Plato: Symposium

An edition of Plato's Symposium for students of Greek in universities and the upper forms of schools.

Plato (Author), K. J. Dover (Edited by)

9780521295239, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 28 February 1980

196 pages
18.7 x 12.5 x 1.8 cm, 0.216 kg

'This is a tight-packed, authoritative, but readable edition.' J.A.C.T. Bulletin

Plato's Symposium is the most literary of all his works and one which all students of classics are likely to want to read whether or not they are studying Plato's philosophy. But the reader does need help in appreciating both the artistry and the arguments, and in comprehending the social and cultural background against which the 'praise of love' is delivered. Sir Kenneth Dover provides here a sympathetic and modern edition of the kind that is long overdue. It consists of an introduction, the Greek text accompanied by a very abbreviated critical apparatus, and a commentary on the text which is intended to elucidate the Greek, to make the philosophical argument intelligible, and to relate the content of what is said to the concepts and assumptions of contemporary morality and society. An edition for students of Greek in universities and the upper forms of schools.

Preface
Abbreviations
Introduction: 1. Eros
2. Homosexuality
3. Philosophy
4. Historical basis
5. Date of composition
6. Symposia
7. Encomia
8. Textual transmission
9. Bibliography
The Symposium
Commentary
Indexes to the introduction and commentary
Appendix 1. Disagreements with Burnet's edition
Appendix 2. Proper names
Appendix 3. Greek words
Appendix 4. General.

Subject Areas: Literary studies: classical, early & medieval [DSBB]