DOC/HISTORY

Learn about the world, think socially, think bigger... Be a part of the change... The Ancient Greek aphorism "know thyself" (Greek: γνωθι σεαυτόν, transliterated: gnōthi seauton; also ... σαυτόν … sauton with the ε contracted), is one of the Delphic maxims and was inscribed in the pronaos (forecourt) of the Temple of Apollo at Delphi according to the Greek periegetic (travelogue) writer Pausanias (10.24.1).[1] The maxim, or aphorism, "know thyself" has had a variety of meanings attributed to it in literature. The Suda, a 10th-century encyclopedia of Greek knowledge, says: "the proverb is applied to those whose boasts exceed what they are",[2] and that "know thyself" is a warning to pay no attention to the opinion of the multitude.[3] In Latin the aphorism is generally given as nosce te ipsum[4] or temet nosce.[5]