Tantalus was a mortal king in Greek mythology. He did many bad things against the gods and goddesses. At a banquet, he tried to feed people the flesh of his son Pelops. He had asked the gods and goddesses to come to this banquet. When they learn what he had planned, they punished Tantalus in not only this world (the world of the living), but the next as well (the world of the dead). Tantalus's punishment while he was alive was the ruin of his kingdom. His punishment when dead in the Tartaros of the Underworld was much worse.