Theseus

In the old tale he thought he could descry, far off amid the clouds, those mountains high, the cradle of his race, far other the isle of Skiros where he lay beneath the sky.

Theseus was killed by the king of the island when he fled there from Athens.

And centuries later his mighty bones, revered as were the bones of Beckett, were carried by the Athenian general Simon to the Athens that had disowned him.

Of these two the name of Achilles still survives in the name of Achille, which is given to a landlocked bay on the eastern shore, far the loveliest place in the island, whence on the clearest of summer days one can just discern the distant shores of the Troad.

A memorial of Theseus is perhaps found in a small temple site near the old castle high up on the cliffs.

It was a small sanctuary, dedicated in all probability to Theseus as a hero, and it was right on the edge of the sea, almost hanging over the water, on an escarpment of the main ridge of rock on which the town is built.

Other traces of old Hellenism linger on the island.

The spring of Nife on the western side preserves the name of the nymphs, the hilltop Arion that of Ares, and Artemi that of Artemis.

So it's definitely not for everyone.

But the idea behind it was the ship of Theseus paradox.

I'm sure you're familiar with it.

You know, if you have a ship and you start, you know, changing the boards, how long it's going to take for that ship to change it, lose its identity.

Does that child possess the soul, the consciousness of the ancient pharaoh?

It brings up the classic philosophical ship of Theseus paradox, doesn't it? But applied to human consciousness and biology.

If you recreate the exact biological hardware molecule for molecule, does the software, the soul, the personality, the ego automatically download into it from the ether?

Or does consciousness arise purely from the physical arrangement of matter?

And this is the reason why the names of the ancients have been preserved to us and not their actions.

This I infer because Solon said that the priests in their narrative of that war mention most of the names which are recorded prior to the time of Theseus, such as Cecrops, and Erechtheus, and Erechthonius.

and erisichthon and the names of the women in like manner moreover since military pursuits were then common to men and women the men of those days in accordance with the custom of the time set up a figure and image of the goddess in full armour to be a testimony that all animals which associate together male as well as female may if they please practise in common the virtue which belongs to them without distinction of sex now the country was inhabited in those days by various classes of citizens there were artisans and there were husbandmen and there was also a warrior class originally set apart by divine men the latter dwelt by themselves and had all things suitable for nurture and education neither had any of them anything of their own but they regarded all that they had as common property nor did they claim to receive of the other citizens anything more than their necessary food and they practised all the pursuits which we yesterday described as those of our imaginary guardians concerning the country the egyptian priests said what is not only probable but manifestly true that the boundaries were in those days fixed by the isthmus and that in the direction of the continent they extended as far as the heights of cytheron and parnes the boundary line came down in the direction of the sea having the district of oropos on the right and with the river asippus as the limit on the left the land was the best in the world and was therefore able in those days to support a vast army raised from the surrounding people even the remnant of attica which now exists may compare with any region in the world for the variety and excellence of its fruits and the suitableness of its pastures to every sort of animal which proves what i am saying but in those days the country was fair as now and yielded far more abundant produce how shall i establish my words and what part of it can be truly called a remnant of the land that then was the whole country is only a long promontory extending far into the sea away from the rest of the continent while the surrounding basin of the sea is everywhere deep in the neighbourhood of the shore.

Many great deluges have taken place during the nine thousand years, for that is the number of years which have elapsed since the time of which I am speaking, and during all this time and through so many changes there has never been any considerable accumulation of the soil coming down from the mountains as in other places.

And that was, of course, kind of secret.

And he continued his reign of terror until Theseus captured him.

And then he fitted Procrustes to his own bed.

But we still use this metaphor all these centuries later of the Procrustean bed to illustrate this deadly process of applying ideals of perfection to ourselves.

My mistress with a monster is in love.

Near to her close and consecrated bower, while she was in her dull and sleeping hour, a crew of patches, rude mechanicals, that work for bread upon Athenian stalls, were met together to rehearse a play, intended for great Theseus's nuptial day.

the shallowest thickskin of that barren sort who pyramus presented in their sport forsook his scene and entered in a break when i did him at this advantage take an ass's knoll i fixed on his head anon his thisbe must be answered and forth my mimic comes when they him spy as wild geese that the creeping fowler's eye or russet-pated chuffs many in sort rising and cawing at the gun's report sever themselves and madly sweep the sky so at his sight away his fellows fly and at our stamp here o'er and o'er one falls he murderer cries and help from athens calls their sense thus weak lost with their fears thus strong made senseless things begin to do them wrong for briars and thorns at their apparel snatch some sleeves some hats some yielders all things catch i led them on in this distracted fear and left sweet pyramus translated there When in that moment so it came to pass, Titania waked and straightway loved an ass.

What mean you, Caesar? Think you to walk forth? You shall not stir out of your house to-day.

Persons of the Drama.

Oedipus, Antigone and Ismene, his daughters, a man of Colonus, Theseus, king of Athens, Creon of Thebes, Polynices, the elder son of Oedipus, a messenger, chorus of elders of Colonus.

Scene.

At Colonus, about a mile and a quarter northwest of Athens, in front of a grove sacred to the Erinyes or Furies, there worshipped under the propitiatory name of the Eumenides or Kindly Powers.

Oedipus: Are there indeed dwellers in this region? Stranger: Yea surely, the namesakes of yonder god.

Oedipus: Have they a king, or doth speech rest with the folk? Stranger: These parts are ruled by the king in the city.

Oedipus: And who is thus sovereign in counsel and in might? Stranger: Theseus he is called, son of Aegeus who was before him.

Oedipus: Could a messenger go for him from among you? Stranger: With what aim to speak, or to prepare his coming? Oedipus: That by small service he may find a great gain.

Chapter 1, The Case of Anne Boleyn.

There is something Greek, something akin to Oedipus and Theseus in the tragedy of Anne Boleyn.

It is difficult to believe as we read it that we are viewing the actions of real people, subject to passions of violent indeed, yet common to those of mankind, and not the creatures of a nightmare.

Yet I believe that the conduct of the three protagonists, Henry, Catherine, and Anne, can all be explained if we appreciate the facts and interpret them with the aid of a little medical knowledge and insight.