Plato's "Symposium"
For a typical "night out"
in 4th cent BCE Greece, Agathon has summoned his guy pals
to "sit together" (sym-posium) to discuss the nature
of Love. The guests give various theories, each according to his
nature and profession. Eryximachus expounds the latest
medical explanation. Aristophanes presents a fanciful
allegory of the origin of humans as three sexes. Socrates engages
the others in a series of dialogues on the nature of Love and
Beauty. All goes more or less okay, until a drunken Alcibiades
[carrying a laurel, far left], a former protege of Socrates [next
left, flanked by Agathon], crashes the party to demand why
Socrates has never consented to a relationship. The author
cautions that three kraters (~ kegs) should be enough for any such
gathering, and that more will get everybody into trouble.
The events of the Symposium were
recorded by Plato. Listen to Leonard Bernstein's "Serenade"
for a musical recreation of this most famous Symposium.
All text material © 2021 by Steven M. Carr