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1 Seven Sages It is not certain when, why, where, and by whom the canon of sages was formulated. RICHARD P. MARTIN DEMETRIOS OF PHALERON (ca. 360–280 BCE), who wrote a monograph on their sayings (Stob. That seven men living in the sixth century BCE 3.1.172), reported in his List of Archons that meri...

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Seven Sages Richard P Martin

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Seven Sages RICHARD P. MARTIN

That seven men living in the sixth century BCE merited commemoration for their wisdom was an idea widespread in Greek literature from the fourth century BCE onward, but probably entered oral tradition shortly after their own era. Without explicitly citing the exclusivity of a canon of seven sophoi, PLATO (Prt. 343a– b) has Socrates praise precisely that number as past masters of profound laconic utterance: THALES OF MILETOS, Pittakos of Mytilene, Bias of Priene, SOLON of Athens, Kleobulos of Lindos, Myson of Chen, and CHILON of Sparta. In SOCRATES’ telling, these seven gathered to collectively write down their memorable sayings and dedicate them as “first-fruits of wisdom” in Apollo’s shrine at DELPHI, where they were later inscribed. Five of the seven appear in the Histories of HERODOTUS (ca. 430 BCE). Bias and Thales gave good advice to the Ionians (1.170); the latter also was popularly believed to have advised CROESUS on engineering a crossing of the river Halys (1.75). Chilon’s advice, after an illomened sacrifice at Olympia, that Hippokrates not beget a son, was ignored, leading to the tyranny of PEISISTRATOS at Athens (1.59). The same sage’s prophetic warning about danger from the nearby island Kythera was kept alive in Spartan memory (7.235). Herodotus fails to mention a specific gathering of the sages as a group, but alludes to visits to Croesus in Sardis by the leading Greek “wise men” (sophistai), among whom Solon is singled out in the famous narration of his extended interaction with the Lydian monarch (1.29–33). An anecdote about either Bias or Pittakos having deterred Croesus from attacking the Ionian islanders (1.27) implies that diverse stories of the sage-adviser genre were circulating in the fifth century BCE. The context of cross-cultural themes surrounding these stories in Herodotus may indicate that he (or his informants) redeployed older Hellenocentric tales to make new political points.

It is not certain when, why, where, and by whom the canon of sages was formulated. DEMETRIOS OF PHALERON (ca. 360–280 BCE), who wrote a monograph on their sayings (Stob. 3.1.172), reported in his List of Archons that the Seven Sages were named during the archonship of Damasias at Athens (582/1 BCE) (Diog. Laert. 1.22). The same archonship, according to other fourth-century BCE accounts, saw the refashioning of the Pythian games at Delphi into a “crown” contest by the allied victors of the First Sacred War, supposedly advocated by Solon ca. 594 BCE (Robertson 1978). Most likely, propagandists for Delphic interests devised the canon, seeking to assert the site’s central sociopolitical role (Busine 2002: 28–30). In any event, Fehling’s thesis (1985) that Plato invented the entire concept of the Seven Sages is implausible. An agonistic strain runs throughout the tales of the sages, befitting possible origins in a competitive context. This environment is suggested by the reference to two sages together at Hdt. 1.170. A motif most familiar from the biography of Socrates appears also in the story that the Scythian sage ANACHARSIS, upon hearing from the Pythian priestess that Myson was the wiser man, visited Chen in summertime. Questioning why Myson was fitting a share to a plow, out of season, he was silenced by Myson’s wise reply that this was the right time for repairs (Diog. Laert. 1.106–7). In Diodorus of Sicily (9.8) the visitor to Chen is SOLON. Implicitly, sages seek to interrogate and outdo one another. A parallel representation, also dating ultimately to the sixth century BCE, occurs in the Contest of Homer and Hesiod (Nagy 2009). Contestation in real or imagined performances by wise characters extended to the judging of various aspirants to sagehood by those who made canonical lists. In his version, Plato chooses Myson instead of the more commonly mentioned tyrant PERIANDER OF CORINTH (Prt. 343a), although ARISTOTLE reportedly favored Periander (Diog. Laert. 1.98–99). Others (perhaps starting with his own faction) made claims for another tyrant, Peisistratos of

The Encyclopedia of Ancient History. Edited by Roger S. Bagnall, Kai Brodersen, Craige B. Champion, Andrew Erskine, and Sabine R. Huebner. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Published 2017 by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. DOI: 10.1002/9781444338386.wbeah30425

2 Athens (Diog. Laert. 1.13). According to DIOGENES LAERTIUS (third century CE), our late but most extensive source, various authors included, as further members of the group, Akousilaos, Anacharsis, Aristodemos, Pamphylos, PHEREKYDES, Lasos of Hermione, ANAXAGORAS, ORPHEUS, Linus, Epicharmos, PYTHAGORAS, Leophantos, and Epimenides of Crete (Diog. Laert. 1.41–42). Helping to limit the canon were literary portrayals of meetings involving a specific seven. Diogenes Laertius mentions one at the court of Kypselos, by an alleged eyewitness, Archetimos of Syracuse (1.40–41). A symposium including AESOP, written by Plutarch (first or second century CE), is set in CORINTH a generation later, with Periander as host (Plut. Mor.146b–64d). In addition, collections of letters exist (likely Hellenistic) supposedly written by one sage to another (Dührsen 1994). A durable folk-tale motif united the sages in another enterprise. CALLIMACHUS (Ia.1) writes of the gold cup bequeathed by Bathykles of Arcadia to “the wisest.” After Thales’ refusal, it was passed around the remaining six, before returning to the Ionian sage, who dedicated it to Apollo at Didyma (Diog. Laert. 1.28–32). Another version has Solon as the ultimate possessor of a tripod discovered by Milesian fishermen, and Delphi as the place of final dedication: contestation between Apolline shrines must underlie the tales. Further variants feature a bowl from Croesus or a tripod from the Argives, with Chilon, Aristodemos, or Bias as awardees (Busine 2002: 49–57). Sages are active in politics, poetry, and cult (Martin 1993). Chilon was a Spartan ephor (565 BCE), Solon an Athenian archon, Pittakos a public arbitrator in Lesbos. Already by the time of Hipponax (later sixth century BCE) Bias was known for skilled pleading (Hipponax fr. 123 W) and reportedly arbitrated between Samos and Priene (Plut. Quaest. Graec. no. 20). Plato thus takes a minority position in remarking that these men “refrained from affairs of state” (Hp. mai. 281c). Anaximenes (second half, fourth century BCE) noted that all the sages composed poetry (Diog. Laert.

1.40), an assertion supported by the catalogues in Diogenes Laertius. How much is pseudepigraphic remains unknown, but the independent attestation of Solon’s verses may suggest that archaic poems by the seven circulated. The sympotic setting imagined for meetings of the wise men accords with the detail that Pittakos wrote songs, one of which Diogenes quotes (1.78). Apart from making prominent dedications, the sages are connected to cult and sacred traditions. Chilon may have descended from Branchos, mythical founder of the Apollo temple at Didyma (Diog. Laert. 1.72), and was worshiped as a hero at Sparta (Paus. 3.16.4). Similarly, a sacred precinct for Bias was dedicated by the people of Priene (Diog. Laert. 1.88). Anacharsis was reputedly slain while performing Greek rites. Sages were also prophetic: Thales foresaw eclipses and good harvests, and Solon warned of the rise of Peisistratos (Diog. Laert. 1.50). Apophthegmata of sages were handed down as two-word injunctions (e.g., thumou kratein, “control anger”), like those transmitted by Sosiades (Stob. 3.1.173), or slightly longer declarations, like those collected by DIKAIARCHOS OF MESSENE (fourth century BCE) and known to Diogenes Laertius (Huys 1996). Favorite sayings were sometimes attached to individual sages – for example, Kleoboulos liked “moderation is best” (Diog. Laert. 1.89–91) – but there is little trace of characterization by sentiment or style. Chilon, for example, is credited with three of the most famous: “know thyself”; “nothing in excess”; and “a pledge is nigh to ruin” (Diod. Sic. 9.10.1), but also with a score of recommendations on such topics as marriage, friendship, and speech (Diog. Laert. 1.69–70). Solon is remembered for such uncontroversial injunctions as “shun bad company” (Diog. Laert. 1.60). Banal as they might sound, the sayings served to globalize Greek popular morality. Copies of gnomological lists have been found on Egyptian papyri, ostraka, and even a column base dating to ca. 300 BCE from a GrecoBactrian site in Ai Khanum, Afghanistan, which claims to reproduce an exact copy by

3 the Peripatetic KLEARCHOS of Soloi (of the original Delphic inscriptions) (Robert 1968: 442–54; Oikonomides 1987). Comparative evidence offers parallels, if not sources, for the Greek notion. Seven Sages (apkallu), learned craftsmen, in Sumerian and Akkadian literature built the walls of Uruk. Early Sanskrit texts mention seven R. sis, who are seers, poets, mystics, sacrificers, and, literally, stars – the Pleiades (Mitchener 1982). The Atharvaveda (10.8.9) enigmatically describes the seven R. sis as custodians of a great cup, an interesting analogue to the Greek sage-dedicated treasures.

REFERENCES AND SUGGESTED READINGS Busine, A. (2002) Les Sept Sages de la Grèce antique. Transmission et utilisation d’un patrimoine légendaire d’Hérodote à Plutarque. Paris. Dührsen, N. C. (1994) “Die Briefe der Sieben Weisen bei Diogenes Laertius. Möglichkeiten und Grenzen der Rekonstruktion eines verlorenen griechischen Briefromans.” In H. Holzberg and S. Merkle, eds., Der griechische Briefroman. Gattungstypologie und Textanalyse: 84–115. Tübingen. Fehling, D. (1985) Die Sieben Weisen und die frühgriechische Chronologie. Bern.

Huys, M. (1996) “P. Oxy. 61.4099: a combination of mythographic lists with sentences of the Seven Wise Men.” Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 113: 205–12. Kurke, L. (2010) Aesopic conversations: popular tradition, cultural dialogue, and the invention of Greek prose. Princeton. Martin, R. P. (1993) “The Seven Sages as performers of wisdom.” In C. Dougherty and L. Kurke, eds., Cultural poetics in Archaic Greece: cult, performance, politics: 108–28. Cambridge. Mitchiner, J. E. (1982) Traditions of the Seven R. sis. Delhi. Nagy, G. (2009) “Hesiod and the ancient biographical traditions.” In F. Montanari, A. Rengakos, and C. Tsagalis, eds., Brill’s companion to Hesiod: 271–311. Leiden. Oikonomides, A. N. (1987) “Records of ‘The Commandments of the Seven Wise Men’ in the 3rd c. B.C.” Classical Bulletin 63: 67–73. Robert, L. (1968) “De Delphes à l’Oxus, inscriptions grecques nouvelles de la Bactriane.” Comptes-rendus de l’Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres 112: 416–57. Robertson, N. (1978) “The myth of the First Sacred War.” Classical Quarterly 28: 38–73. Snell, B., ed. (1952) Leben und Meinungen der Sieben Weisen: Griechische und lateinische Quellen, 3rd ed. Munich....