Ancient

Eannatum

-2500–-2424

"The Vulture Stele. A complete description and translation."

🇪🇬Ptahhotep

Literature

-2450–-2400

"Truth is great and its effectiveness endures."

Ishbi-Erra

-2100–-1984

"May An, Enlil and Enki, who have loved Ibbi-Suen from the womb, look upon him approvingly."

Ibbi-Sin

Politics

b. -2050

"Now Enlil, my helper, has made the Martu rise from their mountain lands. They will repel Elam and seize Icbi-Erra. To regain the Land will indeed make our might known in all the foreign lands."

"My splendour covers the Land . And as for you, your heroism and strength."

Ishme-Dagan

-2000–-1934

"May Ninurta look upon Icme-Dagan with a life-giving gaze!"

Hammurabi

Politics

-1809–-1749

"Laws of justice which Hammurabi, the wise king, established."

🏛️Akhenaten

-1400–-1335

"Belief Of Akhenaten - The introduction of a New Note into the Religious Thought of the World"

Yajnavalkya

Science

-800–-700

"One should indeed see, hear, understand and meditate over the Self, O Maitreyi; indeed, he who has seen, heard, reflected and understood the Self – by him alone the whole world comes to be known."

Hesiod

Literature

b. -775

"Invite the man that loves thee to a feast, but let alone thine enemy."

Sennacherib

-744–-680

"himself, like a caged bird, I shut up in Jerusalem, his royal city."

Periander

Medicine

-700–-584

"Punish not only those who do wrong, but those who intend to do so."

🏛️Mimnermus

Literature

-669–-600

"We are all clever enough at envying a famous man while he is yet alive, and at praising him when he is dead."

🏛️Sappho

Literature

-650–-569

"Virginity, virginity, when you leave me, where do you go?"

Pittacus of Mytilene

Politics

-650–-570

"Do not say before hand what you are going to do; for if you fail, you will be laughed at."

🇮🇷Zoroaster

Literature

-627–-550

"A reflective, contented mind is the best possession."

🏛️Aesop

Literature

-619–-563

"The fly sat upon the axel-tree of the chariot-wheel and said, 'What a dust do I raise!'"

Anaximander

Philosophy

Pre-Socratic philosophy

-609–-545

"The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy - Anaximander"

"The woman who goes to bed with a man must put off her modesty with her petticoat, and put it on again with the same."

🇬🇷Bias of Priene

Law

-599–-529

"Choose the course which you adopt with deliberation; but when you have adopted it, then persevere in it with firmness."

Chilon of Sparta

Politics

-599–-519

"To rule one’s tongue, especially at a banquet, and not to speak ill of one’s neighbors; for if one does so one is sure to hear what one will not like."

Cyrus the Great

Politics

-599–-529

"Cyropaedia : The Education of Cyrus, by Xenophon, as translated by Henry Graham Dakyns and revised by F.M. Stawell"

Croesus

Politics

b. -595

"In peace the sons bury their fathers, but in war the fathers bury their sons."

Laozi

Literature

Confucianism

-579–-500

"A "plain English" online interpolation of Chapters 1–37 by the Universal Dialectic Institute: Tao: The Way of Nature"

Pythagoras

Mathematics

-570–-495

"Pythagoras and Pythagoreanism, The Catholic Encyclopedia"

🇬🇷Theognis of Megara

Literature

-569–-484

"Bright youth passes swiftly as a thought."

🇬🇷Xenophanes

Philosophy

Pre-Socratic philosophy

-569–-477

"Xenophanes of Colophon" by Giannis Stamatellos"

🏛️Anacreon

Literature

-569–-484

"I fled the headless darts of slanderous tongue."

Gautama Buddha

Philosophy

Buddhism

-563–-483

"Be content with our state of being. If we are not satisfied with our state of being we will be slaves to the five desires which stem from the five senses."

🇬🇷Simonides of Ceos

Business

-555–-468

"Simonides, Elegies: second century AD Photos of fragments"

Confucius

Philosophy

Confucianism

-550–-478

"Follow the seasons of Ha,Ride in the state carriage of Yau,Wear the ceremonial cap of Chan,Let the music be the Shiu with its pantomimes."

"May Ahuramazda bear me aid, with the gods of the royal house; and may Ahuramazda protect this country from a army, from famine, from the Lie!"

🇨🇳Sun Tzu

Literature

-544–-496

"In war, numbers alone confer no advantage. Do not advance relying on sheer military power."

🇬🇷Epicharmus of Kos

Philosophy

Old Comedy

-539–-447

"I have no desire to die, but I count my death as nothing."

🏛️Heraclitus

Philosophy

http://www.wikidata.org/.well-known/genid/5292bf4397a31af9f202c33fbdd9dd90

-535–-475

"# Time is a game played beautifully by children."

Aeschylus

Education

-524–-455

"Death is better, a milder fate than tyranny."

Pindar

Literature

-516–-436

"Pythian 3, translated by Frank J. Nisetich"

🇬🇷Parmenides

Philosophy

Pre-Socratic philosophy

-514–-469

"There is one story left, one road: that it is. And on this road there are very many signs that, being, is uncreated and imperishable, whole, unique, unwavering, and complete."

Thucydides

Literature

-500–-420

"In a democracy . . . someone who fails to get elected to office can always console himself with the thought that there was something not quite fair about it."