Tantalus

Demigod — son of Zeus by the nymph Plouto, king of Sipylus in Lydia, founder of the accursed Pelopid house. Admitted to the gods' table, he transgressed: stealing nectar and ambrosia for mortals (Pindar) or butchering his son Pelops and serving him to the gods to test their omniscience (the older tradition the gods reject — only Demeter, grieving Persephone, eats the shoulder). Damned to the proverbial 'tantalizing' torment in Hades. Formerly barred by the strict parentage rule (a nymph-born son of Zeus); now admissible and the demigod root from which the whole House of Atreus descends.

Parentage

• paternal: Zeus

Children

• Niobe
• Pelops

Domains

• kingship
• hubris
• wealth

Powers

• Fellowship at the gods' table

Epithets

• Τανταλίδαι Ancient Greek · Tantalidai · namesons of Tantalus (the accursed Pelopid/Atreid line named for him)Euripides, Orestes 4-10 (primary)

Relations

• lover: Plouto (Lydian/Phrygian nymph of Mt. Sipylus, daughter of Cronus or of Oceanus; mother of Tantalus by Zeus — a 'numen'-class divine mother) · GreekPaus. 2.22.3; Hyg. Fab. 155; Schol. Eur. Or. 5 (primary)
• father of: PelopsApollod. Epit. 2.3; Pind. Ol. 1.36-40 (primary)
• enemy: ZeusPind. Ol. 1; Hom. Od. 11.582-592 (primary)

Sources

• existence: Hom. Od. 11.582-592; Pind. Ol. 1.36-64; Eur. Or. 4-10; Apollod. Epit. 2.1; Paus. 2.22.3 (primary)
• parentage: Apollod. Epit. 2.1; Hyg. Fab. 82, 155 (son of Zeus by Plouto) (primary)