Editing Procrustes (section)

{{Short description|Character in Greek mythology}}
{{Redirect|Damastes|the spider genus|Damastes (spider)| the ancient Greek historian and geographer| Damastes of Sigeum}}
{{About||the Larry Niven story|Procrustes (short story)|the statistical analysis technique|Procrustes analysis}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2020}}
[[File:Theseus Prokroustes Staatliche Antikensammlungen 2325.jpg|thumb|right|upright|[[Theseus]] and Procrustes, Attic [[red-figure]] [[neck amphora|neck-amphora]], 470–460 BC, [[Staatliche Antikensammlungen]] (Inv. 2325)]]

In [[Greek mythology]], '''Procrustes''' ({{IPAc-en|p|r|oʊ|ˈ|k|r|ʌ|s|t|iː|z}}; [[Ancient Greek|Greek]]: Προκρούστης ''Prokroustes'', "the stretcher [who hammers out the metal]"), also known as '''Prokoptas''', '''Damastes''' (Δαμαστής, "subduer") or '''Polypemon''', was a rogue smith and bandit from [[Attica, Greece|Attica]] who attacked people by stretching them or cutting off their legs, so as to force them to fit the size of an iron bed.

The word '''''Procrustean'''''<!--boldface per WP:R#PLA--> is thus used by analogy to describe, for example, situations where an arbitrary standard is used to measure success, while completely disregarding obvious harm that results from the effort.