Editing Wisdom (section)

===In mythology===
==== Mesopotamian mythology ====
In [[Mesopotamian mythology|Mesopotamian religion and mythology]], [[Enki]], also known as Ea, was the god of wisdom and intelligence. Divine wisdom allowed {{clarify|reason=who is designating? what is functioning? what makes a designation providential?|text=the provident designation of functions|date=August 2023}} and the ordering of the cosmos, and it{{ambiguous|reason=what is "it"? the wisdom? the designation?|date=August 2023}} was achieved by humans by following {{transliteration|sux|[[Me (mythology)|me]]}}s (in [[Sumerian language|Sumerian]]: order, rite, righteousness) which maintain balance.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/pdfy-OBb9_axzoPvTFsq4|title=The God Enki in Sumerian Royal Ideology and Mythology|last=Espak|first=Peeter|publisher=Tartu University Press|year=2014|series=Dissertationes Theologiae Universitatis Tartuensis|volume=19|location=Tartu|isbn=9789949195220}}</ref> In addition to [[Sumerian religion|hymns to Enki or Ea]] dating from [[3rd millennium BC|{{BCE|the third millennium}}]], there is among the [[clay tablet]]s of [[Abu Salabikh]] from {{BCE|2600}} (the oldest dated texts), a "Hymn to [[Utu|Shamash]]" which includes the following:<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Bonechi|first=Marco|year=2016|title=87) The Pregnant Woman in the Archaic Hymn to Shamash of Sippar|url=http://sepoa.fr/wp/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/NABU-2016-4-DEF.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190801055234/http://sepoa.fr/wp/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/NABU-2016-4-DEF.pdf |archive-date=1 August 2019 |url-status=live|journal=Nouvelles Assyriologiques Brèves et Utilitaires |issue=4 |pages=147–150}}</ref>

{{blockquote|Wide is the courtyard of Shamash night chamber, (just as wide is the womb of) a wise pregnant woman! [[Sin (mythology)|Sin]], his warrior, wise one, heard of the offerings and came down to his fiesta. He is the father of the nation and the father of intelligence}}

==== Egyptian mythology ====
{{Main|Egyptian mythology}}
{{Further|Sia (god)|Thoth}}

Sia was the personification of perception and thoughtfulness in the mythology of [[Ancient Egypt]]. Thoth, married to [[Maat]] (in [[Egyptian language|ancient Egyptian]]: order, righteousness, truth), was regarded as the being who introduced wisdom to the nation.<ref>{{cite web|first=Joshua J.|last=Mark|date=14 April 2016|url=https://www.worldhistory.org/article/885/egyptian-gods---the-complete-list/|title=Egyptian Gods – The Complete List|website=[[World History Encyclopedia]]|access-date=29 January 2019}}</ref><ref name="Uždavinys-2008" />

The concept of [[Logos]]{{snd}}manifest word of the divine thought{{snd}}was also present in the [[Ancient Egyptian religion|philosophy and hymns of Egypt]] and [[Ancient Greek philosophy|Ancient Greece]].<ref name="Uždavinys-2008">{{cite book|last=Uždavinys|first=Algis|title=Philosophy as a Rite of Rebirth: From Ancient Egypt to Neoplatonism|publisher=The Prometheus Trust|year=2008|isbn=9781898910350|url=https://themathesontrust.org/publications-files/MTexcerpt-PhilosophyRebirth.pdf}}</ref> It was important in the thinking of [[Heraclitus]], and in the [[Abrahamic religions|Abrahamic traditions]]. It seems to have been derived from Mesopotamian culture.<ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://www.academia.edu/6411568|title=Mesopotamian precursors to the Stoic concept of logic|last=Lawson, Jack Newton.|journal=Melammu Symposia 2. Myth and Mythologies: Methodological Approaches to Intercultural Influences|year=2001|publisher=[Melammu Project]|oclc=714111111}}</ref>

==== Greek mythology ====
===== Athena and metis =====
{{Main|Athena|Metis (mythology)}}

{{Blockquote
|text=[[Athena]] (as Mentor) supported [[Telemachus|him]] by recognizing and fostering [[courage]], [[hope]], sense, bravery, and adeptness (Homer, trans. 1996, p. 102).<ref>{{cite journal
| last1 = Carol
| first1 = Sommer
| last2 = Markopoulos 
| first2 = Panagiotis
| last3 = Goggins
| first3 =Shana
| date = 2013
| title = Mentoring master's level students: Drawing upon the wisdom of Athena as Mentor in Homer's Odyssey
| url = http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/08893675.2013.764049
| journal = Journal of Poetry Therapy
| volume = 26
| issue = 1
| pages = 1–12
| doi = 10.1080/08893675.2013.764049
| access-date = 25 July 2024
| quote = [R]eference to Athena within the context of mentoring is not new (Roberts, 2000; Sambunjak & Marusic, 2009) [...] Athena appears in the guise of an old friend of Odysseus, whose name happens to be Mentor. She offers aid and advice to the young Telemachus. [...] In relationship to Telemachus, Athena (as Mentor) supported him by recognizing and fostering courage, hope, sense, bravery, and adeptness (Homer, trans. 1996, p. 102).| url-access = subscription
}}</ref>
|author=Sommer}}

The [[ancient Greeks]] considered wisdom to be an important [[virtue]], [[personified]] as the [[goddess]]es Metis and Athena. Metis was the first wife of [[Zeus]], who, according to [[Hesiod]]'s [[Theogony]], had devoured her pregnant; Zeus earned the title of Mêtieta ("The Wise Counselor") after that, as Metis was the embodiment of wisdom, and he gave birth to Athena, who is said to have sprung from his head.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theoi.com/Titan/TitanisMetis.html|title=METIS – Greek Titan Goddess of Wise Counsel|website=Theoi Project|access-date=17 August 2019}}</ref><ref>[[Hesiod]]. ''Theogony''.</ref> Athena was portrayed as strong, fair, merciful, and chaste.<ref>{{cite web|last=Turnbill|first=Liz|date=12 August 2011|title=Athena, Greek goddess of wisdom and craftsmanship|url=https://goddessgift.com/goddesses/athena/|website=Goddess Gift}}</ref>

===== Apollo =====
{{Main|Apollo}}

Apollo was also considered a god of wisdom, designated as the conductor of the [[Muses]] (''Musagetes''),<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theoi.com/Ouranios/Mousai.html|title=MOUSAI – Greek Goddesses of Music, Poetry & the Arts|website=Theoi Project|access-date=17 August 2019}}</ref> who were personifications of the sciences and of the inspired and poetic arts. According to [[Plato]] in his ''[[Cratylus (dialogue)|Cratylus]]'', the name of Apollo could also mean "{{transliteration|grc|ballon}}" (archer) and "{{transliteration|grc|omopoulon}}" (unifier of poles [divine and earthly]), since this god was responsible for divine and true inspirations, thus considered an archer who was always right in healing and oracles: "he is an ever-darting archer".<ref>{{cite book|author=[[Plato]]|title=[[Cratylus (dialogue)|Cratylus]]|at=[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0172%3Atext%3DCrat.%3Apage%3D406 405e–406a]}}</ref> Apollo prophesied through the priestesses ([[Pythia]]) in the [[Temple of Apollo (Delphi)]], where the aphorism "[[know thyself]]" ({{transliteration|grc|gnōthi seauton}}){{Efn|1=[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0176:text%3DCharm.:section%3D165a Critias states the meaning of "know thyself" in Plato's ''Charmides'' (165a)] |name=|group=}} was inscribed (one of the [[Delphic maxims]]).<ref>{{cite book|last=Scott|first=Michael|title=Delphi: A History of the Center of the Ancient World|publisher=Princeton University Press}}</ref> He was contrasted with [[Hermes]], who was related to the sciences and technical wisdom, and, in the first centuries after Christ, was associated with [[Thoth]] in an [[Ancient Egyptian religion|Egyptian syncretism]], under the name [[Hermes Trismegistus|Hermes Trimegistus]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Preus|first=Anthony|date=30 March 1998|title=Thoth and Apollo. Greek Myths of the Origin of Philosophy|journal=Méthexis|volume=11|issue=1|pages=113–125|doi=10.1163/24680974-90000303|issn=0327-0289}}</ref> Greek tradition recorded the earliest introducers of wisdom in the [[Seven Sages of Greece]].<ref>{{cite book|first=Alan H.|last=Griffiths|chapter=Seven Sages|title=Oxford Classical Dictionary|date=29 January 2024 |url=https://archive.org/details/oxfordclassicald0000unse_w0c8|url-access=registration|editor-first1=Simon|editor-last1=Hornblower|editor-first2=Antony|editor-last2=Spawforth|editor-first3=Esther|editor-last3=Eidinow|edition=4th|publisher=Oxford University Press|page=[https://archive.org/details/oxfordclassicald0000unse_w0c8/page/1357/mode/1up 1357]}}</ref>

==== Roman mythology ====
{{Main|Roman mythology}}

The [[ancient Romans]] also valued wisdom, which was personified as [[Minerva]] or Pallas. She also represents skillful knowledge and the virtues, especially chastity. Her symbol was the [[owl#Symbolism and mythology|owl]], which is still a popular representation of wisdom, because it can see in darkness. She was said to have been born from Jupiter's forehead.<ref>{{cite web|title=Myths about Roman Goddess Minerva|url=http://www.roman-colosseum.info/roman-gods/myths-about-the-roman-goddess-minerva.htm|url-status=usurped|website=Roman-colosseum.info|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120626062447/http://www.roman-colosseum.info/roman-gods/myths-about-the-roman-goddess-minerva.htm|archive-date=26 June 2012}}</ref>

==== Norse mythology ====
{{Main|Norse mythology}}
{{Further|Odin|Mimir}}

Odin is known for his wisdom, often as acquired through various hardships and ordeals involving pain and self-sacrifice. In one instance he plucked out an eye and offered it to Mímir, guardian of the well of knowledge and wisdom, in return for a drink from the well.<ref name="Sturluson-1987">{{cite book|translator-last=Faulkes|translator-first=Anthony|editor-last=Faulkes|editor-first=Anthony|year=1987|title=[[Prose Edda|Edda]]|first=Snorri|last=Sturluson|author-link=Snorri Sturluson|publisher=[[Everyman's Library]]|isbn=0-460-87616-3}}</ref>
In another famous account, Odin hanged himself for nine nights from [[Yggdrasil]], the [[World Tree]] that unites all the [[Norse cosmology|realms of existence]], suffering from hunger and thirst and finally wounding himself with a spear until he gained the knowledge of [[runic alphabet|runes]] for use in casting powerful [[magic (paranormal)|magic]].<ref>{{cite book|editor-last=Larrington|editor-first=Carolyne|translator-last=Larrington|translator-first=Carolyne|year=1996|title=[[Poetic Edda]]|first=Snorri|last=Sturluson|author-link=Snorri Sturluson|publisher=[[Oxford World's Classics]]|isbn=0-19-283946-2}}</ref> He was also able to acquire the [[mead of poetry]] from the [[Jötunn|giants]], a drink of which could grant the power of a scholar or [[skald|poet]], for the benefit of [[Æsir|gods]] and mortals alike.<ref name="Sturluson-1987"/>