User blog comment:JonTheVGNerd/PE Proposal: Tantalus/@comment-2059440-20200126091929

he commits 3 crimes that are unforgivable even in classical times (universal evils):

1) mistreatment of guests (even the gods had to be gracious of those they invited as guests)

2) cannibalism (even the gods are wary of partaking in such acts, those that do are usually reviled and eventually cast out by other gods (such as Cronos).)

3) the killing of one's own family members (..a strange one considering how rampant infanticide etc was but nevertheless the deliberate murder of family was seen as sufficient to have you punished in almost any setting.)

even worse still is that he was invited by the gods to dine with them and repaid them by stealing from them and disrespecting them, then to top it off he killed his own son to serve the gods and further mock them - even Zeus was sufficiently displeased with this that not only did he demand Tantalus' punishment he also revived Tantalus' son and had the other gods make him handsome and prosperous (..which is considerable charity for gods who normally did not care for mortal plight..) .. sure Zeus eventually got angry with this son after Poseidon went crazy and abducted him, making Zeus kick him out of Olympus but really, that's just the Olympians for you..

Tantalus was far, far more deserving of the gods' infamously torturous punishments than almost any other mortal, since he brought everything upon himself.. the gods were willing to actually treat him well but he was determined to piss them off via any act of depravity he could.. you could argue he succeeded too well.