Simposio

by Xenophon, A. Giovanelli (Traduttore)

Vēsturnieka, filozofa un rakstnieka Ksenofonta (5./4.gs. p.m.ē.) sacerējums ir sava veida smalko aprindu hronika - aculiecinieka stāsts par dzīrēm, ko bagāts atēnietis sarīkojis jauna atlēta uzvaras atzīmēšanai. Gandrīz visas personas, kas dzīrēs piedalās, ir vēsturiski dokumentētas, un pati galvenā, protams, ir Sokrats - krietni vien savādāks Sokrats nekā tas, ko pazīstam no Platona darbiem. No sengrieķu valodas tulkojis Ābrams Feldhūns.

Genres: Philosophy, Classics, History, Nonfiction, Ancient, Literature, Ancient History

140 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 361

About the author

Xenophon (Ancient Greek Ξενοφῶν, Modern Greek Ξενοφώντας; ca. 431 – 355 BC), son of Gryllus, of the deme Erchia of Athens, was a soldier, mercenary and a contemporary and admirer of Socrates. He is known for his writings on the history of his own times, preserving the sayings of Socrates, and the life of ancient Greece.

Historical and biographical works:
Anabasis (or The Persian Expedition)
Cyropaedia
Hellenica
Agesilaus

Socratic works and dialogues:
Memorabilia
Oeconomicus
Symposium
Apology
Hiero

Short treatises:
On Horsemanship
The Cavalry General
Hunting with Dogs
Ways and Means
Constitution of Sparta

Reviews

[Sense of History]

I already knew from the work *Memorabilia* that Xenophon held a different view of Socrates than Plato did. This *Symposium* highlights that contrast even more sharply. In contrast to the rather lofty image Plato paints of him, here we see a much more down-to-earth, sociable Socrates—one who cracks the occasional bawdy joke, pokes fun at himself, and joins wholeheartedly in the merry festivities. Yet, he remains the teacher who ultimately gets—and takes—the final word.

It is remarkable, after all, that we possess two "accounts" of what is said to be the same event, supposedly taking place in 421 BCE. In the study of ancient history, having multiple sources is exceptional in itself, and here we have two. Of course, this must be taken with a grain of salt: neither Plato nor Xenophon aimed to provide a strictly factual record, and neither was actually present (both were far too young at the time). Their goal was rather to capture the spirit in which their revered teacher spoke and acted—and for each of them, that spirit was clearly something different.

[Czarny Pies]

Five stars because this is a book about Socrates by man who attended his banquets and knew the leading members of his entourage personally. The Presocratics were not truly philosophers in the modern sense. Socrates is the true founder of our philosophical tradition. Moreover as Nietzsche points out by choosing to die on a matter of principle Socrates is one of the most important mythological figures of our culture. Any contemporary work that sheds light on Socrates is inherently important.

Xenophon's Banquet is not the same as Plato's. The participants are different and the Socrates are dissimilar. In Plato's banquet we get the rigorous dialectician and the mythic Socrates ready to defend his principles at any cost. In contrast, Xenophon's Socrates is a kindly professor trying to teach his young followers how to lead the good life.

Plato's Banquet is by far the more important of the two. It is a deeper on a philosophical level. As well the guests notably Alcibiades and Aristophanes are much more important figures. Xenophon gives us simply an evening of cordial conversation. However, we still need to read his Banquet because it presents a different side of Socrates.

[Chakib Sofiane]

witty prose, humorous dialogues attended to by Socrates and his clique in Piraeus, the port of Athens.

What does man pride himself for? wealth? poverty? beauty? intelligence? what?

This dialogue is surprisingly real, and portrays the bravery of Athenians in their prime.

[Margaret Heller]

Socrates makes the point in this dialog that to love someone's soul is better than to love their body. A physical attraction is fine, but will not last, whereas to truly love someone you will seek always that which is best for that person. There are some pretty funny lines getting to this conclusion, and a quite erotic part right at the end. The dinner breaks up at this point as everyone rushes home to his wife or really wishes he had a wife.

What's nice about Xenophon's Socratic dialogs is that they are more humorous and of a more practical bent than Plato's. Thus you can actually read them in bed. Which I did.

[Beth Easter]

This is WILD. Frankly, the boys are too cozy in this one, but I can't wait to see what the men in my Catherine Project class say about it. One nice line at the beginning: "In my opinion, not only are the serious deeds of gentlemen worth recalling, but so too are their deeds done in times of play." Socrates, too, was a silly goose.

[kate]

gay 👍

[Lies Adam]

gayste boek dat ik al ooit heb gelezen maar wel banger (behalve als Sokrates zijn bek open deed...

[Anne-Laure Mols]

shout out professor roskam ‼️

[Illiterate]

Charming. Humorous. Even mildly philosophically interesting.

[Duncan Idaho]

Standardno dobri Ksenofont

[Anthony]

There was a reason I wasn't a classics major. I struggled to get through this, and I could not recall any of what I read if asked to do so tomorrow.

[Masoud Irannejad]

ضیافت افلاطون رو قبلا خونده بودم
و امروز ضیافت گزنفون رو خوندم
حقیقتش ضیافت گزنفون رو بهتر از ضیافت افلاطون متوجه شدم
ضیافت افلاطون رو ۵ سال پیش خونده بودم و حقیقتش ترجمه ی خوبی رو انتخاب نکرده بودم و زیاد متوجه نشدم ولی ضیافت گزنفون که امروز خوندم هم ترجمه ی خوبی داشت هم داستان تفاوت های زیادی با ضیافت افلاطون داشت و صحبت های شخصیت ها ساده تر بود.
ضیافت با غذای خوب و رقص و موسیقی شروع میشه و حاضران با یک دیگر شوخی میکنند و شراب میخورند و می خندد شاید همین خوشگذرانی باعث ماندگاری ضیافت در ذهن افراد حاضر شده
بعد از نوشیدن و خوردن و دیدن نمایش رقص ، سقراط از یکی از حاضرین به نام کالیاس دعوت میکند تا شروع کننده ی صحبت و گرم کننده ی مجلس باشد
بعد از آن حاضرین به صحبت کردن درباره غرور ، زیبایی،ثروت و در نهایت عشق می پردازند
در بحث عشق، هم ضیافت افلاطون و هم ضیافت گزنفون به طور خلاصه اینگونه بیان کرده اند دنبال عشق جسمانی و زمینی نباشید و بلکه دنبال عشق ماندگار و روحانی باشید.
البته در این زمینه ، افلاطون در کتابش مفصل صحبت کرده و گزنفون کوتاه و مختصر تر

[Anetq]

Rarely do I read such a classic text, but it did remind me I once read Plato's Symposium (which I remember as more fun - maybe it was the fun stories of the origins of love).
This text is less philosophical, though the esteemed gentlemen lying around the table are having discussions - it's more of a light party, with undertones of how to be a good & beautiful man - from a moral perspective, not just looks, even though that is discussed, and the reason for the party is the host's love of a young man who just won a wrestling competition. That and the fact that it is discussed openly in front of them both AND the boy's father does seem a bit odd to this modern reader, but that can you expect from a text from around 360 BC. Other things such as the discussion of how men shouldn't wear perfume, as they smell better rubbed in oil after doing gymnastics make perfect sense today :P
PS: This was another one of those "things I wouldn't have read if not for a silly Goodreads challenge" - I needed an author beginning with X for my annual A-Z Author challenge: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
It seems odd when you scour the library catalog for the odd missing book, but then it makes me read thing I wouldn't otherwise have read. Oh and it's a two'fer - fit nicely into the Classics Bingo challenge as well: https://www.goodreads.com/challenges/...

[Niels]

Dit is de Nederlandse vertaling van het 'Symposium' van Xenophon, minder bekend dan het 'Symposium' van Plato maar daarom zeker niet minder de moeite waard om te lezen. Plato heeft trouwens, naar alle waarschijnlijkheid, kennis genomen van Xenophon's werk en zijn eigen Symposium hierop gebaseerd.
Het werk handelt over verscheidene onderwerpen die door bekende figuren, uit de Griekse klassieke oudheid, worden opgeworpen en behandeld. Figuren als Kallias, Anthistenes, Charmides en Socrates komen veelvuldig aan het woord met snedige en rake opmerkingen en filosofische overpeinzingen over liefde, schoonheid, humor,....
Deze overpeinzingen raken wel maar aan de oppervlakte en de vele interessante discussies en ideeën worden niet verder uitgewerkt.
Deze editie geeft daarnaast ook nog een historische achtergrond van Athene in de 5de en 4de eeuw B.C., van de historische figuren en van Xenophon zelf. Ook wordt er duiding en context gegeven omtrent de tekst zelf en bevat deze editie ook een visie en minieme uitleg over de verdediging van Socrates, die trouwens in dit werk toch grotendeels de hoofdrol opeist.

Hoewel de tekst dus zeker interessante ideeën en discussies bevat, gaat het hier niet dieper op in. Toch vond ik het zeker de moeite waard om te lezen en vooral de historische achtergrond en duiding waren erg interessant.

[Andrew Ives]

Xenophon's Symposium lightly touches upon plenty of philosophical questions whilst ostensibly seeming to be merely a short play about Socrates and a few lads exchanging banter in front of Attica's Got Talent. The titular symposium comprises of a dancer/harpist and piper brought to Callias' drinking party by a Syracusan impresario. At first, conversation is centred upon those philosophical stalwarts of what true nobility, wealth, happiness and virtue really are, why one is better than the other and whatnot. Afterwards, attention turns to the players and the Syracusan, then love, soul, pride, religion, virtue, war and politics, all in the space of hardly 50 pages. Nothing is resolved in any great depth, but the questions are certainly intelligently put and thought-provoking, especially Socrates' lines. The translation I read was extremely well-written and slightly 17thC in style, but arguably better for it. An enjoyable and worthy introduction to philosophy and Ancient Greek texts for the uninitiated. 4.25/5

[James Miller]

Much better than his Apology. The Symposium has hints of ideas one might expect in Platonic Socratic dialogues and if not rising to the heights of Plato's Symposium, it is interesting as a source on Socrates, on Symposia, on attitudes towards homosexuality and how these differed across Greece (Boeotia - Athens - Sparta). The discussions of different sorts of love, which is far less a theme of this than Plato's, is reminiscent of Plato's in its ideal of a less sexual love, but does not have all the ideas of love of wisdom etc.

Well worth a read, perhaps in conjunction with Plato's.

[Rick Davis]

Socrates is hilarious.

[Aelin 3414]

აქილევსი fr გეი ყოფილა

[Lucy De Geyseleer]

bad bootleg verion of Plato's work
Xenophon allegedly didn't understand Socrates completely and you can feel that while reading this

[Louiza]

This was a very pleasant reading, even more once I got used to the rhythm of the translation and how the notes worked within the text, and certainly more pleasant than I expected. The Symposium by Xenophon is similar to The Symposium of Plato in that Socrates and a few others are dining and conversing at someone's house; in this book they are at the house of Callias. Each one of them begins by presenting one thing they are proud of themselves and they proceed to explain the reason they feel proud of it. There is also a kind of acrobatic dance performance that they watch as they eat and converse. There is humor, banter, sarcasm, and pleasantries passing among each other, and at one point Critobulus and Socrates are going at each other about who is the most beautiful. The two dancers get to vote who won the beauty contest. The rest of the discussion turns with Socrates attempting to prove to them the power of friendship and the power of love for someone's inner world rather than love for their outward appearance. There are certainly some things I disagree with and plenty of things I agree and like. I'm also sure that I missed a lot in terms of understanding some of their discussions and someone better at understanding and reviewing these texts would explain it much better. Nevertheless, I loved what I got from it and it is certainly worth reading. I'll be looking forward to be reading more of Xenophon's writings, and I plan someday to reread this one. I do prefer Xenophon than Plato.

[Leath Smith]

A classic Socratic dialogue of the 4th century BCE, the Symposium is basically a dinner party for Athenian elites hosted by Callias, and held in honor of Autolycus. As the wine flows, so do the thoughts and mouths of the attendants. Themes of conversation for the night are universal topics such as beauty, virtue, wealth, wisdom, and laughter. The night is mostly relatively lighthearted and entertaining with the only real damper, as a reader in 2025, being the outwardly pervy attitudes toward the child entertainers provided for the party by the Syracusan.

[Sarah]

The best thing about this book was its brevity. I'm writing an essay on this book so I may post it here later, but I'll just say this was a group of sexist rich men talking a bunch of highfalutin nonsense about love who didn't know the first thing about it. Go home and observe your wives fellas and maybe you'll learn a thing or two if you can get off your high horse long enough to open your eyes to the everyday humble truths that surround you.

[Ryn]

I prefer Plato's Symposium in terms of style, Xenophon's is rather disjointed but to be fair it does capture the banter of the drinking parties well, plus I like the typical Socratic monologue that concludes the piece.

In terms of Plato vs Xenophon's presentations of Socrates' ideas of Love, I found Xenophon's to be more... Forced? As though he were using Socrates as a mouthpiece for his anti-physical Love agenda. Much to ponder on.

[Sintija Buhanovska]

Interesants antīkās literatūras piemērs, kas ļauj iepazīt, kā sabiedrība atzīmēja svarīgus notikumus - šajā gadījumā tā ir uzvara spēka sacensībās - un rīkoja dzīres. Šo svinību galvenais tēls ir Sokrats, kurš dzīru dalībniekiem liek domāt ne tikai par miesiskām baudām, bet arī garīgiem prāta vingrinājumiem. Vērtīga lasāmviela no kultūrvēsturiskā viedokļa.

[Juro]

Not very interesting.

[Aaron Schuschu]

Xenophon writes about Socrates going to Autolycus’ dinner party where Socrates argues about beauty and there’s side conversations about how wealth affects attitude as the guests force the servant boy and servant girl to dance in such away as to throw themselves dangerously close to swords- which leads to a brawl when they are forced to make out. A guy from Syracuse leaves the brouhaha and comes back with a play about Dionysus and his lover (after Autolycus leaves for his daily walk); through which, when the servants act it out, it is revealed that the servants do genuinely and deeply love each other. And then everyone goes their separate ways.

[Santiago González (puntoartica)]

A pesar de que se suele decir que no hay que compararlo con Platón, que son diferentes y que aquí se muestra a un Sócrates "más humano" resulta difícil no hacerlo. Es mucho más superficial y diferente al Sócrates platónico, el humor está bien pero sobretodo la prosa es incomparable con el sublime Banquete platónico. Aún toda esta negativa no es mal texto, es entretenido y muestra a otro Sócrates que no deja de ser interesante, además de un retrato de sus discípulos (como Antístenes)

[Giulio Zieppo]

Anche se spesso si parla di Senofonte come di una persona che non godeva di grandi capacità di comprensione in campo filosofico, nel Simposio sembra cogliere appieno l'ironia e la profondità dei motti del maestro Socrate, lasciandoci una testimonianza molto interessante.

[Julie]

This was quick, short and fun read. Xenophon captures the true vibe of a traditional Greek symposium in a witty and fun way that isn’t often seen. The way this text from 360 BC is more forward thinking and accepting than the world today is both horrifying and interesting.

[Emma]

The lesser Symposium