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TANTALE, TANTALUS was king of Phrygia and father of Pelops and Niobe. He cut his son into little pieces and offered them to the gods to test their divinity. The gods recognized Pelops and restored him to life, but his right shoulder was missing because Ceres, mourning for Proserpina, had absentmindedly eaten it. Jupiter replaced it with an ivory shoulder (Met VI.404-411). To punish Tantalus, Jupiter hung him on a tree laden with fruit he could not reach; a pool of water lay nearby but receded whenever he attempted to drink (Met IV.457-460; OM IV.3819-3830). Tantalus, Ticius, and Sisyphus appear together in RR 19281-19286 and in Machaut's Le Confort d'ami 2517-2534 as inhabitants of the Underworld.

The Man in Black says that he has more sorrow than Tantale, since his love has died, BD 709. Tantalus despises the water he has been trying to drink when he hears Orpheus play in the Underworld, Bo III, Metr 12.38-40. Pandarus swears to Criseyde that all shall be well when she comes to dinner, or he would rather be in hell with Pluto and Tantalus, Tr III.589-593. [Cesiphus: Nyobe: Ticius]

Tantale, the French variant, appears in final rhyming position, BD 709; Tantalus, the Latin variant, appears in Bo III, Metr 12.38, and in medial position, Tr III.593.


Guillaume de Machaut, Oeuvres, ed. E. Hoepffner, III: 89-90; Ovid, Met, ed. and trans. F.J. Miller, I.206-207, 210-211; OM, ed. C. de Boer, II, deel 21: 92; RR, ed. E. Langlois, IV.262-263; RR, trans. C. Dahlberg, 318.
From CHAUCER NAME DICTIONARY
Copyright © 1988, 1996 Jacqueline de Weever
Published by Garland Publishing, Inc., New York and London.

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