This constituted the punishment (fitting the crime) of Sisyphus for daring to claim that his cleverness surpassed that of Zeus. In Tartarus, Sisyphus was forced forever to try to roll a large boulder to the top of a mountain slope, which, no matter how many times he nearly succeeded in his attempt, would always roll back to the bottom. Sisyphus was forcefully dragged back to Tartarus by Hermes when he refused to go back to the Underworld after that. Sometime later, Sisyphus had Persephone send him back to the surface to scold his wife for not burying him properly. This caused Ares to free Thanatos and turn Sisyphus over to him. When Zeus ordered Thanatos to chain up Sisyphus in Tartarus, Sisyphus tricked Thanatos by asking him how the chains worked and ended up chaining Thanatos as a result there was no more death. But regardless of the impropriety of Zeus' frequent conquests, Sisyphus overstepped his bounds by considering himself a peer of the gods who could rightfully report their indiscretions.
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