#platos symposium

[whatifwekilledgodandwebothgirls]

Alcibiades going " uh yeah and then we shared a tent and then we ... uhh no i shan't say" like a little school girl probably kicking his feet and blushing while the rest of the group probably giggled like little girls at a sleepover and the fucking author had the guts to go " yeah he didnt continue narrating because no man who didnt trully expirience loving socrates first hand deserved to know , no one deserved to share those memories with them besides themselves " like sir . Sir calm down . Sir

[a-gay-a-day]

Plato's Symposium

From whether or not Achilles topped to an army comprised solely of gay lovers to whether gay love is more pure than heterosexual love, Plato's symposium is full of interesting information. There are three main points that I would like to discuss in relation to the symposium.

In the symposium, Plato states that he believes Patroclus was the lover, or the Erastes, and Achilles was the beloved, or the Eromenos. These terms are indicative of who took the active role, or the penetrative role in sex. The Erastes would be the penetrative partner, and Plato talks extensively about how Patroclus was the lover, despite what Aeschylus may have written in his plays.

Plato speaks about the sacred band of Thebes, which is a group of gay lovers comprised of around 500 men, all erastai and eromenoi. While it is debated whether or not this band actually existed, Plato argues that armies should all be made up of gay lovers, because it keeps their mind on battle.

Plato also says that the love between men, or platonic love, is more pure than love between a man and a woman, because a woman cannot feel such deep amounts of love. While men share love, women, in his opinion, only have lust to offer. (He does explicitly state that platonic love can involve kissing, sex, and caressing of the body.)

[artthatgivesmefeelings]

Anselm Feuerbach (German, 1829-1880) Plato's Symposium, Detail, 1869

[kebriones]

Good ol' Symposium Alcibiades sketch

[thedarkmongoose]

yeah, these two faces totally say “platonic relationship”

[becauseitwasi]

insane man insane

[peapodd]

You gotta love Ancient Greek philosophy

[discoursets]

— red blue dilapidated study space — ⋆˙

[faustandfurious]

Okay let’s settle this once and for all

[whatifwekilledgodandwebothgirls]

Baby girl( dead author from 1930). Babygirl whatcha doing over there . Baby girl whatcha doing with that homoerotic description of alcibiades. Babygirl you have anything to share with the class

[(Very loose translation) firstly , he( plato) lets us try the charm of alcibiades , not by describing him , but by repositioning the reader into the souls of the attendants of the symposium. Presented in their doorstep , the beutiful one , leaning against the fluteplayer and his followers , with untidy clothing , with ivy wreath and flower adorned his beutiful thick hair , a pleathra of ribbons on his hair , beutiful at the peak of his manly beuty, twice as beutiful from the blush of wine, which gives his face a glow and a flame in his eyes - as if dionisus in person - he concurs the companionship imidietly bewitching their sight and their spirits ]

[kaleb-is-definitely-sane]

I feel so bad for everyone who decided to read the Iliad after reading Plato, Shakespeare or Madeline Miller because... they lied to yall lol

[artthatgivesmefeelings]

Anselm Feuerbach (German, 1829-1880) Plato's Symposium, Detail, 1869

[intermundia]

before ppl follow me on here i need them to know two things: the first is that ive spent the last three years studying the prequels with approximately the same amount of fervor as i studied ancient greek and latin to get my degree, and the second is that the motivating factor to all this is because i wholeheartedly believe that obi-wan and anakin need to fuck raw about it athenian style

[kebriones]

day 389 of being normal about the symposium

[strugglingclassicist]

like every single time.... be it the full plot or sections or conversations and thoughts of the character - Plato is hiding between the lines

[philosophors]

“No one is so cowardly that Love could not inspire him to heroism.”

— Plato, “Symposium”