Tantalis on the right is bound to and by the rock with water below just out of his reach and the fruit above tantalizing him forever. Tantalis, according to Greek mythology, was being punished because he tried to serve the gods human meat at his dinner table.
This mural also depicts the lowest forms of life as single celled paramecium progressing to the higher forms with homo sapien representing mammals. Man is standing in the past, bound to the present and looks up to the future as seen by the planets in the sky. Man's ability to create is shown by the architecture and the spinning wheel.
On the left are the mythical 3 Fates each controlling a portion of one's life. Lechesis holding the staff of life (adolescence to adulthood), Clothos spinning the thread (birth & childhood), and lastly, Athropos controlling when the thread is cut by her shears ending life for that individual. Clothos's apparel has a pattern of sperm ,egg and fetuses represented. Lechesis's dress is green for the summer of one's life and Athropos has the greying hair for old age. You will note that behind the fates is a zygote which is a fertilized egg.
Everything is connected and represented by symbols of life as we know it on earth.
