"Morning, all. Unfortunately, I have a lecture for you, but please bear with me, it's not nearly as bad as any of my third year lectures." Gabrielle smirked, leaning back against the table and watching as the students got their quills or pens out. "We're talking about the Labyrinth of Crete today. Apparently, they really, really want you to be up to date on your ancient structures." Gabrielle shuffled her notes, clearing her throat before starting the lecture.
"Okay, so, the Labyrinth of Crete, it forms the basis of an ancient Greek myth about a hero's test of skill. Specifically Theseus - you may have heard of the minotaur." She took a breath to get her thoughts in order, before she continued. "The labyrinth was built on, as you can probably tell from the name, the island of Crete. It was built by a very able inventor and craftsman called Daedalus. I'll come back to him in a bit. The King of Crete, Minos, had a wife named Pasiphaë. Now, I won't go in to the specifics of how this happened - you can either look it up yourselves or let your imagination take you to horrible places - but Pasiphaë gave birth to a creature with the body of a man and the face of a bull. This creature was dubbed the 'minotaur', and the horrified King Minos was so repulsed that he ordered Daedalus to craft a great labyrinth to house the minotaur, preventing it from escaping. The ancients never do things by halves, you understand."
Gabrielle paused to drink some water, checking the notes she was putting on the board were up to date and giving the students time to catch up. "Anyway, King Minos was also something of a warmonger, and he had Athens at his mercy. Each year, the Athenians were forced to pay a tribute of seven young men and seven young women, all of whom were thrown into the labyrinth and inevitably devoured by the minotaur. You might imagine it was very difficult to feed a creature in a great maze of which escape is almost impossible."
"I say almost impossible, of course, because one year the son of the king of Athens was among the tributes. Theseus, who history will remember with varying degrees of fondness." Gabrielle rolled her neck before continuing. "The daughter of King Minos, Ariadne, fell in love with Theseus, and she smuggled him a sword with which to slay the minotaur, and on the advice of Daedalus, a ball of thread that he could use to find his way back out of the labyrinth. Of course it worked, he was seen as a great hero, smuggling his people as well as Ariadne and her younger sister Phaedra out by sea. And for Ariadne's love and assistance to Theseus, she and Phaedra were ultimately ditched on a beach on the island of Naxos." Gabrielle raised an eyebrow, shaking her head. "So, I suppose that's a lesson to you not to get carried away with infatuation, as you'll likely end up heartbroken."
Gabrielle took one more drink of water, chuckling a little at the sore wrists. "So I said we'd go back to Daedalus, but I might leave that for a later lesson. I do, however, want to leave you with a conundrum. Our good friend, heartbreaker and arrogant, smug, a- hero," she quickly corrected, "Theseus. You might've heard of the Ship of Theseus conundrum. The ship he returned to Athens on after escaping the labyrinth was kept as a memorial in the Athenian harbour. It was kept in place for several centuries, with the wood being replaced each time it decayed." She noted the looks of confusion, and waved her hand. "I'm getting to the point. Instead of an essay for homework, I'd like to give you a question to make you think. No right or wrong answer, I just want to know how you've gotten to your conclusion. Think of it as a brain exercise. The Ship of Theseus conundrum is this: if every single plank of wood of the ship is replaced over time, is it still the same ship?" Noting the looks of boredom and confusion, Gabrielle leaned back against the desk, smirking at the class. "That's all, then. See you next lesson, and happy thinking."
Homework
RP the lesson. Give your character's thoughts on the Ship of Theseus for extra credit. Why yes, I am posing deep philosophical quandaries to 14/15 year olds.
"Okay, so, the Labyrinth of Crete, it forms the basis of an ancient Greek myth about a hero's test of skill. Specifically Theseus - you may have heard of the minotaur." She took a breath to get her thoughts in order, before she continued. "The labyrinth was built on, as you can probably tell from the name, the island of Crete. It was built by a very able inventor and craftsman called Daedalus. I'll come back to him in a bit. The King of Crete, Minos, had a wife named Pasiphaë. Now, I won't go in to the specifics of how this happened - you can either look it up yourselves or let your imagination take you to horrible places - but Pasiphaë gave birth to a creature with the body of a man and the face of a bull. This creature was dubbed the 'minotaur', and the horrified King Minos was so repulsed that he ordered Daedalus to craft a great labyrinth to house the minotaur, preventing it from escaping. The ancients never do things by halves, you understand."
Gabrielle paused to drink some water, checking the notes she was putting on the board were up to date and giving the students time to catch up. "Anyway, King Minos was also something of a warmonger, and he had Athens at his mercy. Each year, the Athenians were forced to pay a tribute of seven young men and seven young women, all of whom were thrown into the labyrinth and inevitably devoured by the minotaur. You might imagine it was very difficult to feed a creature in a great maze of which escape is almost impossible."
"I say almost impossible, of course, because one year the son of the king of Athens was among the tributes. Theseus, who history will remember with varying degrees of fondness." Gabrielle rolled her neck before continuing. "The daughter of King Minos, Ariadne, fell in love with Theseus, and she smuggled him a sword with which to slay the minotaur, and on the advice of Daedalus, a ball of thread that he could use to find his way back out of the labyrinth. Of course it worked, he was seen as a great hero, smuggling his people as well as Ariadne and her younger sister Phaedra out by sea. And for Ariadne's love and assistance to Theseus, she and Phaedra were ultimately ditched on a beach on the island of Naxos." Gabrielle raised an eyebrow, shaking her head. "So, I suppose that's a lesson to you not to get carried away with infatuation, as you'll likely end up heartbroken."
Gabrielle took one more drink of water, chuckling a little at the sore wrists. "So I said we'd go back to Daedalus, but I might leave that for a later lesson. I do, however, want to leave you with a conundrum. Our good friend, heartbreaker and arrogant, smug, a- hero," she quickly corrected, "Theseus. You might've heard of the Ship of Theseus conundrum. The ship he returned to Athens on after escaping the labyrinth was kept as a memorial in the Athenian harbour. It was kept in place for several centuries, with the wood being replaced each time it decayed." She noted the looks of confusion, and waved her hand. "I'm getting to the point. Instead of an essay for homework, I'd like to give you a question to make you think. No right or wrong answer, I just want to know how you've gotten to your conclusion. Think of it as a brain exercise. The Ship of Theseus conundrum is this: if every single plank of wood of the ship is replaced over time, is it still the same ship?" Noting the looks of boredom and confusion, Gabrielle leaned back against the desk, smirking at the class. "That's all, then. See you next lesson, and happy thinking."
Homework
RP the lesson. Give your character's thoughts on the Ship of Theseus for extra credit. Why yes, I am posing deep philosophical quandaries to 14/15 year olds.
