Tantalus Part One - v. 1 Author:John Barton When theater began, two and a half millennia ago in ancient Greece, it drew from a well of even older myths, the Great Epic Cycle. These stories and characters from the beginning of our imagination inspired John Barton to write the cycle of human life, Tantalus. Includes Apollo, Telephus, Iphigenia, Neotolemus, and Priam.