3-038-097 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Tantalus and Ixion Suffering Torment in the Underworld; Roman de la Rose, about 1405. In Greek mythology, Tantalus was punished by being made to stand in a pool of water beneath a fruit tree with low branches, with the fruit ever eluding his grasp, and the water always receding before he could take a drink. His name and punishment are the source of the English word tantalise. Zeus ordered Hermes to punish Ixion by tying him to a winged fiery wheel that was always spinning. Thus Ixion was bound to a burning solar wheel for all eternity.