Alcibiades' Symposium

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