Tantalus (,
Tántalos) was a
Greek mythological figure, most famous for his eternal punishment in
Tartarus. He was made to stand in a pool of water beneath a fruit tree with low branches, with the fruit ever eluding his grasp, and the water always receding before he could take a drink. He was the father of
Pelops,
Niobe and
Broteas, and was a son of
Zeus and the
nymph Plouto. Thus, like other heroes in Greek mythology such as
Theseus and the
Dioskouroi, Tantalus had both a hidden, divine parent and a mortal one.