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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 ill-
omened sacrifice at Olympia, that Hippokrates
not beget a son, was ignored, leading to the tyr-
anny 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 anec-
dote 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) re-
deployed older Hellenocentric tales to make
new political points.
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
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, sup-
posedly 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 con-
cept of the Seven Sages is implausible.
An agonistic strain runs throughout the tales
of the sages, befitting possible origins in a com-
petitive context. This environment is suggested
by the reference to two sages together at Hdt.
1.170. A motif most familiar from the biogra-
phy 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 perfor-
mances by wise characters extended to the jud-
ging 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
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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 por-
trayals of meetings involving a specific seven.
Diogenes Laertius mentions one at the court
of Kypselos, by an alleged eyewitness, Archeti-
mos of Syracuse (1.40–41). A symposium
including AESOP, written by Plutarch (first or
second century CE), is set in CORINTH a genera-
tion later, with Periander as host (Plut.
Mor.146b–64d). In addition, collections of let-
ters 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 Arca-
dia 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 pos-
sessor of a tripod discovered by Milesian fish-
ermen, and Delphi as the place of final
dedication: contestation between Apolline
shrines must underlie the tales. Further var-
iants 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 pseudepi-
graphic remains unknown, but the independ-
ent 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 Pit-
takos 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 des-
cended 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 char-
acterization 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 recommenda-
tions on such topics as marriage, friendship,
and speech (Diog. Laert. 1.69–70). Solon is
remembered for such uncontroversial injunc-
tions 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 Greco-
Bactrian site in Ai Khanum, Afghanistan,
which claims to reproduce an exact copy by

the Peripatetic KLEARCHOS of Soloi (of the orig-
inal 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 ana-
logue 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 patri-
moine 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. Gattungs-
typologie und Textanalyse: 84–115. Tübingen.
Fehling, D. (1985) Die Sieben Weisen und die
frühgriechische Chronologie. Bern.
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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, perfor-
mance, politics: 108–28. Cambridge.
Mitchiner, J. E. (1982) Traditions of the Seven
R. sis. Delhi.
Nagy, G. (2009) “Hesiod and the ancient biograph-
ical 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.