Chapter One. Solon’s Life

Along with Thales, Pittacus and Bias, Solon consistently appears on the highly variable lists of the Seven Sages. Solon possessed all of the typical characteristics of the archaic sage to the utmost degree: in particular, his work as a poet is likely the most genuine poetic activity of the Sages, while one might easily suppose that verses ascribed to others of the Seven Sages are legendary reconstructions. It seems that Solon was one of the most clearly drawn and well-documented figures of the canon of the Sages, and may have played a leading role in constructing the other members of this very canon. Both the poem and Herodotus represent Solon as someone who perceives life as admitting of quantitative measure. Solon famously opposed both types of riches described in this text-abundant wealth and that which consists in only having whatever is needed in everyday life-paradoxically equating them to each other. Keywords:Herodotus; Sage; Solon

Art · Epistemology · Equating · Everyday life · Linguistics · Literature · Poetry · Reading (process) · Classical Antiquity Studies · Classics · Philosophy