Myson Statue

Myson is accounted as one of the Seven Sages of antiquity. History might have refused him the honour of being among the original Seven, but the priests of Delphi proclaimed him far wiser in his depth of mind than any other.

The two most common substitutions were to exchange Periander or Anacharsis for Myson as the seventh wise man.

According to Sosicrates, Myson was the son of Strymon, born in Chenae, a village in Oeta or Lakonia. It is said that his father was a tyrrant.

It is said that when Anacharsis consulted The Oracle of Delphi, it proclaimed Myson the wisest of all men: "Myson of Chen in Oeta; this is he who for wiseheartedness surpasses thee;"

According to others the reference from the Oracle is sometimes read as "Etea" instead, which may have been in Laconia, according to Parmenides or else in Eastern Crete and modern city of Sitia, according to Euthyphro.

Myson is described as a sage of an rather obscure and sour character. Once asked why he was laughing, since no one was near, he replied “That’s just the reason.”

He was often heard to say that men ought not to investigate facts by the light of arguments, but arguments by the light of facts; for the facts were not put together to fit the arguments, but the arguments to fit the facts.

Source: "Οι Επτά Σοφοί" published by Zitros

Edited and translated by: Yallou