Why is Diotima a woman? Essay -- essays research papers

Diotima, Socrates great teacher from the Symposium, a work by Plato was one of the most influential women thinkers of all time, whether she was a real person or a literary fictional character. She related to Socrates the theory of love that he described to the partygoers at Agathons banquet, a celebration of Agathons victory at the competition of Dionysis in capital of Greece and of Eros.Before we search for the idea of why Diotima is a woman, we should first discuss a little about her. We know that, if she were an actual person, she would have been born virtually 470 BCE and died around 410 BCE. She might have been a priestess from Mantinea. Now if she was a real priestess or poet is uncertain. There is archaeological evidence, plus the fact that no historians for hundreds of years incessantly challenged her existence, suggests Diotima was an historical person. Her authenticity was not disputed until the 15th century.We should also discuss about how women were generally treated i n the days of the Symposium. We read in the starting line of the Symposium that Eryximachus wants to get rid of the women so that the men may stick to conversation. (Symposium 176.e3-177.a2) This invokes the idea that women are unable to have a meaningful conversation. This could be justify because ancient Greeks thought our (women) emotions get in the way. The ancient Greeks (men) had wives for the purpose of producing babies. They had boyfriends for the ...