The Seven Sages and the Inscription of Ai Khanoum

In the prologue to his Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers, Diogenes Laertius lists several examples of ancient wisdom: ¹ the Persian Magi, Musaeus, Linus, Orpheus, the Indian Gymnosophists, the Celtic Druids, the Egyptian priests, and finally the so-called Seven Sages, who are the topic of the first book. These seven wise men included both historical and semi-legendary figures. The canonical list (derived from Demetrius of Phalerum and Callimachus ² ) consists of Thales, Pittacus, Bias, Solon, Cleobulus, Chilon, and Periander, but many variants are found, especially among pre- and early Hellenistic 518writers. ³ Individual Sages from the collegium already appear in Herodotus, who calls them “sophists,” ⁴ but the earliest attestation of a group of Seven is found in Plato. ⁵ They were remembered for the gnomic wisdom expressed in their maxims (such as “know yourself” ⁶ and “nothing in excess”), were involved in the contest for the prize of wisdom, were associated with the Lydian king Croesus, and were imagined to have gathered at a symposium. ⁷ At one point in history, an epistolary novel containing letters from the Sages and Croesus also seems to have circulated. ⁸