Sisyphus Vindicated

I am Sisyphus, and I have been slandered by the Gods. Indeed, much of what you know about me is sheer falsehood. Yes, I tricked and incapacitated Death and frustrated Ares to no end, because he could no longer watch men being slaughtered on the battlefield for his pleasure. But that was about it; all that nonsense about killing guests and seducing women was invented by Ares and his cronies to justify giving me my punishment in the underworld. Yet I am not vindictive. It has been some three thousand years now, and Ares no longer seems to be around, anyway. So I will let it slide. Besides, the punishment turned out to be a magnificent opportunity.

You likely know my sentence - at least the beginnings of it. I was to roll a boulder up a treacherous mountain, only to have it inevitably roll back down as soon as it neared the summit. By the laws of Hades, I was bound to repeat this process for all eternity. And I still am - technically. It was grueling at first, and I had little to occupy my mind besides the sheer exertion of willpower needed to focus most of my strength on even holding the boulder in place. Only a small recess of my mind remained free to me - enough to hold a number in my head.