(n.) A king of Corinth, son of Aeolus, famed for his cunning. He was killed by Theseus, and in the lower world was condemned by Pluto to roll to the top of a hill a huge stone, which constantly rolled back again, making his task incessant.
Example Sentences:
(1) Sisyphus-like, you are going to have to roll this bloody rock up the hill tomorrow in exactly the same way."
(2) Because they wage a losing battle against death, all physicians resemble Sisyphus, eternally condemned to perform an impossible task.
(3) Worse still, in real life rather than mythology, King Sisyphus himself gets to skip the original rock-rolling punishment for being crafty, cruel, and hubristic, very like the heedless financial markets.
Tartarus
Definition:
(n.) The infernal regions, described in the Iliad as situated as far below Hades as heaven is above the earth, and by later writers as the place of punishment for the spirits of the wicked. By the later poets, also, the name is often used synonymously with Hades, or the Lower World in general.