Antique English Tantalus c 1900
A Tantalus is a small cabinet containing two or three decanters. Its defining feature is that it has a lock and key. The aim of that is to stop unauthorised people from drinking the contents (in particular, "servants and younger sons getting at the whisky"),[1] while still allowing them to be on show. The name is a reference to the unsatisfied temptations of the Greek mythological character Tantalus.
Tantalus (Ancient Greek: Τάνταλος Tántalos) was a Greek mythological figure, most famous for his 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 also called Atys.
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 (his great-great-grandson) and the Dioskouroi, Tantalus had both a hidden, divine parent and a mortal one.
The Greeks used the proverb "Tantalean punishment" (Ancient Greek: Ταντάλειοι τιμωρίαι: Tantáleioi timōríai) in reference to those who have good things but are not permitted to enjoy them.[2] His name and punishment are also the source of the English word tantalize, meaning to torment with the sight of something desired but out of reach; tease by arousing expectations that are repeatedly disappointed.[3]
