Delphi

The sacred center of the Greek world, built on the slopes of Parnassus, where the Pythia spoke for Apollo and cities from Spain to the Black Sea kept treasuries. Two maxims carved at the temple, Know Thyself and Nothing in Excess, became philosophy's first commandments. It was here the oracle declared that no one was wiser than Socrates, the riddle that set his questioning life in motion.

Delphi was built on a shelf of Mount Parnassus above a steep valley, and the Greeks took it for the center of the world. States kept treasuries here and consulted the oracle before founding colonies or starting wars. Carved at the temple entrance were the maxims know thyself and nothing in excess, which philosophers quoted for the next thousand years. When Chaerephon asked whether anyone was wiser than Socrates and was told no, Socrates treated the answer as a puzzle to be investigated rather than a compliment to be enjoyed.