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From bulfinch's mythology

ZRY

[Shadowborn]

Probably the most horrible myth of punishment I can recall is from Greek mythology:

The hunter Actaeon came across the goddess Artemis as she was bathing in pond. He was overcome by her ravishing beauty. As he approached for a closer look, he snapped a twig underfoot, alerting the goddess to his presence. For his affrontery, Artemis transformed him into a stag, and his pack of hunting dogs tore him to pieces.

[Zak Roy Yoballa]

Ajax: 

Although he was one of the Greeks best warriors during the seige of Troy, he lost his cool when Odysseus (my person favorite mythological person) won the armor of the fallen Achilles.  He was so mad that he planned to kill Odysseus and his men as they slept.  As punishment for his thoughts Athena convinced him that a nearby flock of sheep was Odysseus' crew and slaughtered them all.  In the morning Athena opened Ajax's eyes to what he had done and became overwhelmed by his evil deed.  So intense was his sadness and shame that he killed himself.

[Tybalt]

Mmmm, your all's thoughts give me ideas on how to punish my mortals mawawawawawa! J/K

The thunder gawd punished a lesser gawd for granting humans the gift of fire. We know the names. This gawd was of course saved by the thunder gawd's own son. Though punished for a good deed, it is my belief that the story was meant to have this irony of it being the son of the thunder gawd who freed him.

[Draco]

Lycaon was transformed into a wolf as a punishment from Zeus  result of eating human flesh. that is what is believed to be the first real werewolf of mythology.

[Grendelion]

A more recognizable figure in Greek mythology is the byproduct of such a curse.

MEDUSA:

One of three sea nymph sisters, Medusa started out beautiful.  She shacked up with the sea god Poseidon in the Temple of Athena for some "bom chica wah wah."  This of course angered the goddess Athena.  She punished Medusa by turning her into the creature we're all familiar with today.  Half woman, half serpent, with snakes slithering on her head instead of hair, and a face so hideous that anyone who looks upon it turns to stone.

She was later beheaded by the warrior Perseus, and her head then used as a weapon.

[thneedly]

Lycaon was transformed into a wolf as a punishment from Zeus  result of eating human flesh. that is what is believed to be the first real werewolf of mythology.

Oh yes, I'm sure the ber sarkur, Ulfheðnar, Yeenaaldlooshii, bultungin, bouda, and kitsune totally came after the classical-era Greeks.

Totally.