In ancient times, the names of Smyrna and the legendary king Tantalus were often mentioned together.
Even in some periods, Smyrna was labeled as Tantalus Naulokhon (The Harbor of Tantalus).
The travelers visiting who visited the city from the Roman times until the Republican periods always thought that the tomb on Yamanlar slopes situated in a position dominating the gulf belonged to Tantalus. Unfortunately, the tomb is now completely destroyed and it is not possible to identify its exact location. If Tantalus did actually live, he would have lived in the Late Bronze Ages (1500-1200 BC) as other heroes of Greek mythology would. The tomb in question which was studied before its destruction was thought to be Archaic (the end of 7th and the beginning of the 6th century BC)
Tacitus: After a devastating earthquake that heavily destroyed Izmir and its surroundings in 17 BC, a group of Smyrneans including high authorities and members of the nobility went to the Roman Senate to ask for recompensation and help. In their speech in front of the senators, they cited the name of Tantalus among the founders of the city (Annales IV, 56)
Strabon: Strabo cites the name of “Tantalus” in many parts of his work Geographica. Strabo tells about Tantalus’ legendary wealth, his kingdom on the slopes of Mount Sipylus and the destruction of this kingdom by a devastating earthquake.
(Geographica I. 3. 17; XII. 8. 2; XII. 8. 18; XIV. 5. 28)
Pausanias:
Pausanias tells the story of Tantalus’
kingdom at Sipylus and its destruction by an earthquake. He points out that a lake appeared in the place once the kingdom was stood. (Naturalis Historia II. 93; V. 29)
Aelius Aristeides:
The well-known rhetorician Aristeides, who lived in Izmir agrees with Pausanias. According to Aristeides, the city of Tantalus was located on the slopes of Sipylus and it sank deeply into a lake. (Orations I. 371)
Çeşitli farklı versiyonlarına
rağmen genellikle üzerinde uzlaşılan, Tantalos’un, baştanrı
Zeus ve Plouto’nun oğlu olduğudur. Plouto, aslında zenginlik anlamına
gelir ve refahın dişi bir kişilik (personifikasyon) kazanmış biçimidir. Tantalos'un tanrıların tanrısının ve zenginliğin çocuğu olarak anılması
anlamlıdır.
Although very different versions exist, it is widely accepted that he was the son of Zeus, the God of the Gods and the nymph Plouto. Plouto as a word means wealth and she was a female personification representing welfare. It is remarkable and meaningful that Tantalus was the son of the God of the Gods and wealth.
Tantalus who lived on the slopes of Sipylus was heir to a legendary wealth (as his familial ascendance demonstrates). He was the legendary ruler and the founder of the rich kingdom of Tantalis. A few mythological stories in which Tantalus is the protagonist emphasize that he was punished or even cursed, a larger part of his kingdom was destroyed and his children Peolps and Niobe inherited these curses.
The stories tell that Tantalus was trying to humiliate the gods, or he was rivaling them on their authority or he was even quarreling with them. For instance, it was told that hHe committed perjury before Hermes, he had problems with Ilios, the founder of Troy and he kidnapped Ganymede, the favourite of
Zeus. However, the most well-known story about Tantalus was about his son Pelops.
Either to demonstrate what a giving host he was, or perhaps to test his guests’ godly ability to know all, he summoned his son Pelops and proceeded to murder him. Cutting his son into many pieces Tantalus next added the boy's limbs to the stew prepared for the gods and served it to them. The gods were astute enough to immediately know that something was wrong, and they refused to eat the stew, recoiling in disgust and horror. Tantalus got all that he deserved for his unspeakable crimes. First his kingdom was destroyed by the gods and then he was struck dead by Zeus on Mount Sipylus. As punishment for his evil ways Tantalus was sentenced to reside forever in the Underworld hungry and thirsty, hanging from the bough of a fruit tree which leans over a marshy lake. Perennially consumed by hunger and thirst, yet he is unable to quench his needs.
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