Sinis (mythology)

Theseus and Sinis, attisch- red-figure kylix of Elpinikos Painter , 490 - 480 BC. BC , State Collections of Antiquities (Inv. 8771)

Sinis ( Greek  Σίνις ) is a figure in Greek mythology . He was a notorious mugger who stalked unfortunate wanderers on the edge of the road across the Isthmus of Corinth . He was defeated by Theseus .

myth

Sinis was a son of Procrustes and Sylea and the father of Perigune , although according to Plutarch Henioche , the daughter of Pittheus , with whom Kanethus was his mother as father.

He was given the nickname Pityokamptes ( Πιτυοκάμπτης , spruce flexor ). Whenever he could get hold of a wanderer, he would use his gigantic hands to bend down two opposing spruce trees , between which he tied his prisoner so that he could tear them to pieces by the rebounding trees.

Theseus ended up killing Sinis the same way when Sinis tried to ambush him on his trip to Athens.

swell

• Library of Apollodorus 3, 218.
• Plutarch, Theseus , chapter 10

literature

• Emil Wörner : Sinis . In: Wilhelm Heinrich Roscher (Hrsg.): Detailed lexicon of Greek and Roman mythology . Volume 4, Leipzig 1915, Col. 921-934 ( digitized version ).

Web links

Commons : Sinis  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Plutarch, Theseus 25.4 f.