Plutarch: 3 ideas worth knowing

3 ideas from Plutarch, each explained in a minute and credited to the original work. Free on Savvy.

If you replace every plank of a ship, is it still the same ship?
Plutarch recorded the puzzle two thousand years ago: Athenians preserved Theseus's ship by swapping out rotten planks until none of the original wood remained. Is it the same ship?…
— Plutarch, Life of Theseus (Parallel Lives)
Replace every plank of a ship one at a time — is it still the same ship?
Plutarch records that the Athenians preserved Theseus's ship for centuries by replacing its rotting planks one by one, until none of the original timber remained. Philosophers have…
— Plutarch, Life of Theseus
300 paired lovers died in ordered rows rather than break ranks
At Chaeronea in 338 BC, Philip II of Macedon -- with his 18-year-old son Alexander commanding the cavalry -- crushed the combined armies of Athens and Thebes. Thebes's elite Sacred…
— Plutarch, Parallel Lives (Life of Pelopidas)

Five ideas worth knowing, every week