The rules we should live by: the 147 Delphic Maxims

Most of what we know in the civilised world wouldn’t be here today if it weren’t for the Delphic maxims.

That’s a bold claim. So what are the Delphic maxims and why were they so important to civilisation as we know it?

In fact, as you will see, I argue that the Delphic maxims never stopped being important. So much so that they’re probably more important now than they ever have been. They have just been forgotten, or are unknown to the vast majority. In the work I do as a guide and teacher they are essential, as I regard the maxims as the bedrock of human behaviour and praxis in the world, and the window overlooking human wisdom.

Many see the modern world’s trajectory as one of progress. Many obvious facts, simple and sophisticated arguments, and praiseworthy achievements are evidence to this. Yet, there are also many obvious facts, but less heard ones, simple and and sophisticated arguments, but less frequently made, that show the modern world has many clear failures.

In the domain of mental and spiritual health, interpersonal relationships, community, human values and traditions, from trust to respect, honour to truth and beyond, and in the regard for nature in every sense, and many more things besides, we see the modern world is incapable of providing a way, or path, we so desperately need.

Yet, the ancient Greeks had been there, done it, and bought the tu-nic.

It is their story, experience, and wisdom as enshrined in the maxims, which I believe is more relevant to us today than it ever has been.

In praise of archaeologists

Before anything further can be said, praise must be offered at the altar of archaeology.

Woeful would be a fair description of my knowledge of archaeology, but this much I know, that without archaeologists through the ages, their mysterious ways, and arcane knowledge, we would be mostly ignorant of all the ancient Greeks bequeathed to us. Thanks to archaeologists, we have a profound sense of what the ancient Greek world looked like, from the Temple of Apollo at Delphi in the Parnassus mountains, to the Athenian polis, and to the bustling agora — the central market slash, public, space where Socrates famously brought philosophy, as we know it, to life.

It saddens me that almost nowhere these days do we hear people lauding archaeology as a noble profession, in the way the STEMs, science, technology, engineering, and medical, professions are. Education and knowledge are not a competition, and these subjects are indeed laudable, but the unfair praise they receive at the expense of archaeology is shameful.

If it hadn’t been for archaeology and archaeologists, most of what we know from antiquity would be lost. That very simply means, modern mathematics, science, and nearly everything in the modern world, our technology, engineering, even the digital age, most likely wouldn’t exist. Most of the intellectual and scientific achievements of the modern world, are made by giants standing on the shoulders of giants that stretch back to Greek antiquity. That is a simple fact, once we understand the role the ancient Greek world played in shaping our world (in an upcoming article No Ancient Greeks, No Smartphone, I explain how the modern digital and technological world wouldn’t have existed if it weren't for the ancient Greeks).

I, for one, believe archaeologists should be held in the greatest regard. Their places of work endorsed, protected, and supported. And much more should be done to attract the most suited minds to the continuation and survival of this great discipline.

Without archaeology, we would be running blind upon the world, in a cemetery of unmarked graves, bereft of the wisdom through the ages.

So, praise be to the archaeologists! And I laud any young person eyeing up this noble profession, and I encourage them passionately not to be set astray if their heart is pulling them to the soil and stories beneath our feet.

The temple of Apollo at Delphi

But coming back to the Parnassus mountains hundreds of years even before the birth of Christ…

At the entrance of the Temple of Apollo at Delphi, the words “Know thyself” were inscribed in stone in ancient Greek. All who passed its entrance would have seen these words and have been reminded of the importance of this proclamation. Our understanding of the maxims must begin here.

The temple of Apollo at Delphi, set in the Parnassus mountains, is majestic. It is where the god Apollo, regarded as one of the most important of the Greek gods was revered and worshipped. Apollo was regarded by many as both prophet and philosopher and the lover of truth. So it is little surprise that the Temple of Apollo was not only a centre of the ancient Greek pagan faith, but also the seat of ancient Greek philosophy.

At the temple could be found the oracle of Delphi. This was a priestess or prophetess, a Sibyl, meaning the wisest of women. They were the guardians of wisdom. Their presence in the ancient Greek world was so well established that they are ever-present in the works of the great ancient Greek writers but mentioned in bare details. Some argue this is evidence to the fact that the oracles were such a well-established part of life, that it barely deserved mention. Of course our modern minds, are simply hungry to know much more about these mysterious, enigmatic figures, that without question played a pivotal role in the genesis, diffusion, and safeguarding of wisdom.

But we must content ourselves with the knowledge that it was women who played one of the profoundest roles in wisdom as we know it. There is much hope to be taken from this as to the true potential and purpose of the feminine, and the role of women in society.

This inscription along with the other maxims could be found in the ancient Greek world inscribed on stelae / STEE - lye / , carved slabs of stone in public places, or at temple sites such as Apollo, where they could be frequently read and inspire people to meditate and reflect.

This is an image that I for one find ennobling, and one that could and should find its way back into our socio-cultural reality.

Know thyself

So it is in this monumental setting, with mount Parnassus, and the mysterious figures of the oracles, that we come across the maxim “Know thyself”. It is regarded as the first of the Delphic maxims. In short, the ancient Greeks, be they priests or philosophers, believed that foremost all duty began inwardly. A profound holding of account to ourselves.

To be in this world, be with others, and pass on gracefully, all rests on our ability to know ourselves.

They were meant as reminders, admonitions, and as a form of practicum, a daily ritualised physical or mental activity serving the purpose of modelling some specific behaviour or trait of character. These maxims would have been in the collective conscious and subconscious.

The power of “Know thyself” is hard to ignore. At every instance in life, this is the one I think I stumble on most often. When we find ourselves coming short, getting angry in some moment, frustrated, or resenting others, we can pause and recite, “Know thyself”. It is a call to us, to ask do I really know why I am angry, frustrated, or resentful? What is it about me, that is sparking this psycho-emotive state? Why am I so often finding myself in these states? If our relationships with others are not going as we would like, rather than admonishing, or resenting, the other person, we can ask, what is it about me that might be causing the other to behave so? Often whatever it maybe is beyond our control, and thus concern. Yet, it maybe that a particular behaviour on our part flies under our radar.

Often after extensive reflection on a particular aspect of my behaviour, I have come to realise, I really didn’t know myself. There are too many examples to detail here. But if I were to choose one in particular for you to savour, it would be for instance how it took me much time to realise and accept that I’m a far more competitive person than I ever allow myself to accept. This example borders on behavioural and psychological science, a bit more than maxim science, let’s say, but it's instructive. In fact, this example requires quite a significant Jungian perspective to make sense of.

In a nutshell though, as a kid I was often out of control, in trouble, and did what the hell I wanted. When I played, I played to win, and often at whatever cost. What I know now is that all this was simply the product of my unguided instincts. There was nothing wrong with me. But due to the demands of family and society, such behaviour was regarded as problematic or dangerous, and many attempts are made to socialise us out of it. I certianly was. As an adult, all this resulted in the fact that I was often in situations where without knowing it I would deny and repress my competitive spirit. I had got so used to pushing this side of me down to into my shadow realm, the part of our psyche that Jung claimed laid hidden to ourselves due to the habitual repressing of our emotional psychical energy.

Competition rather is a very healthy function (in an upcoming article Always compete but never cheat I explain much more about this) and behaviour we simply must cultivate and nurture, not something that we should habitually repress. It's fundamental not only to healthily functioning individuals, but to groups, families, communities, organisations, and societies. And thanks to discovering and accepting this part of myself, I feel much better.

And all this we can discover from one simple prompt — “Know thyself”.

All things in moderation

If there’s one maxim our age needs more than any other, I would have to give my vote to “All things in moderation”.

It amazes me even now, that as far back as 2800 years ago, people understood that moderation in all things was a fundamental rule for life. Whether it be how much we eat or drink, or work or play, aspire to money or fame, all these things have a time and place, and need to be moderated. The Greeks understood this profoundly. So much so, that when we look at the modern world and our behaviour in it, to the Greeks, we might have appeared as a peoples who have almost no grasp of the need for moderation.

When we consider basic biological functions, eating, drinking, intimacy, it is very easy to comprehend how these behaviours are hard to self-moderate. Eating can be so pleasurable, drinking so relieving, intimacy, well, I’ll leave that one up to your imagination. A lack of moderation in these matters can easily lead us into deep waters, health problems, psychological problems, relationship problems, the list goes on. But what makes all this even more worrying in the modern age, and makes the need for this maxim so pressing, is that beyond biologically ordered temptations, nowadays we also have technological temptations, that present a far more complex and existentially threatening challenge.

Modern technology has the ability to utterly hijack our attention, our dopaminergic pathways (just click to listen to the warnings of the acclaimed neuroscientist Andrew Huberman), and completely destroy our ability to focus, be productive, and disciplined. While this may not sound as alarming as say being obese and all the health problems that entials, I argue it’s just as dangerous. Being a prisoner to technology, not only threatens to completely undermine our ability to act as free agents and have autonomy and freedom over our lives and behaviour, it threatens to make us slaves to grander structures, behemoths who sell and control the technology we use. Such technology can become so addictive for people, that we are seeing instances where people are unable to function in other aspects of their lives, learn, or socialise in a way that is healthy.

And it should be said, that all the maxims depend on practicums for the rule to be deeply integrated in our behaviour. These are not things that can be integrated instantaneously, but over a lifetime of conscious awareness and practice. The more we practice, the more we in-train our discipline and will power. The better our will power and discipline become, and the more deeply a given maxim becomes integrated. Hearing the short sharp ring of a maxim can then simply serve to keep our course true, no matter how stormy the waters get.

Once the maxim “All things in moderation” is alive in our conscience, and frequently repeated there, it must serve to guide us in action.

Make a pledge and trouble is at hand

This famously has been one of the hardest of the original three maxims for historians and philosophers to decipher. It is often understood to mean that when we make a promise, trouble can soon follow. We can understand this to mean either making promises is a folly, or we should be frugal in our promises, or we should simply take our promises far more seriously. A middle way to understanding this maxim might just be that we need to regard our word as our honour, or simply we should not break our word, a man’s word is his bond, hence we should be ever more cautious in giving our word.

Whichever way we take this maxim, a few things should be made clear to us. By giving our word and failing to stand by it, we diminish ourselves in the eyes of others. It can often only take one instance of breaking our word, and others lose their trust in us, or may never place their trust in us again. Not keeping to our word, may mean we fall out of favour with others, in our social standing, and opportunities dry up. Ultimately, breaking our word, may produce the net effect of losing respect in the eyes of others. No one will tell us this. But happen it will. Only the first maxim, “Know thyself” may come to our rescue in helping us understand that we have broken this third one.

The basic point here is we need to take our own word far more seriously. Only in this way, when we begin to respect the import of our word, as we unconsciously know how we hold ourselves, and thus others, to it, can we begin to give our word with far more gravity. This gravity is natural, when we know our word has consequences for ourselves, and thus for others. Overtime, the more we practice this maxim, the more we begin to unlock the power of our own word and what it rests on. Ultimately it rests on the fact of our character. Once we become people who hold ourselves to our word, and by parity others, we develop a set of traits that enable us to hold ourselves and others to our own word, these include, will power, discipline, courage, and a slew of values. Once again, we can only reach this point if we have practiced the first maxim.

The seven sages of ancient Greece

It would be amiss to talk about the Delphic maxims without mentioning the seven sages.

These were considered the wisest men of Greek antiquity. How that judgement was arrived at is hard to say. Nonetheless, Thales of Miletus, regarded as the first philosopher of Greek antiquity, Pittacus of Mytilene, governor of Lesbos, Bias of Prienne, a politician and legislator, Solon of Athens, one of the most famous Greek legislators, Cleobulus ruler of Lindos, Myson of Chennae, some claim to be a farmer but was proclaimed as one of the wisest men by the oracle at Delphi, and Chilon of Spartan, who is regarded as the figurehead of Sparta as a military state, have come to be known as the seven sages, and have had the maxims attributed to them. Whether this is the case, or not, or partially so, is beyond our reckoning.

Suffice to say, it is intriguing to know that these seven mysterious figures lie behind the Delphic maxims. And since most of them were legislators and statesman, many have argued this to be the reason the maxims were to be regarded, and can still be regarded as a basis for moral law.

It must also be said, that for many the true origins of the Delphic maxims go back far beyond Greek antiquity, to the Greek Dark Ages, a time when the city states of Greece, or the Greek polis, had yet to be born. At this time, most people would have lived in small tribes and collectives, along broadly geographical and ethnic identities, their way of life undocumented, and all of what we can know of their culture would have left it’s mark underground for archaeologists, or have been transmitted orally. It is this oral culture, some say that reached the Greeks of antiquity, and laid the foundation for Greek wisdom which we attribute to their philosophers and sages. All this is a moot point, but even so it is exciting to speculate on the mysterious origins of Greek culture and the wisdom we have from them.

147 maxims, Stobaeus in Afghanistan

And that’s not all.

As evidence to my earlier praise for archaeologists not being misplaced, 147 maxims were ultimately discovered thanks to various archaeological findings over the years. The most recent being in 1966 when in Al Khanoum in modern Afghanistan, one of the furthest points in the Greek kingdom of Bactriana, a stone stele engraved with 140 maxims was uncovered. These maxims had been engraved in the 3rd century B.C. by Aristotle’s disciple Clearchus. Many historians and archaeologists understand this fact to demonstrate just how important the moral character and spirit were in Greek antiquity.

In a future article, I will spend time exploring, and expanding on the importance of the 147 maxims.

Living the maxims: a call to moral action

But until then, let me just say this.

Some argue that the maxims form the basis for the Abrahamic traditions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. One of the easiest ways to see this is how closely some of the maxims resemble the The Ten Commandments. Follow god, respect your parents, shun what belongs to others, shun murder, be jealous of no one, be happy with what you have, to name just a few. If these don’t look like the ten commandments, I don’t know what does.

Of course, the idea that The Ten commandments were not exclusively given to Moses on Mount Sinai, but trickled down from many centuries earlier through ancient Greek culture, is a very controversial one, but I am not the only one to suggest that, you can read similar suggestions on the Vridar blog, Ten Commandments: Where Did They Really Come From?

Be all this as it may, I would just end by saying that if the Delphic maxims came to form the basis of The Ten Commandments then there is no shame in that, and if The Ten Commandments had their grounds in the wisest of thinking from one of the most sophisticated cultures of antiquity, again I see no shame in that either.

Rather I see further evidence to how human culture is deeply intertwined and interdependent, a fact that we should not only be aware of but deeply embrace, as we recite the maxims, to keep our course true in this often brutal and tumultuous life.

So, if I have one admonishment before I leave, it’s “Never forget your Delphic maxims”!