Sisyphus was the king of Corinth, known for his craftiness and deceit. His most infamous encounter was with Hades, the god of the underworld. One of the tales that bind them involves Sisyphus's attempt to cheat death. Sisyphus witnessed Zeus abducting the river god Aegina. When he later revealed this to Aegina's father, Asopus, Zeus was furious and ordered Thanatos, the personification of death and servant of Hades, to take Sisyphus to the underworld. However, Sisyphus outwitted Thanatos by asking him to demonstrate how the chains worked, then trapping him. With Thanatos bound, no one could die, causing chaos on earth. Ares, the god of war, eventually freed Thanatos, but Sisyphus's cunning delayed his own death. After his actual death, Hades devised a fitting punishment for Sisyphus's trickery. In the underworld, he was condemned to an eternal, futile task: pushing a massive boulder up a hill. Each time he neared the top, the boulder would roll back down, forcing Sisyphus to start anew. This punishment epitomizes the concept of endless, pointless labor, reflecting Sisyphus's life of deceit and evasion. The story of Sisyphus and Hades underscores the themes of mortality, divine justice, and the consequences of hubris. Hades, often depicted as a stern and unyielding ruler, ensures that justice prevails in his domain, where everyone, even those who try to outwit death, must ultimately face their fate. This myth has been interpreted in various ways through history, most notably by Albert Camus, who saw Sisyphus as an emblem of the human condition, finding meaning in the struggle itself. In summary, Sisyphus's interaction with Hades serves as a cautionary tale about the limits of human ingenuity against the inevitability of death and divine retribution.