Plato's SymposiumOxford Approaches to Classical Literature (Series Editors: Kathleen Coleman and Richard Rutherford) introduces individual works of Greek and Latin literature to readers who are approaching them for the first time. Each volume sets the work in its literary and historical context, and aims to offer a balanced and engaging assessment of its content, artistry, and purpose. A brief survey of the influence of the work upon subsequent generations is included to demonstrate its enduring relevance and power. All quotations from the original are translated into English. Plato's Symposium tells of a dinner party at a crucial point in Athenian history at which the guests decide that they will each in turn deliver a speech in praise of love. The humorous and brilliant work that follows points the way towards all Western thinking about love. The Symposium is also one of Plato's most sophisticated meditations on the practice of philosophy. This book introduces the literary and historical context of Plato's work, surveys and explains the arguments, and considers why Plato has cast this work in a highly unusual narrative form. A final chapter traces the influence of the Symposium from antiquity to the modern day. |
Contents
1 Setting the Scene | 3 |
2 Erôs before Socrates | 38 |
3 The Love of Socrates | 78 |
4 The Morning After | 113 |
Bibliography and Further Reading | 137 |
| 145 | |
| 147 | |
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Common terms and phrases
Agathon Alcibiades already Aphrodite Apollodorus apparently argument Aristodemus Aristophanes Athenian Athens beautiful become birth body century certainly characters claims classical clear close comic concerned course desire dialogue Diotima’s discussion encomium erastês erômenos erôs Eryximachus example fact follows give gods going Greek guests human idea important interest interpretation kind knowledge lack language later least less living look lover meaning mind moreover myth narrative nature never offers opening particular Pausanias Pausanias’s performance perhaps person Phaedrus philosophical physical Plato play pleasure poet poetry practice praise present question readers reading relations rhetorical role seems seen sense sexual share Socrates soul speech story suggest Symposium sympotic tell things thought tion trans truth turns understanding virtue whereas whole wisdom wish women young