Once upon a time, Corinth was a very strong Greek city-state, the remains of which can be found to this day. Some sources refer to the great city of Efyra as the city founded by Sisyphus, which was later named Corinth. Others say that the witch Medea gave Corinth to Sisyphus, who became its king. One day, Asopos' daughter, Aegina, had been abducted by Zeus and when Asopos asked if Sisyphus had seen anything, Sisyphus mentioned that he saw Zeus fly over with Aegina. When Zeus heard that, he got really angry that he was betrayed by a mortal. So, the king of the gods sent Death to take Sisyphus' life. However, when Death came to chain Sisyphus, the latter asked Death a demonstration of how the chains work and then deceived Death and chained him instead. The imprisonment of Death meant that he could not come for any human and people stopped dying. The gods in response sent Ares, the god of war, to free Death. This time Death took Sisyphus in his chains and led him to the world of the dead, the Underworld, kingdom of Hades. However, before he died, Sisyphus asked his wife, Merope, not to bury him properly by neglecting to put a coin in his mouth. This way he could not pay Charon, the ferryman, to cross the river Styx. The lack of a proper burial disturbed Hades so much, that he sent Sisyphus back to the living. Thus, Sisyphus managed to escape Death once more. When the gods finally managed to catch Sisyphus again, they decided that his punishment should last forever. They made him push a rock up a mountain; every time the rock would reach the top, it would roll down again and Sisyphus would have to start all over again.
