character
Greek
also: Philosophy & Psychology
Sisyphus
The king condemned to roll a boulder uphill forever, only for it to roll back each time.
Origin
A cunning king who twice cheated death. The gods punished him by sentencing him to push a boulder up a hill in the underworld; every time he neared the summit, the boulder rolled back. Albert Camus made the figure central to his essay The Myth of Sisyphus, arguing we should 'imagine Sisyphus happy.'
Modern usage
Sisyphean = endlessly futile. Used for tasks that repeatedly undo themselves โ bureaucratic forms, inbox zero, parenting a toddler.
In the wild
Refactoring this codebase is a Sisyphean task.โ engineering team standup, everywhere
Tags
futility
repetition
punishment