In Greek mythology, Sisyphus or Sisyphos (; Ancient Greek: Σίσυφος Sísyphos) was the founder and king of Ephyra (now known as Corinth). Hades punished him for cheating death twice by forcing him to roll an immense boulder up a hill only for it to roll back down every time it neared the top, repeating this action for eternity. Through the classical influence on modern culture, tasks that are both laborious and futile are therefore described as Sisyphean (). Etymology R. S. P. Beekes has suggested a pre-Greek origin and a connection with the root of the word (σοφός, "wise"). German mythographer Otto Gruppe thought that the name derived from (σίσυς, "a goat's skin"), in reference to a rain-charm in which goats' skins were used. Family Sisyphus was formerly a Thessalian prince as the son of King Aeolus of Aeolia and Enarete, daughter of Deimachus. He was the brother of Athamas, Salmoneus, Cretheus, Perieres, Deioneus, Magnes, Calyce, Canace, Alcyone, Pisidice and Perimede. Sisyphus married the Pleiad Merope by whom he became the father of Ornytion (Porphyrion), Glaucus, Thersander and Almus. He was the grandfather of Bellerophon through Glaucus, and Minyas, founder of Orchomenus, through Almus. Another account related that Minyas was Sisyphus's son instead. In other versions of the myth, Sisyphus was the true father of Odysseus by Anticleia instead of Laërtes. Mythology Reign Sisyphus was the founder and first king of Ephyra (supposedly the original name of Corinth). King Sisyphus promoted navigation and commerce but was avaricious and deceitful. He killed guests and travelers in his palace, a violation of guest-obligations, which fell under Zeus' domain, thus angering the god. He took pleasure in these killings because they allowed him to maintain his iron-fisted rule. Conflict with Salmoneus Sisyphus and his brother Salmoneus were known to hate each other, and Sisyphus consulted the Oracle of Delphi on just how to kill Salmoneus without incurring any severe consequences for himself. From Homer onward, Sisyphus was famed as the craftiest of men. He seduced Salmoneus' daughter Tyro in one of his plots to kill Salmoneus only for Tyro to slay the children she bore him when she discovered that Sisyphus was planning on using them eventually to dethrone her father. Cheating death Sisyphus betrayed one of Zeus' secrets by revealing the whereabouts of the Asopid Aegina to her father, the river god Asopus, in return for causing a spring to flow on