Symposium
Plato's Symposium was a philosophical dialogue set at a drinking party where guests give speeches about Eros — including Aristophanes' myth that humans were once doubled beings split in two.
The Meaning of Symposium
At Agathon's symposium, each guest gave a speech about love. Aristophanes told the myth that humans were originally four-legged, four-armed beings with two faces. Zeus split them in half; ever since, each person seeks their missing other half. Socrates recounted the teaching of Diotima: love ascends from desire for a beautiful body to desire for beauty itself — the "Ladder of Love." Alcibiades burst in drunk and gave a passionate speech about his love for Socrates. The dialogue shaped Western ideas about love for over two thousand years.
Symbols
Fun Fact
Aristophanes' myth of split humans — seeking your "other half" — became one of the most influential metaphors for romantic love in Western culture.
Words We Inherited
English words and phrases that trace back to this myth. See our full guide to English words from Greek mythology.
Explore Further
Goddess of Love
💭 conceptLove, beauty, desire, fertility
Aphrodite governs romantic love and physical beauty, wielding an influence that even Zeus cannot resist.
Eros
💭 conceptPrimordial god of love and desire
In the oldest myths, Eros was a primordial force — one of the first beings to emerge from Chaos, the power that draws all things together. Later reimagined as Aphrodite's mischievous son.
Plato
💭 conceptPhilosophy, myth, forms
Athenian philosopher who both critiqued traditional myths and created powerful new ones in his dialogues
Eros and Psyche
💭 conceptNarrative
The love story between the god of desire and a mortal princess that became an allegory of the soul's journey
Symposium
💭 conceptRitualised drinking party
The symposium was the ritualised Greek drinking party where men reclined on couches, mixed wine with water, and engaged in conversation, poetry, music, and philosophical debate.
Ovid
💭 conceptPoetry, transformation, love
Roman poet whose Metamorphoses became the most influential retelling of Greek myth in Western culture
Agape
💭 conceptlove, selflessness
Selfless, unconditional love — the highest form of love in Greek philosophical and theological thought.
Republic
💭 conceptLiterature
Plato's philosophical dialogue exploring justice, the ideal state, and the nature of the soul
Eros
💭 conceptThe primordial force of desire that drives all creation
In Hesiod's cosmogony, Eros was not a cherub but a primordial force — the desire that compels all things to come together and create.
Epicureanism
💭 conceptPhilosophy
A Hellenistic school teaching that pleasure through modesty, knowledge, and friendship is the highest good
Narcissistic Personality
💭 conceptPsychology and mythology
A psychological condition characterised by grandiosity, need for admiration, and lack of empathy, named after Narcissus, the beautiful youth who fell in love with his own reflection
God of Love
💭 conceptLove, desire, attraction, passion
Eros wields a bow whose golden arrows ignite irresistible love and whose lead arrows cause revulsion.