Phaedrus (Athenian)

Phaidros ( Greek  Φαῖδρος Phaídros , also called Phaidros von Myrrhinous ; * around the middle of the 5th century BC; † at the latest 393 BC) was an Athenian who belonged to the circle of friends of the philosopher Socrates and took part in philosophical debates . Socrates' pupil Plato named his literary dialogue Phaedrus after him , in which Phaedrus had a fictional philosophical conversation with Socrates.

Life

Phaedrus came from the Attic Demos Myrrhinous , his father was called Pythocles. Otherwise nothing is known about his ancestors. The approximate date of his birth results from his appearance in Plato's dialogue Protagoras , the action of which takes place around 433/432.

Phaedrus was one of the philosophically interested Athenians who participated in the efforts of knowledge stimulated by Socrates. He was friends with the doctor Akumenos and his son Eryximachos, who was also a doctor. The two doctors, like Phaedrus, belonged to the circle of Socrates. Plato reports that Akumenos advised Phaedrus to take walks on paths outside the city, because that is less tiring than walking around in the lobby. Socrates agreed with this view.

In 415, scandals broke out in Athens that shook the city's political life. Young men had parodied the mysteries of Eleusis in private homes and thereby profaned them. This has been prosecuted as a grave crime against religion. Phaedrus and Akumenos, along with a number of other people, were charged with participating in the religious outrage. The informer was a metic named Teukros. The two friends of Socrates, like other suspects, did not wait for a trial, but fled into exile. The condemnation of Phaedrus is also attested in writing. Those who had fled were found guilty in absentia and their property was confiscated. However, the convicts were later given amnesty. Phaedrus returned in 404 at the latest.

Phaedrus' wife was on his mother's side a granddaughter of the Athenian general Xenophon , who took part in the siege of Potidaia at the beginning of the Peloponnesian War and died in 429 at Spartolus . She was also a cousin of her husband, whom she married in 404 at the latest.

After the early death of Phaedrus, who died no later than 393, his widow married the Athenian diplomat Aristophanes . In 390 an Athenian naval expedition to Cyprus , in the preparation of which Aristophanes had played a decisive role, failed . Aristophanes was blamed for the defeat and executed. His property fell into the hands of the state treasury.

The famous logographer (court speech writer ) Lysias mentioned Phaedrus in the speech About the Assets of Aristophanes , which he wrote for the unnamed brother-in-law of Aristophanes. The trial concerned the property of the executed Aristophanes, claimed by the state. The indictment was directed against his brother-in-law, who was suspected of hiding part of the property and thereby appropriating state property. In the speech it is reported that Phaedrus suffered a loss of property through no fault of his own before his marriage and then received a dowry of 40 mines from his father-in-law, who was also his uncle, on the occasion of the marriage . Apparently the uncle was very rich. The loss of property is presumably the expropriation because of the mystery crime.

Philosophy historian Diogenes Laertios mentions a rumor that Phaedrus and Plato had an erotic relationship that ended unhappily. An epigram allegedly written by Plato and quoted by Diogenes was taken as evidence of this . Phaedrus is named there. In modern research, however, the epigram is mostly viewed as spurious; in addition, another, much younger Phaedrus can be meant. The only fragmentary comedy Phaedrus , written by the comedy poet Alexis, was probably about another Phaedrus.

Role in dialogues of Plato

The beginning of the Phaedrus dialogue in the oldest surviving medieval manuscript, the Codex Clarkianus written in 895

Plato named one of his dialogues after Phaedrus. In Phaedrus , the title figure is Socrates' only interlocutor. First, questions related to the love passion are discussed. This passion is defined as one of four types of divine madness. The immortality of the soul is also discussed. Later the conversation turns to a critical reflection on rhetoric and its relationship to knowledge. It is about the question of how, from a philosophical point of view, the art of persuasion can be used correctly and how it is used in the service of establishing the truth.

In Plato's famous Dialog Symposium , Phaedrus is one of the interlocutors. He appears there as the first of the speakers who try to illuminate and appreciate the essence of Eros . Phaedrus considers Eros to be the oldest god to whom mankind owes the greatest benefits, and emphasizes his inspiring role in human life. The erotic lover is encouraged to be virtuous because he wants to convey an advantageous impression of himself and because he is ashamed of unworthy behavior in front of the lover. Only lovers are ready to die for others.

In the Protagoras dialogue , Plato names Phaedrus among those present, but does not allow him to speak. In this dialogue, whose action around 433/432 BC Plays, the young Phaedrus finds himself among the listeners of the sophist Hippias of Elis .

In Plato's portrayal, Phaedrus, easily influenced and prone to enthusiasm and uncritical admiration, shows a naive enthusiasm for rhetoric. He attends Lysias' lessons with great zeal, for he considers this rhetorician to be the best writer of his time. His speech at the symposium shows his mastery of rhetoric and his good education. He is particularly interested in mythology and the allegorical interpretation of myths. His concern for his health is noticeable.

Modern reception

The French writer and philosopher Paul Valéry published two dialogues in 1923, L'âme et la danse (“The soul and the dance”) and Eupalinos ou L'architecte (“Eupalinos or the architect”), in which he appears characters from Plato's dialogues leaves. In L'âme et la danse , Socrates, Phaedrus and Eryximachus discuss the relationship between dance and poetry as part of a banquet. In the art theoretical dialogue Eupalinos ou L'architecte , Socrates and Phaedrus, as deceased in the realm of the dead, compare artistic productivity (“building”) and philosophical activity (“recognizing”). They discuss the difference between the products of nature and those of humans. Among human products, they highlight those that are artistically designed that go beyond the realm of mere usefulness. They examine the arts, particularly architecture, from the point of view of the intellectual acts on which artistic action is based and the relationship between these acts and the material that the artist forms.

literature

• Luc Brisson : Phèdre de Myrrhinonte . In: Richard Goulet (Ed.): Dictionnaire des philosophes antiques , Vol. 5, Part 1, CNRS Éditions, Paris 2012, ISBN 978-2-271-07335-8 , pp. 286–287
• Luc Brisson: Plato: Phèdre. Traduction inédite, introduction and notes . Flammarion, Paris 1989, ISBN 2-08-070488-5 , pp. 19-22
• Debra Nails: The People of Plato. A Prosopography of Plato and Other Socratics . Hackett, Indianapolis 2002, ISBN 0-87220-564-9 , pp. 232-234, 314
• John S. Traill: Persons of Ancient Athens , Volume 17: U- to Philostratos. Athenians, Toronto 2008, ISBN 978-0-9810250-0-1 , pp. 51f. (No. 912520; compilation of the documents)

Remarks

1. ↑ Luc Brisson: Plato: Phèdre , Paris 1989, p. 19.
2. ↑ Plato, Phaedrus 227a-b.
3. ↑ Andokides , On the Mysteries 15.
4. ↑ Russell Meiggs, David Lewis (eds.): A Selection of Greek Historical Inscriptions to the End of the Fifth Century BC , 2nd Edition, Oxford 1988, pp. 244, 246. For background, see Debra Nails: The People of Plato , Indianapolis 2002, pp. 17-20; Martin Ostwald : From Popular Sovereignty to the Sovereignty of Law , Berkeley 1986, pp. 537-550.
5. ↑ See also John K. Davies: Athenian Property Families, 600–300 BC , Oxford 1971, pp. 199–201.
6. ↑ Lysias, Speech 19:15.
7. ^ John K. Davies: Athenian Property Families, 600-300 BC , Oxford 1971, p. 200.
8. ↑ Diogenes Laertios 3: 29-31.
9. ↑ Michael Erler : Platon (= Hellmut Flashar (ed.): Outline of the history of philosophy . The philosophy of antiquity , Volume 2/2), Basel 2007, p. 336f.
10. ↑ Plato, Symposium 178a-180b.
11. ^ Plato, Protagoras 315c.
12. ↑ Plato, Phaedrus 227a-228c.
13. ↑ On the figure of Phaedrus in Plato see Michael Stoeber: Phaedrus of the Phaedrus: The Impassioned Soul . In: Philosophy and Rhetoric 25, 1992, pp. 271-280; Ernst Heitsch : Plato: Phaedrus. Translation and Commentary , Göttingen 1993, pp. 74-76.