DELPHI, GREECE: THE TEMPLE OF APOLLO, THE ORACLE AT DELPHI, AND THREE MAXIMS TO LIVE BY

On a calm morning as grey as the goddess Athena’s eyes, George and I visited the Temple of Apollo in near Delphi, Greece.

In ancient Greece, the Temple of Apollo was the location of the Oracle at Delphi, also known as the Pythia, a priestess who would prophesy and offer counsel to supplicants seeking answers to their questions. The Oracle spoke from the temple, located on the breathtakingly beautiful north slopes of Mount Parnassus. (Photo 1) The god Apollo himself was believed to speak through the Oracle.

Throughout the temple, various maxims—sayings of wisdom in that age and time—were carved on the pillars. (Photo 2) However, three of those maxims were carved in the temple’s forecourt, denoting their special significance, and are best remembered today. Visiting the Temple of Apollo and reflecting on those who came here to search for wisdom and understanding—and reflecting on my own search for wisdom and understanding—caused me to reflect on the Three Maxims again. Here they are, with my own thoughts.

1. KNOW THYSELF. I’m reminded how important it is to understand both my strengths and my weaknesses, what I’m capable of (both good and bad), and who I really am and what I stand for—both in the immediate world around me and in the bigger, eternal picture.

2. NOTHING TO EXCESS. I had great parents who made sure I learned the importance of not doing bad things. However, it took me longer in life (in fact, I’m still working on it) to learn that doing “good” things in excess, or at the wrong time, can sometimes be problematic as well. I remember with shame a time when a woman at a craft show was selling t-shirts with an obvious grammatical error on them, and I, the graduate student in English, felt that I should quietly point out that mistake to her. I’ll never forget her diminished, embarrassed expression. After that experience, I put up a sign in my office with a quotation that said, “Sometimes our greatest weakness is simply an overextension of our greatest strength.” I hope I took my own point.

3. SURETY BRINGS RUIN. Of all the three maxims, this seems to be the one with the most variation in translation. I’ve also seen it translated as “A pledge is calamity,” meaning “Don’t overcommit yourself to things you can’t deliver on.”

So, it could definitely have a double meaning—but I go with the first interpretation, which to me says: “Don’t be too sure of yourself.” We’re all wrong sometimes, and the very wisest people are those who know how little they know. In fact, the Oracle at Delphi herself once proclaimed that the very wisest man was…Socrates--not because he was wise, but because he understood the depths of his own ignorance.

So many lessons to ponder as I walked this stunning site today.

(Photo 3: George and I standing in front of the Sphinx that adorned one of the Temple colonnades.)