“Know yourself”, are what the two Greek words engraved on this pendant mean. The sentence, which would be pronounced like “Gnothi seauton”, can be attributed to the Seven Sages of Greece and appeared on the Temple of Apollo in Delphi for centuries.
I wanted to make this pendant with this aphorism because I think it’s a wonderful expression of the progress made in Ancient Greece, to whom we owe so much. People in the 5th century BC would journey to Delphi seeking knowledge and answers through the Oracle. And the first thing they’d see would be this saying, carved in the stone, which would tell them that the answers they were seeking were inside of them. We cannot know what surrounds us if we don’t first know ourselves inside.
The pendant has a second meaning. I gave it the shape of a Greek warrior’s shield, a type of shield called “dipylon”, to symbolize that knowledge protects and saves us.
And there is a third meaning that I like a lot: the enormous shields that the hoplite soldiers brandished were essential for their great victories on the battlefield, since their size protected whoever carried them and also protected the side of the soldier next to them. That’s why Greek military formations were very closely pressed together and they fought side by side, protecting one another.
In a nutshell, I think this ancient piece of advice, ΓΝΩΘΙ ΣΕΑΥΤΟΝ, is very good, because the more you know yourself, the wiser you are, and that’s not only good for you, it’s good for those around you.
All of this is symbolized in this piece, which I designed to be a gift for a young person, for example for their 18th birthday. But the truth is that it works for someone of any age, because the road to Delphi lasts our whole lives, don’t you think?
See the pendant on the website: Delphi Pendant
