Symposium (Xenophon)

Xenophon's symposium , also Germanized banquet , describes a fictional symposium (banquet followed by a drinking binge) as it could have taken place in Athens at any time in the 5th century BC according to the circumstances and speeches . He moved it to the house of the noble and wealthy Kallias , who had invited to it after a horse race. Socrates and other Athenians take part. Enter a joker and a music group. The conversations are at the height of a relaxed conversation, occasionally even come to a standstill and are then restarted by Socrates. The speeches are sometimes serious, sometimes cheerful. Socrates' contributions are the outstanding spiritual focus, without there being any comparable statements as in Plato's symposium . The description gives a vivid impression of the enjoyable conviviality of a feast and brings Socrates closer together.

Web links

• Xenofon's feast in the Gutenberg-DE project , translated by Christoph Martin Wieland

expenditure

• Xenophon: The Socratic Writings. Memorabilia, symposium, oikonomikos, apology. Transferred and edited by Ernst Bux . Kröner, Stuttgart 1956 ( Kröner's paperback edition 185).