Procrustes
Procrustes was a bandit of Attica who forced travellers to lie in his iron bed, stretching the short and cutting the tall to make them fit — killed by Theseus.
The Legend of Procrustes
A bandit who terrorised the road between Athens and Eleusis, Procrustes offered travellers a bed. If they were too short, he stretched them on a rack; too tall, he cut off their limbs. Theseus, on his way to Athens to claim his birthright from his father Aegeus, defeated Procrustes using the bandit's own method — fitting him to his own bed. This was one of six labours Theseus performed on the road, emulating his cousin Heracles. Athena and Poseidon both favoured Theseus, and the clearing of the road brought order to Attica, echoing the civilising work of the Olympians.
Parents
Poseidon
Symbols
Fun Fact
A "Procrustean" standard — forcing data or people to fit a predetermined framework — is commonly cited in statistics and management theory.
Words We Inherited
English words and phrases that trace back to this myth. See our full guide to English words from Greek mythology.
Explore Further
Sinis
🗡 heroNone recorded
Bandit of the Isthmus of Corinth who tore travellers apart using bent pine trees
Cycnus Son of Ares
🗡 herobanditry, combat
A son of Ares who built a temple from the skulls and bones of travellers he murdered, killed by Heracles when Ares himself failed to protect him.
Canthus
🗡 heroHerding, loyalty
Argonaut from Euboea who was killed in Libya while searching for stolen cattle
Iolaus
🗡 heroNephew and companion of Heracles
Iolaus was Heracles' beloved nephew and charioteer who helped him slay the Hydra by cauterising the stumps — the essential companion to the greatest hero.
Cercyon
🗡 heroNone recorded
King of Eleusis who forced travellers to wrestle him to the death until Theseus arrived
Eumaeus
🗡 heroFaithful swineherd of Odysseus
Eumaeus was the loyal swineherd who sheltered the disguised Odysseus on Ithaca — proof that nobility lies in character, not birth.
Odysseus
🗡 heroHero of endurance and cunning
The craftiest of all Greek heroes, whose ten-year voyage home from Troy tested every human capacity for survival and adaptation.
Scyron
🗡 heroNone recorded
Robber who kicked travellers off a seaside cliff into the jaws of a giant turtle
Iphitus
🗡 heroNone recorded
Son of Eurytus who gave Odysseus the great bow and was later murdered by Heracles
Sthenelus the Argive
🗡 heroEpigoni, Trojan War, Chariotry
Son of Capaneus, member of the Epigoni, and Diomedes' charioteer and closest companion at Troy.
Parthenopaeus
🗡 heroSeven Against Thebes, Youth, Arcadia
Young Arcadian hero, one of the Seven Against Thebes, who died at the city walls before seeing his homeland again.
Odysseus
🗡 heroKing of Ithaca, hero of the Trojan War
The cleverest of the Greek heroes, whose ten-year journey home from Troy is one of the greatest stories ever told. Odysseus's cunning was his greatest weapon.