Theseus’ Journey around the Isthmos (page 254 with art)

Chapter 7: The Royal House of Athens

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DS 4.59.5 – Diodoros Siculus, Library of History

After this he put to death Procrustes, as he was called, who dwelt in what was known as Corydallus in Attica.  Greek Text

Met 7.438 – Ovid, Metamorphoses

And fierce Procrustes, matched with you
beside the rapid river, met his death.  Latin Text

Ovid, Ibis 407

As Sinis and Sciron and Polypemon with his son.  Latin Text

ApE 1.4 – Apollodorus, Epitome

Sixth, he slew Damastes, whom some call Polypemon. Greek Text

Thes 11.1 – Plutarch, Theseus

at Erineus, he killed Damastes, surnamed Procrustes, by compelling him to make his own body fit his bed, as he had been wont to do with those of strangers.  Greek Text

Paus 1.38.5 – Pausanias, Description of Greece

Near this Cephisus Theseus killed a brigand named Polypemon and surnamed Procrustes.  Greek Text

Fab 38 – Hyginus Fabulae

He killed Procrustes, son of Neptune.  Latin Text

London, British Museum E36: Attic red-figure cup with Theseus and Prokroustes

BM362_l

British Museum

jhs21881pl10det2rot

C.H. Smith, Catalogue of the Greek and Etruscan Vases in the British Museum, vol. 3 (1896), pl. 2

Beazley Archive Pottery Database

Florence, Museo Archeologico 91456: Attic red-figure cup with Theseus and Prokroustes

harrisongkvaseptgs1894pl10prok

Detail from pl. X from J. E. Harrison and D.S. MacColl, Greek vase paintings: a selection of examples ; with preface, introduction and descriptions (1894)

Beazley Archive Pottery Database

Paris Louvre, G104: Attic red-figure cup by Onesimos with Theseus and Prokroustes

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A. Furtwaengler and K. Reichhold, Griechische Vasenmalerei: Auswahl hervorragender Vasenbilder (Serie III, 1932), pl. 141

Theseus_Prokroustes_Louvre_G104

Wikimedia

Perseus Art & Archaeology Artifact Browser

Beazley Archive Pottery Database

Madrid, Museo Arqueologico Nacional 11265: Attic red-figure cup by Aison with Theseus and Prokroustes

lerouxvasesgrecsmadrid1912pl27rot

G. Leroux, Vases grecs et italo-grecs du Musée Archéologique de Madrid (1912), pl. 27

lerouxvasesgrecsmadrid1912pl263rot

G. Leroux, Vases grecs et italo-grecs du Musée Archéologique de Madrid (1912), pl. 26

Beazley Archive Pottery Database

Oxford, Ashmolean Museum 1937.983: Attic red-figure calyx krater by the Dinos Painter with Theseus and Prokroustes

beazleyaja1939pl10a

Oxford 1937.1

J. D. Beazley, “Prometheus Fire-Lighter,” American Journal of Archaeology, vol. 43 (1939), 619 fig. 1 and pl. 10

Beazley Archive Pottery Database

DS 4.59.5 – Diodoros Siculus, Library of History

After this he put to death Procrustes, as he was called, who dwelt in what was known as Corydallus in Attica; this man compelled the travellers who passed by to lie down upon a bed, and if any were too long for the bed he cut off the parts of their body which protruded, while in the case of such as were too short for it he stretched (prokrouein) their legs, this being the reason why he was given the name Procrustes.  Greek Text

Σ Hipp 977 – Scholion to Euripides, Hippolytos – Scholia in Euripidem 2, pp. 109-10, ed. E. Schwartz. Berlin 1891.

Greek Text

Thes 11.1 – Plutarch, Theseus

See above

ApE 1.4 – Apollodorus, Epitome

Sixth, he slew Damastes, whom some call Polypemon. He had his dwelling beside the road, and made up two beds, one small and the other big; and offering hospitality to the passers-by, he laid the short men on the big bed and hammered them, to make them fit the bed; but the tall men he laid on the little bed and sawed off the portions of the body that projected beyond it. Greek Text

Fab 38 – Hyginus Fabulae

He killed Procrustes, son of Neptune. When a guest came to visit him, if he was rather tall, he brought a shorter bed, and cut off the rest of his body; if rather short, he gave him a longer bed, and by hanging anvils to him stretched him to match the length of the bed.  Latin Text

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Edited by R. Ross Holloway, Elisha Benjamin Andrews Professor Emeritus, Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology and the Ancient World, Brown Univ., July 2016; and by Frances Van Keuren, Prof. Emerita, Lamar Dodd School of Art, Univ. of Georgia, November 2016.

Literary sources edited by Elena Bianchelli, Retired Senior Lecturer of Classical Languages and Culture, Univ. of Georgia, March 2023

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