In a companion thread we are mentioning Sisyphus, and this thread will be the place to explore that in more depth so we have a thread to cite in the future.
I know Lucretius mentions him but we need to start earlier to get the back story.
The Meaning Of the Story of Sisyphus
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Sisyphus - Wikipediaen.m.wikipedia.org
It's hard for me to see as all bad a figure who tricked Hades into ENDING death on earth at least for a while. And whose sin seems to consist significantly in not yielding to the orders of the gods.....
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We will also want to consider Jeffrey Fish's "Not All Politicians are Sisyphus," as well as the Boeri book "Theory and Practice in Epicurean Political Philosophy" released last year. From the Fish article, which suggests that we reconsider the standard interpretation of Lucretius' reference to Sisyphus:
I don't think we can unwind all this without getting back to exactly what it was that Sisyphus is alleged to have done to be set up for the punishment which now defines his whole life.
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I rather like the story of Ariadne, who challenged Athena to a weaving contest. In one telling of the myth, Ariadne wove a series of panels depicting all of the stories in which the gods had behaved barbarically to mortals. She hanged herself after the contest, but Athena was moved by her talent, and perhaps also by the righteousness of her indignation, and so turned Ariadne into a spider-- permitted to weave beautifully until the end of time.
