Kairos
conceptKairos was the concept of the perfect, fleeting moment of opportunity — distinct from chronos (sequential time), kairos is the critical instant that must be seized.
The Myth
The Greeks had two words for time: Chronos (sequential, measured time) and Kairos (the right or opportune moment). Kairos was personified as a young man with a forelock but bald behind — you could seize him as he approached but not after he passed. The concept was central to rhetoric (when to speak), warfare (when to attack), and medicine (when to intervene). Hippocrates wrote: "Time is that wherein there is opportunity, and opportunity is that wherein there is not much time."
Symbols
Fun Fact
The Christian theological concept of kairos — God's appointed time — derives directly from this Greek idea of the opportune moment.
Words We Inherited
English words and phrases that trace back to this myth:
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