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Of Maternal Seamstresses and the Fall of Communism

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I’ll be kind of busy today, catching up on reading for classes and other responsibilities, so I may not be able to blog as much as I like. And I’m about to dash off to meet meeting up with an old buddy from my days in DC, current blogger Rick Sincere, in town for a few days. But, before I do, I wanted to share with you an intriguing observation that my Athena makes in her wonderful book, John Paul the Great: Remembering a Spiritual Father. Noting that the late pope’s mother “took in work as a seamstress to make ends meet,” Peggy observes:

Ronald Reagan’s mother took in work as a seamstress, and so did Margaret Thatcher’s. The three great leaders most responsible for the fall of communism and the reunification of Europe spent their childhoods watching their mothers joining different pieces of fabric together and making them into a whole.

I’ll have to check and see if the real Athena provided any assistance to Ariadne. (Well, that Cretan woman did help the Athenian hero Theseus). We do know that she was a master weaver, having bested Arachne in a celebrated competition.

Comments

  1. Actually, if I remember my mythology correctly, Ariadne was the daughter of King Minos and Queen Pasiphae (who fell in love with a bull and thus bore the Minotaur). She was a friend of Daedalus, the wise man who built the Labyrinth in Crete, and it was he who gave her the tools she needed to become a seamstress. The goddess Athena did not put in an appearance in this myth.

    Hope this helps!

    Regards,
    Peter Hughes

  2. That’s pretty much how I remember the story as well. However, after following Ariadne’s thread and defeating the minotaur, Theseus did sail off to lead Athena’s fair city (Athens), leaving that fair maiden on Naxos where Dionysus took note of her beauty.

    And certainly Athena approved of Ariadne’s devices for prior to the Minotaur’s demise, nine youths of her city would be sacrificed to that beast.