Theseus and Procrustes, Attic red-figure neck-amphora, 570–560 BC, Staatliche Antikensammlungen (Inv. 2325)

In Greek mythology, Procrustes (the stretcher), also known as Damastes (subduer) and Polypemon (harming much), was a bandit from Attica. He had his stronghold in the hills outside Eleusis. There, he had an iron bed into which he invited every passerby to lie down. If the guest proved too tall, he would amputate the excess length; if the victim was found too short, he was then stretched out on the rack until he fit. Nobody would ever fit in the bed because it was secretly adjustable: Procrustes would stretch or shrink it upon sizing his victims from afar. Procrustes continued his reign of terror until he was captured by Theseus, who "fitted" Procrustes to his own bed and cut off his head and feet (since Theseus was a stout fellow, the bed had been set on the short position). Killing Procrustes was the last adventure of Theseus on his journey from Troezen to Athens..... Image File history File links Metadata Size of this preview: 468 × 600 pixelsFull resolution‎ (1,836 × 2,352 pixels, file size: 1. ... Image File history File links Metadata Size of this preview: 468 × 600 pixelsFull resolution‎ (1,836 × 2,352 pixels, file size: 1. ... Theseus (Greek ) was a legendary king of Athens, son of Aethra, and fathered by Aegeus and Poseidon, with whom Aethra lay in one night (By some accounts, this was presented as a rape). ... Amphoræ on display in Bodrum Castle, Turkey An amphora is a type of ceramic vase with two handles, used for the transportation and storage of perishable goods and more rarely as containers for the ashes of the dead or as prize awards. ... The Staatliche Antikensammlungen (State Collections of Antiques) in the Kunstareal of Munich is a museum for the Bavarian states antique collections for Greek, Etruscan and Roman art. ... The bust of Zeus found at Otricoli (Sala Rotonda, Museo Pio-Clementino, Vatican) Greek mythology is the body of stories belonging to the Ancient Greeks concerning their gods and heroes, the nature of the world and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices. ... This article is about Attica in Greece. ... Eleusis (Game) The cardgame invented by Robert Abbott in 1962, and later popularized in 1977 by Martin Gardner in his Mathematical Games column in Scientific American magazine. ... A torture rack in the Tower of London The rack is a term for certain physical punishment devices. ... Theseus (Greek ) was a legendary king of Athens, son of Aethra, and fathered by Aegeus and Poseidon, with whom Aethra lay in one night (By some accounts, this was presented as a rape). ... Troezen (TREE-zun) is a city in Argolis located southwest of Athens and a few miles south of Methana. ... This article is about the capital of Greece. ...

Derived meanings

Procustean rhyme is a form of enjambment wherein words are split to create rhymes for ordinarily unrhymable words, as in "The four eng- / ineers / wore orange / brassieres." Enjambement is the breaking of a linguistic unit (phrase, clause or sentence) by the end of a line or between two verses. ...

In computer science, a Procrustean string is a fixed length string into which strings of varying lengths are placed. If the string inserted is too short, then it is padded out, usually with spaces or null characters. If the string inserted is too long, it is truncated. The concept is mentioned in the Sinclair ZX81 user manual, where a portion of a string is replaced by another string using Procrustean assignment — the replacement string is truncated or padded in order to have length equal to the portion being replaced.^[1]. Although the term did not catch on in wider usage, it appears in some references, notably FOLDOC.^[2] Computer science, or computing science, is the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation and their implementation and application in computer systems. ... In computer programming and formal language theory, (and other branches of mathematics), a string is an ordered sequence of symbols. ... A space is a punctuation convention for providing interword separation in some scripts, including the Latin, Cyrillic, and Arabic. ... The null character (also null terminator) is a character with the value zero, present in the ASCII and Unicode character sets, and available in nearly all mainstream programming languages. ... In mathematics, truncation is the term used for reducing the number of digits right of the decimal point, by discarding the least significant ones. ... ZX81 logo The Sinclair ZX81 home computer, released by Sinclair Research in 1981, was the follow up to the companys ZX80. ... The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (FOLDOC) is an on-line, searchable encyclopedic dictionary of computing subjects. ...

In 1959 science fiction novel Eden by Stanisław Lem, Procrustics is the name of a fictitious information-theory based social engineering discipline of molding groups within a society and ultimately a society as a whole to behave as designed by secretive hidden rulers, to create a hideous form of social control in which the very existence of the governing powers is denied and each individual appears to themselves to be free yet are being manipulated and controlled. One example described in the novel is "concentration camps" without any guards which are designed so that the prisoners stay inside apparently on their "free" will. Year 1959 (MCMLIX) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Science fiction is a form of speculative fiction principally dealing with the impact of imagined science and technology, or both, upon society and persons as individuals. ... Eden is a 1959 science fiction novel by StanisÅ‚aw Lem. ... StanisÅ‚aw Lem ( , September 12, 1921 – March 27, 2006) was a Polish science fiction, philosophical and satirical writer. ...

In Webster v. Reproductive Health Services a Supreme Court plurality likened the use of the trimester framework for determining the Constitutionality of a government regulation of abortion to the application of a Procrustean Bed. Holding The Court approved a Missouri law that imposed restrictions on the use of state funds, facilities and employees in performing, assisting with, or counseling on abortions. ...

References

1. ^ Vickers, Steven (1981). Sinclair ZX81 BASIC Programming. Sinclair Research Limited, Chapter 21. 
2. ^ Howe, Denis (1997-09-12). Procrustean string. Free On-line Dictionary of Computing. Retrieved on 2007-06-03.

Year 1981 (MCMLXXXI) was a common year starting on Thursday (link displays the 1981 Gregorian calendar). ... The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (FOLDOC) is an on-line, searchable encyclopedic dictionary of computing subjects. ... For the band, see 1997 (band). ... is the 255th day of the year (256th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... is the 154th day of the year (155th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

See also