Plato's Symposium Addressing the Origin of Humans
Every civilization has something that captivates its members. Our current civilization has either music or movies. The middle ages had religion. The Romans had powerful generals. The ancient Greeks had stories and plays. There is one thing in common with each of these. The answer is simply myth. Some movies are just different adaptations of myth. Religion is just one big belief that has its origins in myth. The generals would try to become similar to the gods in myth. The ancient Greeks stories would rely heavily on myth.
What this essay is interested in however is myth in ancient Greece. Just like a language can have many different dialects, their can be many different myths about the same subject. One question that many people have asked and that has been addressed by myth is "Where did humans come from?" My favorite answer to this was written in Plato's Symposium.
It is a little difficult to establish who is the author of this myth. It is true that most myths do not have authors but even if we know who the author is without a shadow of a doubt, this is an exception. The problem arises because, the book is written by Plato, however, he tells us that it is Aristophanes who tells the story. We also can't know if this account is true since there is a great gap between the time that the story was told by Aristophanes and the time it was written down by Plato. Apparently the symposium (Greek for drinking party) where Aristophanes spoke took place around 416B.C. but there is evidence that Plato did not write it down until after 385B.C.
Around this period in time all the stories that were written were usually entered in contests as plays. This would have been no exception. The Symposium mainly focuses on talk of Eros, Greek for passionate love. It is from this that Aristophanes speech on the origin of humans comes from. The one thing that people must realize when they read this short myth in the Symposium is that this was an extremely new thing during that time. Most people already had their beliefs set out. They would be passed down through many generations; people had no reason not to believe the old myths.
One of the myths was, Polyphemus was in love with a sea nymph named Galateia, a sicilian nereid who had cheated on him with a man named Acis. When Polyphemus discovered this he crushed Acis under a rock. Another myth was the story of Odysseus. This story was when Polyphemus had captured Odysseus one of victorious greek leaders and twelve of his crew members when they were sailing for home from the trojan war. They became captured when they arrived to an unknown island of cyclopes. Odysseus and his men came upon the cave of Polyphemus, and went inside in hopes to steal food while Polyphemus was away tending his flock. Curiosity got the best of Odysseus as he wanted to see what a cyclops looked like. Odysseus and his men hid in the cave waiting for Polyphemus to come back.
The Ancient Greeks knew that to survive in their ever-evolving society, a person would needed to live more practically, putting more of an emphasis on learning and knowledge than of strength and power. If looked at in this light, The Odyssey can be viewed as an example of Ancient Greek society communicating to it's people the evolution of society itself.
Throughout the play love is used by Euripides as a key plot factor and in many ways sets the outcome of the play. This love was definitely based on a physical attraction between a male and a female, thus making it “Common” love. The fact that Euripides uses “Common” love lends credibility to Pausanias’ philosophical ideas. The appearance of this idea suggests that it had realistic roots. . The events that took place in the play, such as the relationship between Phaedra and Hippolytus, must have been realistic so a Greek audience would believe the story. Even though Hippolytus is a fictional play the events that take place must have their roots in realistic events. This allows us to believe that Pausanias’ philosophical ideal was in fact a real life issue that Athenians dealt with in day-to-day life.
Grant, M. (1962). Myths of the Greeks and Romans (1st ed.). Cleveland: World Pub. Co.
His allegory was based in part on the prevalent belief that some people were literally “autochthonous,” born from the soil, and partly from the stories of the philosopher Hesiod who chronicled the genealogy of the gods and goddesses as well as their accomplishments and exploits. Hesiod’s account of the Golden, Silver, and Bronze races which had succeeded one another before the current to “The Republic’s” age of Iron forms the basis for the myths of the metals. Since the ancient Greeks were convinced that all myths were primarily the work of even more ancient poets who had been inspired by the
Ingri and Edgar Parin D’alaure’s. Book of Greek Myths. New York: Bantam Dowbleday Dell Publishing Group, 1962.
In the Symposium, a most interesting view on love and soul mates are provided by one of the characters, Aristophanes. In the speech of Aristophanes, he says that there is basically a type of love that connects people. Aristophanes begins his description of love by telling the tale of how love began. He presents the tale of three sexes: male, female, and a combination of both. These three distinct sexes represented one’s soul. These souls split in half, creating a mirror image of each one of them. Aristophanes describes love as the search for the other half of your soul in this quote: “When a man’s natural form was split in two, each half went round looking for its other half. They put their arms around one another, and embraced each other, in their desire to grow together again. Aristophanes theme is the power of Eros and how not to abuse it.
The second creation myth I will examine in this essay is of Greek origin and is known as The Five Ages of Man. This myth begins wit...
Around the time where Greece was known to be the greatest civilization on earth, many people used myths and stories as an extension of their belief because they were culturally significant and important. Ancient Greece was a male-dominated civilization that created laws which would benefit only those with power, which let to the suffering of those without power. The relationship of the sexes was very important, because it showed how men were more superior and woman were frowned upon because they were treated more like minorities. Aeschylus’ “Agamemnon” is about a Greek king who would do anything, including sacrificing his daughter, because he feels as a man and a king whatever decisions he makes are always just. Sophocles’ “Antigone” is about a girl who goes against the religious values of the society, and get persecuted because state laws restrict her
Morford, Mark P.O., and Robert J. Lenardon. Classical Mythology. '7th ed'. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003.
Dillon, Matthew, and Lynda Garland. Ancient Greece: Social and Historical Documents from Archaic Times to the Death of Socrates. London: Routledge, 1994. No. 7.42, p. 209.
Plato widely a respected philosopher and is arguably one of the greatest philosophers of all time. I knew nothing about him or what he stood for before taking this course and I found his theory on human nature very exciting. “Plato’s most fundamental contribution to philosophy was the distinction he drew between the changing physical objects we perceive with our senses and the under changing ideals we can know with our minds.” What Plato means is when we see something that we think is good or bad that there is good strong reasoning behind why we think the way we do. I find this very intriguing because, this it pertains to how I feel about everyday things and big Icons. For example, when hanging out at a friend’s house that is considerably richer
In my opinion, Socrates’ analysis of human nature is very true as it ultimately brings us
Throughout studying many myths, I came up with many new observations. Many questions came into my mind about these myths. Greek mythology takes us back to a time when people had a connection with nature and when nature played a major role in people’s lives. The religious beliefs of the people who wrote the myths are found in the background of these myths; however, they are not to be read like religious texts. The myths try to offer explanations of “how”, which makes us think deeply about the purpose of these myths and the questions they draw to our minds. According to the myths we studied in class, the world created the gods, not the other way around. The gods were always created in the image of man, which shows how much men were important in their society. Furthermore, many of these Greek myths show us the difference between the views of the Greek then and our view towards many aspects of the society, including nature. Monsters appear in Greek myths and have different representations and roles. Greek mythology reflects a view of the Greeks towards the world and how certain aspects of their lives are similar and different to modern society.
believe that this story was a way of life to many Greeks and that people