Tantalus
3 of the 7 encyclopedias on this shelf carry an entry for Tantalus. Both are reproduced below, so you can see where they agree and where they differ.
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
in Greek mythology, a King of Lydia, son of Zeus. He was father of Niobe and Pelops, by Dione, one of the Atlantides , and is represented by the poets as punished in Hades with an insatiable thirst , and placed up to the chin in the midst of a pool of water, which flowed away as soon as he attempted to taste it . There hung also above his head a bough , richly loaded with delicious fruit, which, as soon as he attempted to seize it, was carried away from his reach by a sudden blast of wind. He was thus punished either for theft, cruelty, and impiety , or lasciviousness; for the causes are variously stated. TANTIA TOPI ("the weaver who became an artilleryman"); the most energetic of the rebel ringleaders during the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857. He commenced as a lieutenant of Nana Sahib, of whom he is said to have been a relation; but after the latter had fled into Nepal, he continued the war for several months , retreating with great rapidity through Bundelcund and central India, but was finally captured, tried , and hanged in April, 1859. He was the last armed rebel in the field.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
tan'ta-lus, in Greek legend, the son of Zeus or Pluto. According to one account he stole the nectar and ambrosia of the gods. He was a confirmed gossip. For revealing the secrets of the gods he was condemned to eternal thirst and hunger. Aeneas saw him in the lower world. He stood in a pool, his chin level with the water; yet whenever he stooped his hoary head to drink, the water fled away and left his lips and throat parched with thirst. The boughs of fruit trees laden with luscious fruits, pears, pomegranates, apples, and figs bent over his head; yet whenever he put forth his hand to seize the fruit, the wind tossed the branches out of his reach. Our word to tantalize is derived from the name.
1000 Classical Characters (1900)
A king of Lydia, father of Niobe and Pelops . He is represented by the poets as being, in the infernal regions, placed in a pool of water, which receded from him whenever he attempted to drink, thus causing him to suffer perpetual thirst; hence the origin of the term "tantalizing." Tarentum, called Taras. An important city in Italy (called Taranto by the Greeks), situated on the western coast of the peninsula of Calabria, and on a bay of the sea, about one hundred stadia in circuit, forming an excellent harbor, and being a portion of the great gulf of Tarentum. 2026 Editor's Note: While the text describes the water-and-fruit punishment, early Greek sources more commonly recorded a variant where a stone was suspended over Tantalus 's head. Ancient poets like Pindar used the expression "the rock of Tantalus" to describe a state of perpetual imminent peril, similar to the Sword of Damocles. (Ed: BR 2026-07-13)