ΚΑΤΑ ΤΟÎ￾ ΔΑΙΜΟÎ￾Α ΕΑΥΤΟΥ

[ethopoeia]

ΚΑΤΑ ΤΟÎ￾ ΔΑΙΜΟÎ￾Α ΕΑΥΤΟΥ

I'd like to challenge the members of this forum to provide an exact translation for Jim Morrison's enigmatic epitaph at the Père-Lachaise cemetery in Paris-XX.

The short sentence in the bronze gravestone was written by his father, US Navy Admiral George S. Morrison. It accounts for a remarkable command of the Greek language and, unlike some dilettantes claim, it is written in a grammatically perfect Greek.

Some particularly oddball translations have pictured a demoniacal reference ("the one who fights his own demons", "he caused his own demons", "down with his own demons", "burnt by his demons") or overtly Satanic ("with the devil himself", "the devil within himself", etc.), surely due to a literal translation of the Greek δαιμων by its false friends 'demon' or 'devil', as used in modern English or post-Classical Greek.

Some better translations have managed to grasp the ancient meaning of the term relating it to 'spirit' ("to the divine spirit within himself", "the geniality in his mind", "true to his own spirit"), as used by Socrates or Plato, yet I believe they fail to convey the actual meaning intended by Jim's father with the idiomatic collocation κατα followed by the noun δαιμονα in accusative.

What is the exact translation of the sentence κατα τον δαιμονα εαυτου?

[Kasper]

Perhaps the genius of this phrase is the exact ambiguity you describe?

[Bert]

ΚΑΤΑ ΤΟÎ￾ ΔΑΙΜΟÎ￾Α ΕΑΥΤΟΥ

I'd like to challenge the members of this forum to provide an exact translation for Jim Morrison's enigmatic epitaph at the Père-Lachaise cemetery in Paris-XX.

Producing an exact tranlation is such a high order that it is doomed to failure. How about; He was his own man.

[annis]

By the grace of his own god.

?

[ethopoeia]

Yes, the mystery lies indeed in the term δαιμων. More concretely, in the meaning of the collocation κατα + δαιμονα (accusative).

Wikipedia gives as the exact translation "true to his own spirit", which is a nice, yet wrong translation. The most faithful interpretation I've found is "in accordance with his daemon", which successfully translates κατα as "according to", yet fails to unearth the meaning of δαιμων intended by Admiral Morrison.

The solution to the enigma must be the actual meaning of δαιμων preceded by κατα. Any idea?

[chad]

when i first heard about this inscription i wondered if, in addition to its literal meaning, it was an allusion to how the ancient grks used to write RIP, i.e. καταχθονίοις θεοῖς (abbrev ΚΘ) on gravestones I've seen in museums, i think that's the wording they used from memory, or maybe it was the other way round, ie ΘΚ...

[ThomasGR]

The best translations would be “faithful to his own spiritâ€￾ or (better?) “guided by his own spiritâ€￾. It’s more correct to use daemon, if daemon didn’t have other associations in our modern world. Such poetical stances are most difficult to translate from one language to another, either if it’s English or Greek. It puzzled me also the correct meaning of this sentence and what would be the best translation. I made my own search and the story goes that in the fourth century AD there was a philosophical school that claimed that with the birth of a person he got assigned a unique “daemonâ€￾ to guide him through his life and be his guard. You could live a happy life only if you “subdueâ€￾ yourself to your daemon completely.

[perispomenon]

actual meaning of δαιμων preceded by κατα.

In Homer daimonie can sometimes mean a self-willed person.

But I wouldn't dare say that 'will' or 'wish' is the actual meaning of δαιμων.

Found this in Middel Liddell: "kata daimona, nearly"

[ThomasGR]

the complete phrase is "Ï€Ï￾αττειν κατα τον δαιμονα εαυτου". I've read the story of neoplatonic school somewhere but cannot find it anymore.

[ethopoeia]

I don't think that κατα δαιμονα means 'nearly' in this sense. The determinate article τον makes me think rather of a particular daemon, which should be Morrison's ('εαυτου'), right? So we'd have that Morrison's death happened "according to his daemon", "after his daemon" or "pursuant to his daemon".

The sentence Ï€Ï￾αττειν κατα τον δαιμονα εαυτου makes a lot of sense, and I'd say the epitaph precisely paraphrases it. The meaning of Ï€Ï￾αττειν would be "to fulfill" or "to end", a verb commonly associated with death, right?

I made my own search and the story goes that in the fourth century AD there was a philosophical school that claimed that with the birth of a person he got assigned a unique “daemonâ€￾ to guide him through his life and be his guard.

I bet this is what we're after. What was the name of that School? And what did δαιμων mean to them?

[perispomenon]

Some better translations have managed to grasp the ancient meaning of the term relating it to 'spirit' ("to the divine spirit within himself", "the geniality in his mind", "true to his own spirit"), as used by Socrates or Plato, yet I believe they fail to convey the actual meaning intended by Jim's father with the idiomatic collocation κατα followed by the noun δαιμονα in accusative

Somehow the way you posed your question, I thought you had inside information on what his father intended and that you wanted to test us

After reading ThomasGR's posts, I think 'true to his own spirit' is a fine translation. What's your reason for thinking it should be something else?

[ethopoeia]

Somehow the way you posed your question, I thought you had inside information on what his father intended and that you wanted to test us.

Hahaha, you're right, Perispomenon. However, ThomasGR has introduced some interesting remarks -unnoticed to me until now- about the historical/philosophical background of the sentence. I just wanted to delve a little bit more into your erudition in search of more tiles of the puzzle...

As for the translation, I found the exact meaning of the collocation κατα δαιμονα in an old Greek-Spanish Dictionary I found in a flea market. That's why I was amazed to read Ï€Ï￾αττειν κατα τον δαιμονα εαυτου, because the verb (missing in the epitaph) matches to perfection the meaning of the sentence.

Most "translators" have wrongly assumed that the sentence was composed ad hoc by Admiral Morrison, and hence all those fantasizing translations about Jim's "devils", him being "true to his own spirit", etc. However, if the sentence is originally Greek, it is necessarily prior to Morrison. And, just like Venus means "Love" in Ovid, I'm convinced that δαιμων means something very different here. ThomasGR has mentioned Neoplatonism (?).

[perispomenon]

And, just like Venus means "Love" in Ovid, I'm convinced that δαιμων means something very different here. ThomasGR has mentioned Neoplatonism (?)

I found this where there is also a listing of ancient references.

[Arvid]

My knowledge of the Syntax of (at least Postclassical) Greek doesn't really qualify me to have an opinion on this issue, but here's the impression it makes on me, anyway:

Remember that by the time the later Greek philosophical schools were arising, nobody believed any more in the Three Fates, pulling the wool of your life from the skein and spinning it into a thread and then clipping it with shears. Instead, a lot of them believed that you were born with your own Guardian δαιμον (probably suggested by Socrates' δαιμον he said guided him throughout his life) that would figuratively whisper advice in your Inner Ear. I think they were divided over whether it was possible for a person to ignore this advice or act against it, though.

Couldn't a possible translation of Ï€Ï￾αττειν κατα τον δαιμονα εαυτου be something like: (Awkwardly phrased by necessity) "It all worked out as his (inborn) δαιμον decreed?" This only sounds fatalistic if you regard the person and his δαιμον as two separate entities; if you consider them to have been born together as parts of a corporate whole, a better translation might be: "He did it his way."

[ThomasGR]

ethopoeia, after such a long period of silence, I thnk, it's time to reveal us what that old Greek-Spanish dictionary has to tell. Don't keep me more under this spell.

[ethopoeia]

Excuse me guys, I've been off for some important appointments. Besides, you know us Spaniards, we always enjoy teasing and keeping that aura of mystery...

According to my Diccionario Griego-Español Pabón S. de Urbina (1967) κατα δαιμονα = según el destino, "according to destiny" (since everyone is assigned an immutable daemon at birth that will guide him/her for a lifetime).

I believe this is consistent with Ï€Ï￾αττειν κατα τον δαιμονα εαυτου, the Greek concept of αναγκη and the teachings of the Stoic school, which must have been particularly cherished by war hero, high-rank officer Admiral Morrison. What do you think?