LP0115 plLoT22 The Ship of Theseus Legendary Passages - Greek/Roman Myths

Legendary Passages #0115, Plutarch's Life of Theseus, Section [XXII.], The Ship of Theseus. Previously, Theseus returned from the Labyrinth, only to find his father Aegeus had jumped off the Sounion Cliffs, thinking him dead. In this passage, the people of Athens welcome the reign of their new king and his many innovations. Not only had Theseus seemingly returned from dead, but so had the thirteen other boys and girls from the tribute to Minos. Many new traditions began with their return: funny cross-dressing for the boys who had snuck aboard as girls, a makeshift stew the youths had cobbled together in the Labyrinth, and a feast celebrating their miraculous return. Even the ship of tribute was preserved for centuries, new wood replacing old, until nothing was left of the original. King Theseus resettled the population of Attica, even inviting foreigners to rededicate Athens as a city proper. The people were split into three classes: nobility, tradesmen, and craftsmen. He instituted democratic reforms and self-rule, but preserved his military authority. And lastly, for his dedication to agriculture, or in memory of the Marathonian Bull, or perhaps Taurus, the general of Minos, Athenian coins where stamped with the image of an bull, and referred to as oxen. The Ship of Theseus, a Legendary Passage from, Bernadotte Perrin translating, Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus, Life of Theseus, Sections [XXII.] - [XXV.] https://www.theoi.com/Text/PlutarchTheseus.html The messenger found many of the people bewailing the death of their king, and others full of joy at his tidings, as was natural, and eager to welcome him and crown him with garlands for his good news. The garlands, then, he accepted, and twined them about his herald's staff and on returning to the sea-shore, finding that Theseus had not yet made his libations to the gods, remained outside the sacred precincts, not wishing to disturb the sacrifice. But when the libations were made, he announced the death of Aegeus. Thereupon, with tumultuous lamentation, they went up in haste to the city. Whence it is, they say, that to this day, at the festival of the Oschophoria, it is not the herald that is crowned, but his herald's staff, and those who are present at the libations cry out: “Eleleu! Iou! Iou!” the first of which cries is the exclamation of eager haste and triumph, the second of consternation and confusion. After burying his father, Theseus paid his vows to Apollo on the seventh day of the month Pyanepsion; for on that day they had come back to the city in safety. Now the custom of boiling all sorts of pulse on that day is said to have arisen from the fact that the youths who were brought safely back by Theseus put what was left of their provisions into one mess, boiled it in one common pot, feasted upon it, and ate it all up together. At that feast they also carry the so-called eiresione, which is a bough of olive wreathed with wool, such as Theseus used at the time of his supplication, and laden with all sorts of fruit-offerings, to signify that scarcity was at an end, and as they go they sing: -- Eiresione for us brings figs and bread of the richest, brings us honey in pots and oil to rub off from the body, strong wine too in a beaker, that one may go to bed mellow. Some writers, however, say that these rites are in memory of the Heracleidae, who were maintained in this manner by the Athenians; but most put the matter as I have done. XXIII. The ship on which Theseus sailed with the youths and returned in safety, the thirty-oared galley, was preserved by the Athenians down to the time of Demetrius Phalereus. They took away the old timbers from time to time, and put new and sound ones in their places, so that the vessel became a standing illustration for the philosophers in the mooted question of growth, some declaring that it remained the same, others that it was not the same vessel. It was Theseus who instituted also the Athenian festival of the Oschophoria. For it is sa