Athenian red-figure neck amphora

This red-figured vessel was made in Athens c. 480- 470 BC. On one side you can see the hero Theseus performing one of his twelve labours & about to kill the Attic villain, Procrustes, who attacked travellers. Procrustes’ gruesome method was to force strangers to lie down on a bed and then he would either hammer his victims to lengthen them or chop their extremities to make them fit the bed.

The …