CONSTITUTION THURSDAY

In ancient Greek  legend, Theseus was a brave man who travels to the island of Crete, where he  defeats the Minotaur. In a legendary battle, Theseus saves the children of his  King, destroys the evil beast, and returns to his father aboard a the same ship  in which he had left for Crete. He forgets to change the sail from black to  white, and thus even in triumph, as is so typical of Greek legends, there is a  tragedy.

Today it is the  ship which holds my interest. For the next several hundred years, the Athenians  kept the ship in their harbor as a memorial to Theseus and his mighty deeds,  which included founding the City of Athens. Each year they would honor Apollo by  sending the ship to a nearby island with a shrine to the god, to keep their vows  and to honor the victory and the successes of their city.

Many hundreds of  years later, Plutarch would recount the story in his "Lives," and even more  centuries later, the question would arise: if the Athenians rigorously  maintained the ship, replacing every part that needed to be replaced because of  time and decay, at what point was it no longer the ship of Theseus, but rather  an entirely "new" ship?

LINKS:

Greek Influence on the American Framers

The  Ship of Theseus (Britannica)