The mythology of ancient Greece and Italy

pelops. 443
many attempts at localising the ancient mythes, for Sipylos it
is plain was designed to take the place of the mythic rock.
The name Tantalos is, like Sisyphos, a reduplication % and
his mythe is evidently one of those handed down from the an-
cient serious Pelasgic times. The root of Tantalos is probably
0aX\(o, and he represents the man who is flourishing and
abounding in wealth, but whose desires are insatiable. The
Homeric picture livelily exhibits the misery of such a state,
and this is probably the more ancient form of the legend. The
other form b perhaps represents the cares and fears attendant
on riches ; or it may be, as has been ingeniously conjectured,
an image of the evils of ambition and the inordinate pursuit
of honours ; for when Tantalos, it was said, had attained his ul-
timate desire, and was admitted to the table of the gods, his
joy was converted into terror by his fancying a rock suspended
over his head and ready to crush him, and he sought permis-
sion to resign his place at the celestial table c .
It was probably the idea of the great wealth of Lydia that
caused the mythe of Tantalos to be localised at Sipylos.
IIe\oi|r. Pelops.
At an entertainment given to the gods by Tantalos, he is
said to have killed and dressed his son Pelops, and to have
set him for food before them. Demeter had eaten one of the
shoulders before the gods were aware of the horrid banquet
of which they were about to partake. At the desire of Zeus,
Hermes put all the parts back into the pot, and drew forth
from it the boy perfect in all but the shoulder, which was re-
placed by an ivory. one d . Poseidon, smitten with the beauty
of Pelops, carried him off in his golden car to Olympos. But
when his father had drawn on himself the indignation of the
a 0a\0a\os, for euphony made TdvraXos : G and r, \ and v are frequently com-
muted. See Welcker in Sclvwenk. 265, and Volcker, Myth, der Jap. 355.
b Archilochus was the earliest writer who to Pausanias' knowledge (x. 31, 12.)
had mentioned the stone.
c Alcman ap. Sch. Pind. ut sup. Nicolaus Damasc. Tlepi Hapaoiruv ap. Stob.
xiv. 7. Welcker, Das Epische Cyclus, 280. seq.
" Sch. Find. 01. i. 38.