In the ancient city of Corinth reigned a rather cunning man and his name was Sisyphus. He was probably the smartest man of his time. Though he was the smartest, he was not the wisest. Sisyphus was a direct descendant of Prometheus. This deity had the boldness to stick his nose into the matters of Zeus and hence paid a high price for his busy bodying and much like his Ancestor Sisyphus decided to interfere in the affair of the gods. he witnessed the kidnapping of the young and beautiful Aegina by Zeus in the form of an eagle, and he realized that he could take advantage of it, although he was king of a glorious city, his metropolis struggled with a lack of drinking water.
Young Aegina was the daughter of Asopus-a river god, who was deeply saddened by the disappearance of his daughter. So, Sisyphus went to Asopus and declared that he knew where Asopus's daughter was, and that the information came at a price and he told him that for the information, he wanted Asopus to create a spring of water that would supply his kingdom and so Asopus accepted the offer and created a spring of the purest mineral water. And so, Sisyphus revealed to him what he knew and Asopus went after his daughter. King Sisyphus was pleased as this new spring would be a source of abundance for his kingdom and it would even add more prestige to his city.
Zeus, the supreme lord of Olympus, was enraged by Sisyphus's revelation to Asopus and so he ordered Thanatos-the god of death, to find him and take his life. Some time had passed before Thanatos had visited him and when he came, Sisyphus was surprised to see Thanatos in his Palace, but an idea quickly sprung up in his cunning and mischievous mind, He went to death and said, "So, it seems my time has come, I did not expect to die so young, however i am much surprised by your splendor, indeed you are such a magnificent deity. You shall know that, of the many gods i have known, few carry such a remarkable and elegant figure and before i leave i would like to present you with some ornaments that would make your presence even more dazzling, Afterall, these jewels would no longer be of use to me".
Thanatos felt flattered by the torrential stream of compliments and so he decided to accept the gifts. And so, Sisyphus put a pair of silver bracelets and a matching silver necklace on Thanatos. However, those turned out to be shackles and a collar. The Corinthian King had done something that appeared to be impossible until that point, Sisyphus had managed to cheat and capture death itself and so Thanatos became his prisoner.
Time passed and people had stopped dying, the kingdom of Hades was no longer receiving any new subjects and on the banks of the river Acheron (entrance to the Greek underworld, the river of woe and one of the five magical rivers of the Underworld), Charon (the ferryman of Hades, He carries the souls of those who have been given funeral rites across the rivers Acheron and Styx) had no more passengers to cross the waters. The wars caused by Ares-the god of war were no longer a pleasure for him as nobody died anymore.
Enraged, Ares travelled to Corinth and knocked down the palace doors and broke the chains hat imprisoned Thanatos, as he was now free, the god of death was absolutely sure of his first target, and began to search for king Sisyphus to complete the mission that Zeus had given to him, but Sisyphus was already expecting that, and he had told his wife that if he died prematurely, she should not render the royal funeral services and so Sisyphus delivered himself peacefully to Thanatos who then proceeded to take his life. Charon was already waiting to lead him to the kingdom of Hades-the lord of the underworld.
The banks of the river of the dead were filled with souls already on Thanatos's list who only now had been sought even though their times were long overdue and so Sisyphus upon arriving in the kingdom of Hades, he was face to face with the god of the underworld who seemed to be quite unhappy, and he admonished Sisyphus, after being admonished by Hades, Sisyphus delivered a speech that he had already prepared long before his death. He went "Noble lord of the underworld, I am aware of my wrongdoings against you, and the harm I've caused, but that was not my intention, if I had known that i would harm the great god of the world of the dead, i never would have done such things. Knowing that iam in debt to you, I have a plea to make, my obnoxious wife refused to perform the proper funeral rights for a king who is so dear to his people, that abominable woman tossed me out as if i were nothing but a dog carcass. I therefore beg you to let me return to the world of the living for only one day, so that i may take revenge on my wife and set up a proper funeral which would honor the kingdom of the dead " and so Hades gave him his permission to go to the world of the living for only one day, However, by nightfall you shall return to my domain.
Sisyphus gave his word that he would return promptly, so he returned to Corinth and there he met his wife and fled with her, and so for the second time, Sisyphus had cheated death. Hidden, Sisyphus lived a long life and reached an old age until he encountered his inevitable end, and encountering Thanatos once more, his cleverness would no longer help him and upon returning to the underworld, Hades sent him to Tartarus where he received an appalling torment. Sisyphus was forced to roll a heavy boulder from a plain to a mountain top and every time he would get close to the summit, the boulder would become incredibly heavy and roll back to the base of the mountaintop and so Sisyphus was condemned to repeat this for all eternity