MYTHS OF LOCAL HEROES AND HEROINES^613
became the god Palaemon (see note 3 on p. 304). Melicertes' body was brought
ashore on the Isthmus of Corinth by a dolphin. Sisyphus found and buried it, in-
stituting the Isthmian Games in the child's honor. At first the games were mainly
religious and ritualistic; Theseus is said to have founded them a second time and
thus given them the athletic character that they acquired in historical times.
The legends of Sisyphus are less concerned with him as king than as the
craftiest of men. One story makes him the father of Odysseus, whose mother,
Anticlea, he seduced before she married Laertes. Anticlea's father was the mas-
ter thief Autolycus, son of Hermes, who gave him the power to steal whatever
he wished undetected. For a long time he was in the habit of stealing Sisyphus'
cattle until Sisyphus branded the animals on their hooves and so easily recog-
nized and recovered those that Autolycus had stolen. The two heroes became
friends, and Autolycus allowed Sisyphus to lie with Anticlea. Thus (in this ver-
sion) Sisyphus, not Laertes, was really the father of Odysseus.
Sisyphus' greatest exploit was outwitting Death (Thanatos) himself. In its
simplest form it is alluded to by the seventh-century poet Alcaeus of Lesbos
(frag. 110. 5-10):¥
For Sisyphus also, the son of Aeolus, thought that he was the cleverest of men
to overpower Death. Yet, although he was crafty and crossed swirling Acheron
twice (avoiding his destiny), the King [Zeus], son of Cronus, devised labor for
him beneath the black earth.Sisyphus aroused the anger of Zeus by telling the river-god Asopus that Zeus
had carried off his daughter Aegina, and Zeus sent Death to carry Sisyphus off.
Sisyphus chained Death, and as long as he was bound, no mortals could die.
Eventually Ares freed Death and handed Sisyphus over to him, but before he
went down to the Underworld, Sisyphus left instructions with his wife, Merope,
not to make the customary sacrifices after his death. When Hades found that no
sacrifices were being made, he sent Sisyphus back to remonstrate with Merope.
So he returned to Corinth and stayed there until he died in advanced old age. It
was for his revelation of Zeus's secret that he was punished in the Underworld
by having to roll a huge rock uphill only to have it roll down again (see p. 333).
Sisyphus, therefore, combines a number of heroic and folktale elements in
his legend. He is the founder of a city and of games and rituals in honor of a
god. But he is also the trickster, peer of the master-thief Autolycus, and deceiver
of Death itself.BELLEROPHON
The greatest of Corinthian heroes was Bellerophon, grandson of Sisyphus. His
legend is told in Homer by the Lycian leader Glaucus, when he meets Diomedes
in battle. It is set both in the Argolid and in Asia Minor. Bellerophon may even
have been introduced into Greek legend from the East.