The Symposium

Plato (Πλάτων) (c. 428 BCE - c. 347 BCE)
Translated by Benjamin Jowett (1817 - 1893)

The Symposium (Ancient Greek: Συμπόσιον) is a philosophical book written by Plato sometime after 385 BCE. On one level the book deals with the genealogy, nature and purpose of love, on another level the book deals with the topic of knowledge, specifically how does one know what one knows. The topic of love is taken up in the form of a group of speeches, given by a group of men at a symposium or a wine drinking party at the house of the tragedian Agathon at Athens. Plato constructed the Symposium as a story within a story within a story. This architecture creates the space for Plato to build his philosophy of knowledge. The speech of Socrates points out that the highest purpose of Love is to become a Philosopher, or Lover of Wisdom. (Summary from Wikipedia)

Genre(s): Classics (Greek & Latin Antiquity), Ancient

Language: English

Section Chapter Reader Time
Play 01 1 - Symposium Geoffrey Edwards
00:34:37
Play 02 2 - Symposium Geoffrey Edwards
00:41:01
Play 03 3 - Symposium Geoffrey Edwards
00:59:28