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Secondary sourceBookc. 385-370 BC

Symposium

Plato · c. 385-370 BC

Plato's dialogue depicting a banquet of speeches on love, ending with Alcibiades' vivid description of Socrates' courage, trances and unusual appearance.

Contains Alcibiades' famous eulogy describing Socrates' courage, endurance and distinctive appearance.

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Scanned page numbered 239 from an early printed Greek edition, with Greek text in black type, a centered title line reading 'Symposion' in capitals with a dialogue list of characters beneath, and a running header 'Philebos' at top.
Plato, Symposium, c. 385-370 BC. Page from the editio princeps, Venice, 1513.

About this source

What it is

The Symposium is a dialogue written by Plato around 385-370 BC. It portrays a banquet in Athens where guests, including Socrates, the general Alcibiades and the playwright Aristophanes, each give a speech in praise of Eros, the god of love.

Why it matters

Though the characters are historical, the work is not a record of real events but a philosophical composition by Plato. Its final section, Alcibiades' eulogy, gives one of the most vivid portraits of Socrates we have: his endurance as a soldier at Potidaea, his habit of falling into long trances, and his unusual, Silenus-like looks. These details shaped how later generations imagined Socrates.

Look closer

  • Since Plato wrote this years after the events it describes, how should that affect how we trust its details about Socrates?
  • Why might Plato have chosen Alcibiades, a famous and controversial figure, to deliver the final praise of Socrates?
  • What does the description of Socrates' appearance and behavior add to the philosophical argument of the dialogue?

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Line Engraving of Socrates by Landon

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Socrates Engraving after Rubens by Pontius

Peter Paul Rubens · 1638

Black-and-white photograph of a white marble bust of a bearded man, shown from the front and slightly turned, with deep-set eyes, a curly beard and hair, against a dark background. The image is a glass lantern slide with labels reading Socrate and Université de Louvain.Photograph

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Roman Marble Bust of Socrates

between 1839 and 1939

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