Sisyphean (pronounced sis-uh-fee-uhn)
(1) Of or relating to Sisyphus.
(2) Something endless and unavailing (describing usually some laborious or repetitive task).
1625–1635: From the Ancient Greek name Sīsýpheios or Sī́syphios, the construct being Sīsýphe + -eios (from the Latin adjectival suffix -ēiōs, the accusative masculine plural of –ēius). Some etymologists suggest the name has a pre-Greek origin and some connection with the root of the word sophos (σοφός) (wise) while one noted German mythographer thought it derived from sisys (σίσυς) (a goat's skin), a reference to a rain-charm in which goats' skins were used. A sisyphean task is one which comes to be understood as both endless and futile; no longer how long one persists, the task is never done. Because it’s based on a name, Sisyphean is often capitalized, but not always and is is used especially in the phrases “Sisyphean task” & “Sisyphean labors”. The comes from the name of Sisyphus, a character in Greek mythology who was punished by being forced continuously and eternally to roll a boulder up a steep hill and just as he was about the reach the top, the boulder would roll back down, and he’d have to start all over again. The phrase is now used of any task which seems never to end no matter how diligent one may be, such as clearing the contents of one’s inbox. A classic modern example (which apparently wasn’t quite true) was the task is allocated to the team painting the Sydney Harbour Bridge; by the time they finished at the northern end, it was time to return to the south and start again. Sisyphean is an adjective.
In Greek mythology, Sisyphus (Σίσυφος) was the most cunning (if not the most admirable) of mortals. A Thessalian prince and founder of Corinth (then called Ephyra), he was the son of King Aeolus of Aeolia and Enarete, the daughter of Deimachus and in the way the myths of Antiquity bounced around a bit, he was either the successor and avenger of Corinthus or the successor of Medea. In the best known of the myths, Autolycus had stolen flocks of sheep from Sisyphus, but because he had engraved his name under the hoof of each, he was able to reclaim them by pointing to the etchings and that day happened to be the eve of the marriage of Anticleia, daughter of Autolycus, and Laertes. Still not best pleased about the theft of his livestock, Sisyphus that night found his way into the bride’s bed and from that vengeful conquest was born Odysseus. Those facts are agreed but in some of the myths a scheming Autolycus offered his daughter to Sisyphus because he wanted a grandson to inherit his wiliness & cunning. The variations in the myths have attracted much comment and it wasn’t until the seventeenth century that some were found to be the work of Medieval writers but some of those with sometimes contradictory “alternative facts” were from Antiquity and it needs to be remembered that many were written by “content providers” who created their “new” product from an existing and popular cast of characters. In that the process was much the same as the modern equivalent, the US daytime TV soaps, where “killed off” characters can re-appear and on one celebrated occasion, one who had lost a leg managed in a later season to show up again bipedal.
When Zeus abducted Aegina he travelled through Corinth where
he was seen by Sisyphus and when her father Asopus came searching for her, Sisyphus
promised to reveal the kidnapper's name on condition that Asopus made a spring
gush on the town's citadel. To this
Asopus agreed and Sisyphus told him Zeus was the guilty one; here again
the myths take forks. In one telling an
enraged Zeus struck the snitch with
a thunderbolt, hurling him into the Underworld,
where he was condemned for eternity to roll an
enormous rock up a hill, the big stone always to roll back to the bottom just
as the peak was approached. However, in
the Odyssey, the story was that Zeus sent Thanatos, the
spirit of Death, to pay one of his unwelcome visits to Sisyphus in order to bring
about his end. The cunning Sisyphus, however, took Thanatos by surprise and chained him up, meaning that for some time, not one
mortal of all of Earth died, compelling Zeus to force the spirit’s release so
he could resume his essential tasks; Zeus made sure Sisyphus was the first victim.
Ever plotting, before Thanatos did his work, secretly Sisyphus made his wife promise not to perform at his funeral the obsequies to which he was entitled and upon arrival in the Underworld, stridently he complained to Hades about this slight. It being a boys club, Hades granted him permission to return to earthly life to punish her. Of course, the devious fellow didn’t keep to the pact and stayed on Earth, living in rude good health to a great age. He was though mortal and when eventually he died the gods of the Underworld weren’t going to be tricked again, setting him to the task of pushing the rock uphill, leaving him not a moment to seek his escape. That story is complete but there were other variations, the most intriguing being in a damaged fragment from the Roman writer Hyginus (Gaius Julius Hyginus (circa 64 BC–17 AD). Here, it’s described how Sisyphus hated his brother Salmoneus and asked the oracle of Apollo how he could kill the sibling he described as “his enemy”. Apollo told him that he would find men to take revenge if he slept with his own niece, Tyro, the daughter of Salmoneus. The deed done, Tyro gave birth to twins by Sisyphus but, learning of what the oracle had promised, she killed her two children. What happens next is not known because that part of the text has been lost but the concluding passages survived and Sisyphus in found in Underworld, rolling his stone. For this incestuous tale, readers are invited to fill in the gaps. The foundation of the Isthmian Games is sometimes attributed to Sisyphus, in honor of his nephew Melicerties. He was married to Merope and his descendants included Glaucus and Bellerophon.
Some slave for lifetimes at their Sisyphean tasks, others walk away.
Sisyphean and Herculean tasks
A “Sisyphean task” differs from a “Herculean task” in that the latter, although immensely challenging, is achievable with extraordinary effort while the former not only cannot be done but must repeatedly be attempted for all eternity. Hercules was from the Latin Herculēs, from the Etruscan hercle, from the Ancient Greek Ἡρακλῆς (Hēraklês), believed to be the cognate of Ἥρα (Hḗra) (Hera) and, according to some etymologists, the construct was the primitive Indo-European yóhr̥ (year, season) + κλέος (kléos) (glory). Hercules was the Roman name for the Greek divine hero Heracles, the son of Jupiter and Alcmene, a celebrated hero who possessed exceptional strength. In the myths, he’s remembered most for the twelve difficult labors he was made to perform as a penance for killing his family and that's the origin of the phrase.
Essentially, what certain operatives in the White House are hoping is the task confronting Joe Biden (b 1942; US president since 2021) over the next few weeks is merely Herculean and not Sisyphean. It should of course be neither because all he needs to do is not appear senile or at least not obviously at some stage of cognitive decline. That would seem a reasonable expectation for a major-party nominee for the office of President of the United States (POTUS), a four-year appointment which, as well as lots of other stuff, includes being commander-in-chief of the planet’s most powerful military and the right to deploy the US nuclear arsenal. However, after the first televised debate (June 2024) with Donald Trump (b 1946; US president 2017-2021), he has yet to convince many and in each public appearance since, what he has been doing is pushing his rock (which gets bigger and heavier which each attempt) uphill, only to commit some gaff which means the rock rolls to the bottom and he has to start again. Mixing up the names of Vladimir Putin; (b 1952; president or prime minister of Russia since 1999) & Volodymyr Zelensky (b 1978; president of Ukraine since 2019) might have elicited little more than a smile from observers had it not been part of a pattern of behavior and while in the archives there are doubtlessly many similar gaffs by others, Mr Biden’s are now keenly awaited and rated for severity. At least quickly he caught the error and corrected himself but later the same day, he referred his vice-president (Kamala Harris (b 1964; US vice president since 2021) as “Vice President Trump”, blithely carrying on, apparently oblivious to what he’d just said. That seems to be beyond gaff; more of “a howler”.
It’s definitely a matter of a heightened focus on Mr Biden’s slip-ups and Mr Trump also has “a bit of previous” in mixing up names, something which has not gone unnoticed but has been treated as just an amusing part of the clatter of the campaign and it’s an associative thing: because he’s not labelled as being in “obvious cognitive decline”, when Mr Trump mixes up a name, it’s spun not as a symptom but just an “everyday” gaff. In January 2024 Mr Trump mistakenly referred to his then rival for the nomination Nikki Haley (b 1972; ambassador to UN 2017-2018) when he should have been attacking Democrat Nancy Pelosi (b 1940; speaker of the US House of Representatives 2007-2011 & 2019-2023), repeatedly naming Ms Haley (who for some two years under his administration served as ambassador to the UN) when speaking at a campaign rally in New Hampshire, discussing the 6 Jan 2021 capitol riot:
“Nikki Haley, you know they, do you know they destroyed all of the information, all of the evidence, everything, deleted and destroyed all of it. All of it, because of lots of things like Nikki Haley is in charge of security. We offered her 10,000 people, soldiers, National Guard, whatever they want. They turned it down. They don’t want to talk about that. These are very dishonest people.”
Nikki Haley must have been much on his mind. The previous September, he’d surprised a few by saying “…with Obama, we won an election that everyone said couldn’t be won” before going on to say “…we would be in World War II (1939-1945) very quickly if we’re going to be relying on [Mr Biden].” Asked for a comment, Mr Trump claimed sometimes “sarcastically” he transposes Mr Biden’s name with that of Barack Obama (b 1961; US president 2009-2017) “…as an indication that others may actually be having a very big influence in running our country.” Seemingly, crooked Hillary Clinton (b 1947; US secretary of state 2009-2013) is no longer on his mind.
This is a genuine crisis for the Democratic Party and one
thing it has done is publicize the way the machinery would work if a critical
mass of delegates to the Democratic National Convention (scheduled for 19-22 August
2024) decide to contest Mr Biden’s path to the nomination. The first potential spanner in the works is a
recent amendment to Ohio electoral law which demands presidential candidates be
certified (ie the state’s electoral commissioner must be notified that
presidential candidates have been officially nominated) at least 90 days before
the general election if they are to appear on ballot’s in Ohio. That makes the Ohio deadline the earliest in
the land and the cut-off date is 7 August, some two weeks before the convention. The Republican National Convention is held in
July so this is exclusively a problem for the Democrats and the issue has
existed in the past but states have either accepted a “provisional nomination”
or extended their deadline. The Ohio attorney-general
however says the state will not be accepting a provisional certificate and the Republican-controlled
legislature did not pass an extension amendment so there things stand,
appearing to demand the delegates vote in some virtual way prior to 7
August. There is also the matter of
federal electoral law for the delegates to consider. What it holds is that the millions of dollars
being held as campaign funds for the Biden-Harris ticket cannot be transferred
to new ticket, unless the new presidential nominee was one of the members of
the old. What this means is that if Mr
Biden is not the nominee, the vital campaign funds will remain available only
if that nominee is Vice-President Harris.
Political junkies who belong to the school of “politics as theatre” are actually hoping for a so-called “open convention” (sometimes called a “brokered convention), something not seen since 1952 although both parties have since flirted with the possibility. An open convention is one in which no individual secures a majority on the first ballot and it become a matter of horse trading between 4000-odd delegates and for that to happen would require either Mr Biden deciding to withdraw (and presumably endorsing Ms Harris) or a challenge emerging from the floor. While the junkies can see the potential for fun in such a spectacle, the thought of an open convention sends shivers down the spines of the party bosses who like things to be stage-managed and decided in advance; the potential for messiness just too big a risk. Still, at least in theory, it really is in the hands of the delegates who under the law are entitled to vote for whomever they wish, even if they have been elected on the basis of a pledge to vote for a certain candidate.
If Mr Biden manages to rise to the herculean task of convincing the necessary folk he’s not senile then the problem goes away because, even if they think he’s likely to descend into senility during a second term, that’s a bridge to be crossed as some later date. Perhaps fortunately for Mr Biden, even if the task proves Sisyphean, he might still secure the nomination by refusing to withdraw because it’s not as if there are others both outstanding in quality and willing to stand against the Republican’s inevitable nominee; this is not 1968. Interestingly, analysts have noted a sudden shift in the Trump campaign and suggest rather than trying to damage Mr Biden to the extent he's forced to withdraw from the process, the strategy now appears to be shaped towards ensuring he remains the candidate, the assumption being Trump will beat Biden but only may win against another candidate. In politics, there's much preference for the known rather than the unknown.
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