The English word 'tantalize' derives from Tantalus' punishment inside Tartarus, tortuously unable to eat fruits or drink water: that is, a temptation without satisfaction. 
Tantalus-Anonymous (Copy after José de Ribera) XVII century-Museo del Prado, Madrid [1]
Tantalus was the king of Sipylus, Lydia. His most infamous deed was to offered his son, Pelops, as a sacrifice. He cut Pelops up, boiled him, and served him up in a banquet for the Olympian gods. The gods saw through the gruesome menu, thus Tantalus was eternally punished.
Fun Fact: 'The Feast of Tantalus' was painted by Hugues Taraval. With grotesque humor, in 1766 the painter was commissionned the Tantalus painting by the King of France Louis XV to decorate the dining-room at the Château de Bellevue [1]
One of my favorite Homeric descriptive passages is in The Odyssey Book XI: Odysseus sees Tantalus' eternal punishment in the Underworld. It lyrically captures the horror of his futile temptation to satisfy thirst & hunger.
Dante's infernal contrapasso ["suffer the opposite"] for his sinners was clearly inspired by Homer. Tantalus is made to suffer the opposite of his banquet transgression against his son [cannibalism & filicide] for then he's eternally taunted unable to satisfy thirst and hunger.
Attributed to Giovanni Battista Langetti- The Supplication of Tantalus [1650-1676] at Ca' Rezzonico Palazzo, Venice [1]
Legend says Karagöl "The Black Lake" [aka Lake Tantalus] located near the summit of Mount Yamanlar, İzmir, Turkey [ancient Greek Smyrna, Anatolia] was originally an earth crack where Tantalus was thrown into Tartarus. It was later sealed becoming a deep lake of dark blue waters.
This is a photo of Karagöl, "The Black Lake" [Lake Tantalus] a crater lake located in Mount Yamanlar ,İzmir, Turkey [1]
Greek myths are often interwoven, in this case Tantalus , through Pelops, was the ancestor of the cursed 'House of Atreus', named after his grandson Atreus. Tantalus was also the great-grandfather of Agamemnon & Menelaus, thus continuing a long line of familial atrocities.
Detail of the painting by Jacques-Louis David "The Anger of Achilles" [1819] showing King Agamemnon & his daughter Iphigenia, which was ritually sacrificed by his own father to appease Artemis in order to receive favorable winds to sail for Troy [1]
