Editing Theseus (section)

==The Six Labours==
[[File:Theseus Map.jpg|thumb|right|Map of Theseus's labours]]
[[File:Theseus Minotaur BM Vase E84 n4.jpg|thumb|right|220px|Theseus and the [[Crommyonian Sow]], with Phaea (detail of a kylix)]]The six entrances to the underworld, more commonly known as the Six Labours, are as follows:
* At the first site, which was [[Epidaurus]], sacred to [[Apollo]] and the healer [[Asclepius]], Theseus turned the tables on the chthonic bandit, [[Periphetes]], the Club Bearer, who beat his opponents into the Earth, taking from him the stout staff that often identifies Theseus in vase-paintings.
* At the [[Isthmus of Corinth|Isthmian]] entrance to the Underworld was a robber named [[Sinis (mythology)|Sinis]], often called "Pityokamptes" ({{Langx|grc|Πιτυοκάμπτης||he who bends Pinetrees}}). He would capture travelers, tie them between two [[pine]] trees that were bent down to the ground, and then let the trees go, [[Dismemberment#Torn apart by two trees|tearing his victims apart]]. Theseus slew him by his own method. He then seduced Sinis's daughter, [[Perigune]], fathering the child [[Melanippus]].
* In another deed north of the [[Isthmus]], at a place called [[Crommyon]], he killed an enormous pig, the [[Crommyonian Sow]], bred by an old crone named Phaea. Some versions name the sow herself as Phaea. The ''[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Bibliotheca]]'' by [[Pseudo-Apollodorus]] described the Crommyonian Sow as an offspring of [[Typhon]] and [[Echidna (mythology)|Echidna]].
* Near [[Megara]], a robber named [[Sciron]] forced travelers along the narrow cliff-face pathway to wash his feet. While they knelt, he kicked them off the cliff behind them, where they were eaten by a giant turtle (or, in some versions, a sea monster). Theseus pushed him off the cliff where he was eaten as well.
* Another of these enemies was [[Cercyon of Eleusis|Cercyon]], king at the holy site of [[Eleusis]], who challenged passers-by to a wrestling match and, when he had beaten them, killed them. Theseus beat Cercyon at wrestling and then killed him instead.
* The last bandit was [[Procrustes]] the Stretcher, who had two beds, one of which he offered to passers-by in the plain of Eleusis. He then'' made'' them fit into it, either by stretching them or by cutting off their feet. Since he had two beds of different lengths, no one would fit. Theseus once again employed Procrustes' own method on him, cutting off his legs and decapitating him with his axe.