The Cup of Tantalus

The cup of Tantalus was invented by the Chinese, and is one of the curiosities of their ceramic art. It consists of a cup containing the figure of a man, within which is a siphon; the longer arm of the siphon passes down through the bottom of the cup. A rather practical joke is involved in the use of the cup, for, when filled, its arrangement is such that when the expectant drinker raises it to his lips, instead of being refreshed, he finds himself deluged with its contents. Indeed, the Cup of Tantalus might better be called the "surprise hydraulique." The name is derived from Tantalus, a character in Greek mythology, a Phrygian king who having offended the gods was condemned to suffer continual hunger and thirst. Yet delicious fruits were suspended just beyond his reach, and he was chained to a rock in the midst of a lake where the water always receded as he bent his head to drink. Homer tells the story thus in the Odyssey (Book XI.): "And I, Ulysses, beheld Tantalus standing in a lake, and it approached his chin. But he stood thirsting, and he could not get anything to drink; for, as often as the old man stooped, so often the water, being sucked down, was lost to him, and the black earth appeared around his feet. And trees shed down fruit from their tops,--pear trees and apples and pomegranates yielding glorious fruit; but when the old man raised himself up to pluck some with his hands, the wind swept them away up to the dark clouds."

Our English word tantalize and its derivatives all come from Tantalus. There is in Lydia, on the north coast of the Gulf of Smyrna, a tumulus called the "Tomb of Tantalus."