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Not only are the tales about this monarch entertaining, but they are also essential in that they help us to learn about the Ancient Greek worldview. The Sisyphus myth has influenced modern culture, and it has come to encapsulate some of the contradictions of the human condition and epitomizes its futility.
====The background to the myth==Is Sysyphus based on a historical figure? ==
Like so many Greek mythical heroes, the tale's origin probably belongs to the non-Greeks or Pelagasians who inhabited the area. It is also possible that the stories came from the Balkans or even Asia Minor. The etymology of the name means ''the son of Aeolus.''
The father of Sisyphus was the legendary King Aeolus, the founder of the Aeolian people and the mythical ruler of Magnesia in Thessaly and the son of all ancestor Greeks, Hellen, who was the grandson of Prometheus, the Titan. He had seven brothers, and he married the Pleaid, Merope.
His sons were Glaucus, Ornytion, Thersander, and Almus. Sisyphus was as intelligent as his grandfather Prometheus, but he was also cunning and dishonest. He emigrated with his brothers in many myths, and each of them sought to create their own kingdoms. It is possible that the figure of Sisyphus was a real historical figure. However, the real person , if there was one, upon whom the Sisyphean legends are based has been lost in the mists of time.
== Who was Sisyphus? ==