22/02/2025
King Croesus was so rich that he believed he was also the happiest man in the world. Such arrogance was considered hubris in ancient Greece, however.
His fame had made him well known in Greece and other parts of the world of the time. Myth has it that philosophers traveled from Greece to Sardis to meet the famous man.
Croesus entertained the Greek wise man and made it a point to show off his riches. Knowing that Solon had traveled the world and had met many people, he asked him:
“Who is the happiest man you’ve seen?”
The Lydian king expected Solon to name him as the happiest man he had come to know After all, he felt he was the wealthiest and happiest.
He was surprised when the Athenian did not say it was Croesus. Most likely he was a bit irritated as well.
Solon told king Croesus three stories of men who were the happiest, according to his own standards.
The first was about an unknown man by the name of Tellus. Solon considered Tellus the happiest man he had ever known, because he lived in a well-governed country, had virtuous sons with good children of their own and at the end, he died valiantly in battle.
The second man Solon considered the happiest in the world was Aglaus. The man spent all his life happily living on his farm without ever feeling the need to leave it. And that is where he died, admired by his friends and surrounded by his loving family.
The third happiest men were Cleobis and Biton, two youths of a wealthy family who, one day, after the oxen of their mother Cydippe went missing, yoked themselves to the cart and drove their mother for five miles to the temple of Hera. After that, everyone fondly remembered the two young men for their strength and devotion.
Then, Croesus asked Solon why he thought him less happy than those ordinary men.
Solon explained to him that while a man was still alive, he was subject to the whims of the gods, and suffered both good and bad luck. Solon explained that wealth is no guarantee for happiness. Instead, only the man who enjoyed good fortune for much of his life and died peacefully and honorably, had been truly happy.
"Count no man happy until the end is known.” Or “Μηδένα προ του τέλους μακάριζε” in Greek.
It was later that King Croesus found the true meaning of Solon’s words. There are several recounts of his fate, all of them clearly not as happy as he had expected.
First, he lost his favorite of his two sons in a hunting accident. Then he saw the mighty Persian empire army under Cyrus II the Great coming to conquer Lydia.
When he was tied to the pyre, he started screaming the name of Solon, exclaiming how right the Athenian had been.When Cyrus heard his cries, he asked who was the man whose name Croesus was calling. He ordered his men to untie him and the Lydian recounted his meeting with Solon and what he had told him: “Count no man happy until the end is known.”
Impressed by the story, Cyrus let Croesus live and the two men became friends.
● Croesus on the Funeral Pyre, red-figure amphora, c. 480 BC Attic Greek, attributed to Myson.
Museum: Paris, Louvre.
Im looking forward to seeing you soon in Greece, and as a team to learn,discover and travel Σισμανίδου Ελένη
