As a tribute to the mythical founder of their city—famed for slaying the Minotaur—the Athenians committed to keeping Theseus’s ship seaworthy in the harbor of Athens. As parts of the boat decayed, they were replaced … until eventually, every last part of the boat had been changed. The conundrum was this: given that every last part of it had been replaced, was it still Theseus’s ship? The Athenians still called it Theseus’s Ship … but was it?
