Anacharsis: the atypical wisdom of the judicious stranger
Resumo
The Scythian Anacharsis is one of the figures that constituted the most
stable nucleus of the group of the Seven Sages. The inclusion of this “barbarian”
not only constitutes, as early as Herodotus, a significant mark of impartiality in
the treatment of personalities outside Greek space, but it also makes it possible to
criticize certain aspects of Greek culture through the eyes of a foreigner who was not
yet contaminated by certain vices of civilization. This study proposes to analyze the
way Plutarch uses the image of this representative of an “alternative” sophia, which he
mentions about twenty times in his work, but with a particular intensity in the Septem
sapientium convivium and in the biography of Solon.