Procrustes

Procrustes
/proh krus"teez/, n. Class. Myth.
a robber who stretched or amputated the limbs of travelers to make them conform to the length of his bed. He was killed by Theseus. Also called Damastes.

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▪ Greek mythological figure
also called  Polypemon,  Damastes,  or  Procoptas 

      in Greek legend, a robber dwelling somewhere in Attica—in some versions, in the neighbourhood of Eleusis. His father was said to be Poseidon. Procrustes had an iron bed (or, according to some accounts, two beds) on which he compelled his victims to lie. Here, if a victim was shorter than the bed, he stretched him by hammering or racking the body to fit. Alternatively, if the victim was longer than the bed, he cut off the legs to make the body fit the bed's length. In either event the victim died. Ultimately Procrustes was slain by his own method by the young Attic hero Theseus, who as a young man slayed robbers and monsters whom he encountered while traveling from Trozen to Athens.

      The “bed of Procrustes,” or “Procrustean bed,” has become proverbial for arbitrarily—and perhaps ruthlessly—forcing someone or something to fit into an unnatural scheme or pattern.

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Universalium. 2010.

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Look at other dictionaries:

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  • PROCRUSTES — latro insignis in Attica regione ad Cephisum fluv. habitans, qui cogebat hospites super lectum aliquem ascendere, quô si longiores tuissent, pars supereminens amputabatur: qui vero breviores, distendebantur; a qua re etiam nomen illi inditum… …   Hofmann J. Lexicon universale

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  • Procrustes's Bed —    Procrustes, in Greek legend, was a brigand, a highwayman, who lived near Attica and lured travelers into his roadside home by offering them a bed for the night. Procrustes amused himself by forcing these travelers to lie on his iron bed and be …   Dictionary of eponyms

  • Procrustes' bed — Procrustes bed, anything with which people or things are forced to conform, especially by violent and arbitrary means: »It is becoming increasingly necessary to find some way of breaking out of the Procrustes bed that the British press has got… …   Useful english dictionary

  • Procrustes (story) — Procrustes is an English language science fiction short story written in 1994 by Larry Niven. It is the sixth in the series of stories about crashlander Beowulf Shaeffer. The short story was originally published in Crashlander , Larry Niven, New… …   Wikipedia

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