Thessalonike - Sister of Alexander The Great - Fountain of Immortality Legend - Sailor's Question - Ceramic plate

Condition: New, Handmade in Greece
Diameter: 23 cm - 9,1 inches
Weight: 550 g
Material: clay, paint, ceramic, terracotta
The legend of Thessalonike
There exists a popular Greek legend which talks about a mermaid who lived in the Aegean for hundreds of years who was thought to be Thessalonike. The legend states that Alexander, in his quest for the Fountain of Immortality, retrieved with great exertion a flask of immortal water with which he bathed his sister's hair. When Alexander died his grief-stricken sister attempted to end her life by jumping into the sea. Instead of drowning, however, she became a mermaid passing judgment on mariners throughout the centuries and across the seven seas. To the sailors who encountered her she would always pose the same question: "Is Alexander the king alive?" (Greek: Ζει ο βασιλιάς Αλέξανδρος?), to which the correct answer would be "He lives and reigns and conquers the world" (Greek: Ζει και βασιλεύει, και τον κόσμο κυριεύει!). Given this answer she would allow the ship and her crew to sail safely away in calm seas. Any other answer would transform her into the raging Gorgon, bent on sending the ship and every sailor on board to the bottom.
ΠΙΑΤΟ ΓΟΡΓΟΝΑ ΑΠΑΞ