Maxims from the Delphic Oracle

Socrates, Stoicism, and the Philosophy of Apollo

Dec 03, 2020

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The ruins of the Temple of Apollo at Delphi. Photograph by author.

Upon a column once standing at the entrance (pronaos) of the Temple of Apollo in Delphi, two famous maxims were inscribed: “Know thyself” (gnothi seauton) and “Nothing in excess” (meden agan).

In Plato’s Protagoras, Socrates claims that the l…

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