Editing Theseus (section)

==Ship of Theseus==
{{also|Ship of Theseus}}

According to [[Plutarch]]'s ''Life of Theseus'', the ship Theseus used on his return from [[Minoan civilization|Minoan Crete]] to [[Classical Athens|Athens]] was kept in the Athenian harbor as a memorial for several centuries.

<blockquote>The ship wherein Theseus and the youth of [[Athens]] returned had thirty oars, and was preserved by the Athenians down even to the time of [[Demetrius Phalereus]],<ref group="lower-roman">Demetrius Phalereus was a distinguished orator and statesman, who governed Athens for a decade before being exiled, in 307 BCE.</ref> for they took away the old planks as they decayed, putting in new and stronger timber in their place...<ref>{{cite Plutarch|Theseus|23|1}}</ref></blockquote>

The ship had to be maintained in a seaworthy state, for, in return for Theseus's successful mission, the Athenians had pledged to honor [[Apollo]] every year henceforth. Thus, the Athenians sent a religious mission to the island of [[Delos]] (one of Apollo's most sacred sanctuaries) on the Athenian state galley—the ship itself—to pay their fealty to the god. To preserve the purity of the occasion, no executions were permitted between the time when the religious ceremony began to when the ship returned from Delos, which took several weeks.<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Cooper |editor1-first=John M. |editor2-last=Hutchinson |editor2-first=D. S. |year=1997 |title=Plato: Complete Works |url=https://archive.org/details/completeworks00plat |url-access=registration |page=[https://archive.org/details/completeworks00plat/page/37 37] |location=Indianapolis |publisher=Hackett |isbn=0-87220-349-2}}</ref>

To preserve the ship, any wood that wore out or rotted was replaced; it was thus unclear to philosophers how much of the original ship remained, giving rise to the philosophical question of whether it should be considered "the same" ship or not. Such philosophical questions about the nature of identity are sometimes referred to as the "[[Ship of Theseus]]" paradox.

Regardless of these issues, the Athenians preserved the ship. They believed that Theseus had been an actual, historical figure and the ship gave them a tangible connection to their divine provenance.