The expression is Sisyphean labor. The work of Sisyphus, the meaning and origin of phraseological units. What is Sisyphean labor

When one person tells another that he is doing Sisyphean work, it means that he does not approve of the actions of this person and believes that he is wasting his time and energy. “Sisyphean labor” is unbearably difficult work that does not bring any results. This expression came into use in Russian speech from ancient Greek mythology. Sisyphus, the son of Aeolus and Enarete, suffered punishment for his dishonest actions, which angered the gods, who doomed him to hard work - endlessly rolling a huge stone up a mountain, which barely reached the top and fell down. Why Sisyphus deserved such a punishment is discussed in The Myth of Sisyphus.

The Myth of Sisyphus

Legend has it that Sisyphus was a clever, cunning, resourceful ruler of the city of Corinth, who lived in a magnificent palace and accumulated his untold wealth throughout his life. He did not have a good relationship with the gods because he was very boastful, self-interested, and spoke disrespectfully of them. One day Zeus was very angry with Sisyphus and sent the god of death Tanat to him so that he would send him to the underworld of Hades. When Thanat arrived at 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 - the exhausted sick 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 Thanatus, who immediately took the soul of Sisyphus and went with it to the underworld. But the insidious Sisyphus was not buried by his wife, because he forbade her to do so, because... intended to use cunning to return to the world of the living in the event of death. Under the pretext of having to force his wife to bury his body, Sisyphus persuaded Hades to give him permission to briefly return to his body. Of course, instead of acting as agreed, Sisyphus began to live for his own pleasure and have fun as before.

Enraged Hades again sent Tanat to take the deceiver to the kingdom of the dead, which was done. But the gods could not leave the cunning Sisyphus without punishment and came up with a punishment appropriate for his actions. This trickster's never-ending task in the underworld was to roll a giant stone up a mountain. The point is that it was impossible to roll a stone of such a huge size up the mountain; as a result, it kept rolling down to the foot of the mountain, and Sisyphus had to strain all his strength to roll it up again and again.

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“The work of Sisyphean” - this phrase is familiar to many of us: for some - by hearsay, and for others - from our own experience. And, of course, its meaning is known - they usually talk about Sisyphean labor when we are talking about long, painful and fruitless work and torment. But why Sisyphus? What kind of image was used for such a famous phraseological unit? Not everyone knows about this, and we would like to tell you where the expression “The Labor of Sisyphus” came from.

Sisyphus

First, let's give a brief overview:

Sisyphus , and to put it more correctly, Sisif - This is one of the characters in the mythology of Ancient Greece. He was the son of Enarete and Aeolus, the husband of the daughter of Atlas - the galaxy of Merope, from whom he had sons: Alm, Thersander, Ornytion and Glaucus.

Sisyphus was the builder and king of the ancient Greek polis (city) of Corinth (today it is called Ephyra), who after his death was sentenced by the gods to “hard labor” - rolling up a mountain located in the deepest abyss under the kingdom of Hades called Tartarus, a heavy stone that just reaches the top, constantly slides down. This is where, in fact, the expression we discussed above came from.

According to the legendary ancient Greek poet-storyteller Homer, Sisyphus was a cunning, selfish and vicious man who, for the first time among the Greeks (Hellenes), used deception and cunning.

There are several versions of myths associated with Sisyphus, each of which is quite interesting.

Myths about Sisyphus

All existing myths about Sisyphus give us an explanation of why he was so cruelly punished by the gods.

According to one version, the reason for Sisyphus’ punishment was Asopus’ daughter, Aegina. After she was kidnapped by Zeus, Asopus began to look for her, but to no avail. Then Sisyphus told Asopus that he knew how to find Aegina, but would tell him only if Asopus agreed to give him water to the acropolis of Corinth - Acrocorinth.

Another version says that Sisyphus was in a hostile relationship with his brother Salmoneus, and, as predicted by Apollo, raped his daughter Tyro, who later bore him two sons. Tyro, having learned that her sons wanted to kill Salmoneus on the instructions of Sisyphus, killed them themselves. For all this Sisyphus was punished.

The most common version is considered to be this: one day Sisyphus, through deception, abducts Thanatos (the god of death), chains him and leaves him captive (there is also a version where Sisyphus deceives and chains not Thanatos, but Hades). Due to the absence of Thanatos, people no longer die on the planet. Because of this, the gods begin to worry, but they cannot do anything. However, several years later, the god of war Ares manages to save Thanatos. To take revenge on Sisyphus, Thanatos plucks out his soul and then takes him to the kingdom of shadows of dead people.

But Sisyphus distinguished himself again: before he died, he forbade his wife to perform the burial ceremony in the event of his death. Unable to wait for the funeral offerings, Hades and Persephone allow Sisyphus to return to the world of the living for a while so that he can punish his wife for violating sacred customs, and then arrange a traditional funeral with sacrifices.

Then Sisyphus had to return to the kingdom of Hades. But he did not return, but continued to stay in his palace, rejoicing in the fact that he was the only mortal who managed to return to the world of the living from the kingdom of shadows. Time passed, and the fact that Sisyphus did not return was discovered only several years later. Hermes was sent to return the deceiver.

The misdeeds that Sisyphus committed during his lifetime (including posthumous ones) became the reason for Sisyphus' punishment: for eternity he had to roll a huge boulder up a mountain, which kept rolling down, and repeat this action over and over again.

Over time, the image of Sisyphus became firmly established in the works of various artists. For example, he became one of the characters in the satyr dramas of Aeschylus, such as “Sisyphs the Rocker”, “Sisyphs the Fugitive” and “Pheora, or the Isthmian Competitions”, as well as in Sophocles’ play “Sisifus”, Euripides’ satyr drama “Sisyphs” and Critias's play Sisyphus. But in addition to its reflection in the drama of Ancient Greece, the image of Sisyphus was also reflected in the works of figures of modern times - writers (Robert Merle and Albert Camus) and artists (Titian).

And it would not be superfluous to consider the image of Sisyphus in the work of one of the most prominent representatives of absurdism - Albert Camus. Next you will understand why.

Sisyphus in an essay by Albert Camus

If you've ever been interested in absurdism, you know that this philosophical idea of ​​human existence is that his existence has no meaning. And it is in Camus that Sisyphus becomes a man who has risen above the meaninglessness of life and found in it his own purpose, as well as pride. We are talking about Adbert Camus’s 1942 philosophical essay “The Myth of Sisyphus.” By the way, “The Myth of Sisyphus” is a programmatic work in the philosophy of absurdism.

In his work, Camus attempts to answer the question: “Is life worth the trouble of living?” - the only question, according to Camus, that matters in philosophy.

Considering that the gods who punished Sisyphus believed that hard and useless work is the most terrible thing that can be, Camus views Sisyphus as an absurd hero, living a full life, hating death and doomed to meaningless work.

The hero of myths is of greatest interest to the writer when the first one again and again descends from the mountain to its foot in order to find a rolled stone. This moment is the most tragic, because... It is at this moment that Sisyphus comes to full awareness of his hopeless situation. Sisyphus has lost hope, but he also has no fate that he cannot overcome by feeling contempt for it.

Sisyphus has his stone, which is a whole property, and even the smallest piece of which is the whole world for him. In the end, Albert Camus comes to the conclusion that in reality "everything is fine" and the only thing Sisyphus needs to do is imagine himself as a happy person.

What is unusual and interesting is that Camus suggests looking at the endless and meaningless work of Sisyphus as a kind of metaphor for life modern man, which is wasted by him on offices, offices, factory floors and other similar places. Camus said: “Today’s worker labors every day of his life at the same task, and this fate is no less absurd. But this is tragic only in rare moments when it is realized.”

The author of this article does not claim to be a writer who creates masterpieces, or a philosopher who can express the essence of the problem in a few phrases, so do not judge him strictly for what will be said below.

And I would like to say that the comparison of Sisyphus’s work by Albert Camus with the life of a man of the new world, despite the fact that it was made more than half a century ago, is very relevant even today. Millions of people spend their lives in concrete boxes, trying to make ends meet, doing work that is needed by everyone but them, earning money for daily and often immediate needs. Isn't this Sisyphean work? And isn’t this absurdism in all its glory? Does this really make sense? Many of us roll our “stone” onto our “mountain,” each in our own “Tartarus,” and spend our whole lives doing it. This is true, because such a life seems like a heavy burden, constantly requiring attention and action.

But what the author does not agree with is that life is meaningless. Life is given to each of us for a reason - everything in this world has a purpose, from a small bug to the highest and most inaccessible mountains, from an insignificant clerk to a big boss - everyone is part of the whole. Even though this may seem too idealistic, in life any person can do it, so as not to be a person of the absurd.

If you like living, then you need to strive to fill your life with bright colors and emotions, or at least make attempts to do so. If life seems like a “waste of time,” then you can devote it to preparing for “life after.” The only and most important thing is to be able to find yourself, understand what you like, what your soul is about. And even if this doesn’t help, then you can constantly watch your “stone”, which you are trying to heap to the top. Perhaps, over time, the whole universe will be contained in one millimeter of this stone for you.

But still, you shouldn’t make your life absurd. Don't turn it into a Sisyphean task. Live!

Catchphrase"Sisyphean labor" means meaningless and hard work. It happens that a person, engaged in some kind of work and irritated by monotonous work, exclaims: “ Yes, this is a real Sisyphean work". This idiom can also be uttered by surrounding citizens, seeing the futility of this work. However, if you ask these people who this Sisyphus is, then it is unlikely that many will give an accurate and specific answer.

Historians have a very ambiguous attitude towards the character of ancient Greek legends, the Corinthian king Sisyphus. This ruler was the son of the god of the winds named Aeolus. Since Sisyphus had divine roots, he was very smart, cunning and vindictive. He built a city which he called Corinth and became its ruler. The city flourished, numerous trade caravans and ships entered it. Over time, Sisyphus became very rich, there were legends about his treasures. Now he began to look down on some beggar gods from Olympus, for which he was punished.

Rumors reached Sisyphus that the god Zeus had stolen a beautiful girl, the daughter of the river god named Asopus. As soon as this news reached the ears of the ruler of Corinth, he immediately told Asopus himself about this. This snitching greatly angered Zeus and he sent death itself for Sisyphus. However, Sisyphus was the son of God, so he managed to catch death and put it in chains, thus simultaneously saving all people from death.
This time, not only Zeus, but also all the gods of Olympus were angry with Sisyphus. The god of war, Ares, decided to deal with the rebellious ruler, he grabbed him and took him to a deep dungeon. However, his beloved wife Merope saved him and he fled back to Corinth. Then it was time to get down to business. Hermes Trismegistus himself took charge, he caught this nimble king and returned the captive underground again.

For his pride and disobedience, the gods of Olympus doomed Sisyphus to eternal torment. They came up with a sophisticated torture for him: the Corinthian had to lift a huge block of stone up a mountain, as soon as it reached the top, it immediately fell off and ended up at the foot of the cliff. The king had to start all over again.

Since the punishment of the gods of Olympus was painful not only because of the heavy stone that had to be rolled up the mountain, but also because of the meaninglessness of this work. Therefore, the expression “Sisyphean labor” began to mean not so much hard, but completely meaningless work.

Some people use synonyms for this expression, such as: “monkey labor” and “Sisyphus stone.” The ancient Greeks are generally a storehouse of all kinds of proverbs and sayings, many of which are still used today, including the phraseology “Sisyphean labor”.

Read more.

Consider the famous phraseological unit "Sisyphean labor" .

Sisyphus – first adventurer Ancient Greece, and perhaps the whole world.

The meaning, origin and sources of phraseological units are described below, as well as examples from the works of writers.

The meaning of phraseology

Sisyphus's work - useless efforts repeated over and over again

Synonyms: monkey's labor, wasted labor, carrying water with a sieve, Sisyphean's work

IN foreign languages There are direct analogues of the phraseology “Sisyphean labor”:

• Sisyphean toil, labor of Sisyphus (English)
• Sisyphusarbeit (German)
• rocher de Sisyphe, supplice de Sisyphe (French)

Sisyphean work: the origin of phraseological units

As you know, the god Zeus punished the king of Corinth Sisyphus: in the underground kingdom of the dead, he had to continuously roll a heavy stone up a mountain, which, almost reaching the top, immediately rolled back.

The history is very ancient, so it is difficult to understand it properly. In any case, it can be noted that Sisyphus was not just a king, but the great-great-grandson of Prometheus, the creator of the city of Corinth, and also, oddly enough, the so-called favorite of the gods. The gods invited Sisyphus to their feasts on Olympus.

A natural question arises: why did the gods punish the gods’ favorite so severely? It looks like for what is called “accumulation of crimes”:

• First of all, the gods were outraged that Sisyphus began to divulge to people their secrets, heard at feasts.
• Sisyphus deceived the god of death Thanatos, who had come to take his soul to the kingdom of the dead, and kept him captive for several years. As a result, people stopped dying, the established order of things was disrupted, in particular, sacrifices to the underground gods stopped being made. The angry god of war Ares freed Thanatos, and an even more angry Thanatos freed Sisyphus from the soul and took it to the kingdom of the shadows of the dead.
• Sisyphus deceived the gods in Hades. He managed to instruct his wife not to perform funeral rites for him. The gods of the underworld of the dead, Hades and Persephone, were puzzled by the lack of funeral victims, so they allowed Sisyphus to return to earth for a while to teach his wife a lesson and organize a decent funeral for themselves, and decent sacrifices for the gods. Instead, he remained to feast with friends in his palace.
• As well as various crimes against people (robbery of travelers, fraud and other outrages).

So it is difficult to blame Zeus for injustice. The morally dubious success of Sisyphus was due to the fact that he was the first among the Greeks to use cunning and deception. Not only people, but also the gods were not ready for this.

Sources

The myth of Sisyphus is set out in the poem “Odyssey” by the ancient Greek poet Homer (9th century BC).

The very expression “Sisyphean labor” belongs to the Roman poet Propertius (1st century BC).

Examples from the works of writers

It used to be terribly difficult to talk when we were alone. It was some kind of Sisyphean work. As soon as you figure out what to say, you say it, again you have to be silent, come up with it. (L.N. Tolstoy, “The Kreutzer Sonata”)

This is all the quiet joy of Sisyphus. His destiny belongs to him. The stone is his property. In the same way, an absurd person, looking at his torment, silences the idols. In the suddenly quiet universe, the whisper of thousands of thin, delightful voices can be heard rising from the earth. This is the unconscious, secret call of all the images of the world - this is the wrong side and this is the price of victory. There is no sun without shadow, and it is necessary to experience the night. The absurd person says “yes” - and there is no end to his efforts. If there is a personal destiny, then this is by no means a predestination from above, or, in extreme cases, predestination comes down to how the person himself judges it: it is fatal and worthy of contempt. Otherwise, he recognizes himself as the master of his days. (A. Camus, “The Myth of Sisyphus. An Essay on the Absurd”)

It turns out to be a bitter paradox: it is easier to suffer than to create. All of Russia is a drinking Hamlet. There is only one way out. If you want to escape from suffering, create! There is no other medicine and there never will be. Even Sisyphean labor frees us from useless discussions about the uselessness of Sisyphean labor. (F.A. Iskander, “State and Conscience”)

Since childhood, each of us has probably heard popular expression"The Work of Sisyphean" What does it mean? Who is Sisyphus and what was he forced to do? Let's figure this out, and at the same time remember other phraseological units that came to us from ancient times.

In myths ancient Greece there is such a character as Sisyphus, who was the king of Corinth. Sisyphus lived happily and happily in his luxurious palace, cunning, deceiving and dodging. His victims were earthly people who had no power over him. One day he decided that it was possible to outwit even the gods, for which he subsequently paid cruelly. Its history is as follows. When he realized that the death god Thanat had come to him, Sisyphus distracted him with deception and put him in chains. From that moment on, people stopped dying, and the gods of the kingdom of shadows were deprived of the gifts that living people gave them for their dead relatives.

Zeus learned about this disgrace, who became angry and sent the god of war Ares for Thanat, demanding that he be immediately released. After his release, he immediately plunged the wicked Sisyphus into his kingdom of shadows. Hades and his wife Persephone waited a long time for sacred gifts from Sisyphus’s wife, but all in vain, since he warned her in advance that no one would bring any gifts for him. Here again Sisyphus decided to play a trick, announcing to the gods about the obstinacy of his wife, who allegedly did not want to part with her wealth. He promised Hades to deal with his wife, for which he needed to visit the earth for a short time, but he immediately promised to return back.

The terrible Hades, just like Tanat before, believed the liar and returned him to earth. Once at home, Sisyphus called the guests and threw a noble feast. Once again he dared to laugh at the gods. The gods do not forgive this, but the deceiver did not even want to think about it. Sisyphus was cast into the kingdom of shadows and received a terrible punishment as punishment. Daily from the foot high mountain he was forced to roll up a huge heavy stone, but, having almost reached the top, the stone fell down. This goes on forever. Sisyphus's work is hard and useless, but such is the will of the gods. This myth can teach us a lot if we read it carefully and think carefully. Before you laugh at or deceive someone, remember Sisyphus’s work - so meaningless and hard.

Sisyphus was not the only one who received punishment from the gods. Tantalus himself, right there in Hades, is forced to stand up to his neck in pure clear water and see branches with luxurious fruits in front of you. He experiences terrible thirst and hunger, but bending down to take a sip of water, he sees how it goes through the ground, and stretching out his hands to the fruits, he realizes that he cannot reach them. These torments were given to Tantalus for ridicule and pride towards the gods. We must firmly remember that before committing any action, we must think everything over. It’s the same at work. Having taken on the task, you should plan everything so that it is not Sisyphean work (in vain and unnecessary to anyone), but a truly necessary and useful task. By the way, the creators either performed Sisyphean labor, the meaning of which is meaningless, useless work. They were poorly acquainted with physical laws and spent years inventing something that could not exist at all.

The phraseological unit Tantalus flour has a completely different meaning. It means the proximity of something very desirable, necessary and, at the same time, the impossibility of possessing it. We experience real Tantalus pangs when we want the impossible. This often arises because we do not balance our goals with our real capabilities, subsequently experiencing mental anguish. By soberly assessing the situation, success in business can always be achieved. The main thing is that what you do is not useless, otherwise such work will turn into Sisyphean labor, the meaning of which you already know.