Sisyphus (and not Euler, a former Palmeiras player from the 90s) is the son of the wind (the god Aeolus). It is in the mythical narrative of Ancient Greece of a peasant who founded the city of Corinth (formerly called Ephira), known for being populated by men who sprouted from mushrooms. He married one of the Pleiades (set of stars), Merope, daughter of the god Atlas.
As a peasant, Sisyphus had a herd that was dwindling without his noticing why. It was that an Autolyc, a neighbor of his, had the ability to metamorphose into animals and used this ability to enter other people's properties without being noticed and steal the animals that could be to transform. One day, Sisyphus decided to mark his flock and managed to follow in the footsteps that led to the house of Autolycus, proving that he was robbing him. So he called witnesses to testify to the robbery and while the neighbors argued about the robbery, Sisyphus surrounded the house and, upon coming across the The daughter of Autolycus, Anticleia, united with her and generated the cunning Odysseus (who has as her father's mark her cunning, even shown in this act).
However, far from there, the episode of the abduction of Aegina by Zeus took place. Aegina's father, Asopo, when looking for her, met Sisyphus who ratted on Zeus. This one when escaping from the fury of the god Asopo, took revenge on Sisyphus and ordered that Hades took him to Tartarus (underground world where the condemned souls lived). Sisyphus then asked his wife, Merope, not to bury him. With this, already in Tartarus, he persuaded Persephone to let him come back to life in order to organize his burial and revenge himself on the negligents who did not. She let him go for three days, but he of course broke his promise, until Hermes was instructed to bring him back by force.
Sisyphus then received an exemplary punishment: daily rolling a rock up a mountain to the top. Upon reaching the top, the weight and tiredness promoted by fatigue would make the stone roll again to the ground and the next day it would have to start all over again and so on forever and ever. This punishment was a way to shame Sisyphus for his cunning and skill used to plot against the gods.
In the 20th century, an author of the movement known as “existentialism”, Albert Camus, took up the myth to explain the human condition and promote what became known as “The Metaphysical Revolt”. Camus explained that men's lives were like the myth of Sisyphus: following a daily routine, without proper meaning, determined by instances such as religion and the capitalist system of production. In the managed world, we get up in the morning, work, eat, reproduce, etc., and all of this doesn't make any sense, since refers to ways of thinking that are imposed on the individual without him or her participating in the structuring of this way of life, as if we did not have choices.
Therefore, although it is not necessary to go to the extremes of Camus, the myth serves to show that following the dominant ideologies, we will be punished with sameness, with the heteronomous sense. It is alert to the understanding of human freedom and responsibility in relation to your life, your world and others.
By João Francisco P. Cabral
Brazil School Collaborator
Graduated in Philosophy from the Federal University of Uberlândia - UFU
Master's student in Philosophy at the State University of Campinas - UNICAMP
Source: Brazil School - https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/filosofia/o-mito-sisifo-sua-conotacao-contemporanea.htm
