How The Symposium drew on The Iliad
A documented line of influence: Plato demonstrably engaged Homer’s work. The commentary below is Gröblé’s, verbatim from each work’s page.
The source
The Iliad
Homer · c. 750 BCE
Ancient GreeceThe influenced
The Symposium
Plato · c. 385 BCE
Ancient GreeceRelevance
7/10
On The Symposium’s page
- Phaedrus' speech argues straight from Homer — "by Homer's account" — making the Iliad's Achilles the highest example of love
- His willingness to die avenging Patroclus, the engine of the whole epic, is repurposed here as moral philosophy
- Plato even corrects Aeschylus on who loved whom; reading the Iliad first shows you exactly what he's adjudicating
On The Iliad’s page
- The Iliad's Achilles, who chooses death to avenge Patroclus, becomes Plato's case study in what love can drive a hero to do
- In The Symposium, Phaedrus cites "Homer's account" by name and crowns Achilles the supreme exemplar of love
- Homer's grief-maddened warrior is reread, centuries later, as proof that love makes men brave beyond death