Original subtitles

(dramatic orchestral music)

(wind blowing)

(fire crackling)

- [Narrator] Tartarus, located deep

in the bowels of Hell,

filled with the souls of the damned,

it was the prison of fallen gods,

exiled heroes, and great criminals.

But before becoming a place Tartarus was a god.

A primordial deity born of Chaos.

At his birth, Gaia, the Earth, threw Tartarus

into the depths of her entrails,

transforming him into an inaccessible region

from which no soul could return.

The domain was ruled over by Hades, Lord of Hell.

Held captive in Tartarus were all those struck

by the wrath of Zeus.

(metal clanking, fire crackling)

Around the prisoners stood a triple

wall of bronze.

There was no way out, all hope was lost.

So deep was Tartarus that it would take

a falling anvil nine days to reach it from Earth.

(mysterious music)

From deep within the shroud of sulfur rose

the screams of the damned.

Here with the sons of Uranus and Gaia

the Titans punished for defying Zeus.

Nearby were the giants.

Believing that their monstrous size made them

invincible they dared to declare war on the

master of Olympus, and they lost.

But the Titans and the giants were not alone

languishing in the notorious prison of Tartarus.

Men, too, could be found there.

Legendary figures whose arrogance led them

to believe themselves more powerful

than the gods.

(slow music)

The most famous of them was Sisyphus.

Sisyphus was the son of the god, Aeolus,

master and ruler of the winds.

He was married to one of the seven Pleiades,

Merope, and hailed from a long line of cunning

individuals who constantly found new ways

to deceive their fellowmen, and even the gods.

As founder of Corinth, Sisyphus managed

to develop a trade and navigation in his city.

But in spite of that, or perhaps,

as a result of the ensuing turmoil,

his subjects considered him to be

an unreliable leader.

Among his many treasures, Sisyphus boasted

a magnificent herd of animals.

One that was easily a match for that of his

neighbor, Autolycus, son of the god, Hermes.

Autolycus was past master in the art of theft.

His father gave him the power to completely

transform any animal he stole.

To give horns to those that had none,

and to turn white creatures black,

and black creatures white.

In time, Sisyphus began to notice

a strange phenomenon, his herd was shrinking,

while Autolycus' was growing ever larger.

He knew all about Autolycus.

He had to be the one behind this.

So Sisyphus devised a ruse to catch the thief.

One night, Autolycus helped himself

to another 10 animals.

Unbeknownst to him,

he had fallen into Sisyphus' trap.

At daybreak, Sisyphus went to Autolycus

and accused him of theft.

Autolycus protested vehemently.

Sisyphus ordered his men

to inspect Autolycus' herd.

They easily identified the missing livestock.

For carved into the side of each hoof

were the words, "Stolen by Autolycus".

This was the day before the wedding

of Autolycus' daughter, Anticleia.

She was to marry Leites, King of Ithaca.

Sisyphus saw a way to exact his revenge.

(footsteps approaching)

Leaving his men to punish the thief,

he burst into the home of poor Anticleia,

and raped her.

(faint screaming)

Sometime later a child was born.

He was given the name Ulysses,

but was he the son of Leites or Sisyphus?

Ulysses eventually proved himself to be every

bit as shrewd as Sisyphus,

overcoming the thousand obstacles strewn

in his path during his odyssey.

(mysterious music)

But a further incident condemned Sisyphus

to eternal damnation.

(slow orchestral music)

Zeus was a seducer.

Whether goddess or mortal,

any female entity that crossed his path

would eventually succumb to his ardor.

When he met Aegina,

beautiful daughter of the river god, Asopus,

he had to have her.

(slow music)

(footsteps approaching)

Taking on the appearance of an eagle,

Zeus abducted Aegina and went off to hide

on a lost island in the Aegean Sea.

Asopus scoured all of Greece

in search of his daughter.

(slow music)

Just as Asopus was resigning himself to defeat,

Sisyphus called out from the tower

above his citadel.

The edifice had been specially constructed

so that he could observe the arrival of travelers

before intercepting and robbing them.

From his promontory,

Sisyphus had witnessed Zeus' ploy.

He thus proposed a deal with the tearful father.

A water source in exchange for the

name of the abductor.

An eternal spring would allow Sisyphus

to irrigate the arid lands around Corinth.

Asopus accepted and immediately brought forth

water to flow from a spring.

Sisyphus then proclaimed to all in sundry

that Zeus was to blame.

None of these events had escaped Zeus.

First, the rape of Anticleia,

and now this denunciation.

It was an act of impiety that could

not be tolerated.

He thus sent Sisyphus the most dreaded

of visitors, Thanatos,

the demon personification of death.

(mysterious music)

But crafty Sisyphus, the smooth talker,

managed to hoodwink death,

putting forward a series of fallacious arguments.

He even managed to send him in chains

to one of the deepest prison cells

in his citadel.

Little by little,

Hell became more sparsely populated,

as Death, now a prisoner,

failed to reap his daily quota of victims.

A terrible tragedy loomed unless something

was done the Earth would overflow with humanity,

with no room for the burgeoning population.

(mysterious music)

Something had to be done, and fast.

Zeus was merciless.

He condemned Sisyphus to the depths of Tartarus.

(mysterious music)

But shrewd Sisyphus had another trick

up his sleeve.

Before obeying Zeus and descending into Hell,

he told his wife, Merope,

to neither bury his body,

nor make any ritual offerings.

While taken aback, Merope agreed.

Once in Hell, the convicted prisoner

went to Persephone, the Queen of the Underworld.

Feigning distress, he declared that having died

without burial, he should not be there.

He should've been left on the other bank

of the Styx.

He tearfully added that his wife had

shown unforgivable impiety,

and that while he accepted Zeus' punishment,

he requested permission to return to Earth

to make arrangements for his funeral,

and to punish the woman who had failed

in her duties.

He vowed to return as soon as the rituals

had been fulfilled.

(slow music)

Persephone gave her consent,

provided that Sisyphus promised to return

within three days.

(slow music)

Sisyphus went back up towards the light,

and naturally he broke his promise.

This time an exasperated Zeus

struck down Sisyphus.

Without further adieu he dispatched him

to the depths of Tartarus,

and he devised a very special punishment for him.

Sisyphus would be compelled to roll

a huge rock up to the summit of a hill.

The task didn't seem such a daunting one.

However, he would have to keep repeating

it ad infinitum.

This absurd task seized the popular imagination

so much so that Sisyphus' punishment

came to symbolize the human condition.

(slow music)

(mysterious music)

In Tartarus, leaning on his rock,

Sisyphus could find solace in the knowledge

that he was not alone.

On his arrival he encountered

many familiar figures.

Not only Atlas, compelled to carry the

world on his shoulders,

but also Enceladus and Ixion,

as well as many others whose names

he had forgotten.

Then one day a new prisoner appeared.

He was taken to a spot not far from there

on the other side of the hill up to a lake.

Sisyphus knew the man to be Tantalus,

King of Phrygia.

Tantalus was the son of Zeus and

the nymph, Pluto.

He married the daughter of the god, Pactyrus.

Pactyrus was both a god and a river,

one filled with gold pieces ever since the day

King Midas has swum there.

Tantalus had everything to become

a valiant hero.

Intelligence, courage, and especially

the protection of his father, Zeus.

He was even accorded the rare privilege

of joining in the feasts on Mount Olympus.

Zeus named him King of Phrygia,

and he became drunk on power.

(slow music)

First, Tantalus betrayed the hospitality

of the gods.

One day after eating and drinking at their table,

while no one was looking,

he dared to steal something that was the

sole preserve of the gods.

Nectar and ambrosia,

the food and drink of the immortals.

Then back on Earth,

he allowed mortal men to partake of them.

As if this act were not sacrilegious enough,

worse was to come.

He invited the 12 gods of Olympus

to a banquet in his palace.

But while his guests were settling in,

Tantalus realized that he did not have

enough food for them.

Instead of confessing the truth,

he chose to deceive the gods,

and he did so in the worst possible way.

Summoning his son, Pelops,

he drew him into the palace kitchens,

where, out of sight, he strangled him.

He then cut up his son's flesh into pieces

before mixing it into the food being prepared

for the gods.

(mysterious music)

As soon as the gods tasted the dish,

they recoiled in horror.

All recognized the presence of human flesh.

All except the goddess, Demeter.

Distracted by the recent death of her daughter,

Persephone, she unthinkingly ate a piece

of Pelops' shoulder.

(slow music)

Zeus, torn between repulsion and anger,

gave orders for Tantalus to be thrown into Hell.

But even that did not seem enough.

The following day he decided that the

murderer and blasphemer should be taken

to the banks of a lake in the depth of Tartarus.

(slow music)

Here then, is Tantalus, king and deposed demigod.

Condemned to neither eat nor drink for eternity.

(slow music)

To his right is the fruit hanging from a tree

on the riverbank.

It's a beautiful, shining, juicy pear.

Around him, up to his neck, is cool, clear water.

But whenever he leans forward to drink it,

the water drains away leaving

only a black sludge.

And if he tries to grab the pear,

a sudden gust of wind moves it out of reach.

From Olympus, Zeus observed his son.

A son who was unworthy of being a god,

unworthy of being a king,

unworthy even of being a man.

To dissuade anyone else from committing

such an outrage, the suffering of Tantalus,

forever starved and thirsty,

would serve as an example.

(mysterious music)

While Zeus was merciless in his punishments,

he was also capable of great magnanimity.

Deciding to resuscitate the hapless Pelops,

he gave Hermes the task of collecting together

the cut up pieces of the child's body

and placing them in a magic cauldron.

In this way, every piece of the shredded body

of Pelops was brought back to life.

The King of the gods then summoned Clotho,

one of the three Fates,

the goddesses who span and cut the fragile

threads of existence.

Zeus gave her the assignment of reconstructing

the body of the young man.

Clotho had almost finished her work,

when she realized that a part

of the body was missing.

The shoulder, inadvertently eaten by Demeter.

So the goddess made a shoulder from ivory

and imbued it with life.

From that day on,

all descendants of Pelops were born

with a white mark on their shoulder.

(mysterious music)

A short distance away another criminal

was serving penance.

His name was Ixion.

For Ixion, everything began when he wanted

to marry the daughter of Dionyus,

King of Thesele.

To win her over, Ixion promised to give

the young woman the most marvelous gifts.

Dionyus accepted his proposal and the

wedding was celebrated.

The following day Dionyus claimed the gifts

promised to his daughter.

There would be none, retorted Ixion,

indicating, with disdain,

that he had changed his mind.

A quarrel broke out between the two men.

Dionyus threatened Ixion with the worst

kind of retaliation.

A frightened Ixion quickly invited his

father-in-law to a feast of reconciliation.

Dionyus accepted.

He duly entered Ixion's palace.

Ixion welcomed him,

then led him to a room where a table

was laid for the feast.

But as they passed a bed of burning

wood and coals,

Ixion brutally shoved his father-in-law,

sending Dionyus crashing into the burning embers.

(mysterious music)

On learning of this odious crime,

non of the deities on Mount Olympus would

prepare to cleanse Ixion of his guilt.

None, that is, but Zeus.

Not only did he take pity on the criminal,

he cleansed him and invited him to eat

at his table.

One would imagine that Ixion would show his

gratitude to Zeus for this noble gesture.

On the contrary.

Barely settled at the table,

he behaved in the most ungrateful way imaginable,

as he grew lustful for Hera, the wife of Zeus.

This time, Ixion had gone too far.

(mysterious music)

Making a cloud in the shape of Hera,

Zeus thrusted into the arms of Ixion.

In his desire and drunkenness,

Ixion failed to realize that he was embracing

an illusion, a double of Hera.

(slow music)

Covering it with caresses and kisses,

he forcibly took the object of his desires.

From this union, came to born a hybrid being,

half man, half horse.

It would be called Centaur.

While Ixion was convinced that he had won

the heart of the Queen of Olympus,

Zeus soon put an end to his frolics.

Seizing Ixion, he threw him into the depths

of Hell where he was tied to a flaming wheel.

A wheel that would spin eternally

until the end of time.

And it turns, still.

(mysterious music)

(fire crackling)

The damned of Tartarus,

whether Sisyphus, Ixion, or Tantalus,

did not believe that the gods

would dare punish them.

So they committed a series of heinous crimes,

paying no mind to the consequences.

And if there is one thing that the gods

cannot bear, it is simple mortals believing

themselves to be invincible.

(slow music)

(gate closing)

(dramatic orchestral music)