Plato's Symposium

Issues in Interpretation and Reception

Edited by James H. Lesher

Edited by Debra Nails

Edited by Frisbee Sheffield

    List of Diagrams and Illustrations

    Acknowledgments

    Introduction

    Part I: The Symposium and Plato's Philosophy

    1. The Symposium as a Socratic Dialogue

    2. The Role of the Earlier Speeches in the Symposium: Plato's Endoxic Method?

    3. A Platonic Reading of Plato's Symposium

    Part II: Interpreting Plato's Symposium

    4. Medicine, Magic, and Religion in Plato's Symposium

    5. Permanent Beauty and Becoming Happy in Plato's Symposium

    6. A Study in Violets: Alcibiades in the Symposium

    7. Where is Socrates on the "Ladder of Love"?

    8. Tragedy Off-Stage

    9. The Virtues of Platonic Love

    Part III: The Symposium, Sex, and Gender

    10. Agathon, Pausanias, and Diotima in Plato's Symposium

    11. Female Imagery in Plato

    12. Plato in the Courtroom: The Surprising Influence of the Symposium

    Part IV: Plato's Symposium and the Traditions of Ancient Fiction

    14. Some Notable Afterimages of Plato's Symposium

    15. The Hangover of Plato's Symposium in the Italian Renaissance from Bruni (1435) to Castiglione (1528)

    16. Platonic Selves in Shelley and Stevens

    The Contributors

    Works Cited

    Index of Passages

    General Index

  • Cover: Plato's <i>Symposium</i>

James H. Lesher is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Maryland.

Debra Nalls is Professor of Philosophy at Michigan State University.

Frisbee Sheffield is Research Fellow in Classics at Cambridge University.