Know thyself
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Ancient Greek aphorism "Know yourself" (Greek: γνῶθι σεαυτόν or gnothi seauton) was inscribed in the pronaos (forecourt) of the Temple of Apollo at Delphi - according to the Greek periegetic (travelogue) writer Pausanias (10.24.1).
The phrase has been attributed to at least five ancient Greek sages:
- Chilon of Sparta (Chilon I 63, 25)
- Thales of Miletus
- Socrates
- Pythagoras
- Solon of Athens
Other sources attribute it to Phemonoe, a mythical Greek poetess. In a discussion of moderation and self-awareness, the Roman poet Juvenal quotes the phrase in Greek and states that the precept descended e caelo (from heaven) (Satire 11.27).
In Latin, the phrase is generally given as nosce te ipsum.
[edit] Trivia
- "Gnothi seauton" is the motto of Hamilton College, a liberal arts college located in upstate New York.
- An alternative Latin rendering, Temet Nosce, appears inscribed above the entrance to the Oracle's kitchen in the motion picture The Matrix.
- Sometimes an extended version of this motto is cited as "Know thyself - and thou shall know all the mysteries of the gods and of the universe."
- "Know thyself! A maxim as pernicious as it is ugly. Whoever observes himself arrests his own development. A caterpillar who seeks to know himself would never become a butterfly." André Gide
- In some Freemason temples, the phrase appears inscribed above the entrance, but inside the temple.
