Love and Relatiobships Flashcards
(28 cards)
Plato Symposium - Phaedrus
Love as a motivator (shame or pride)
Erastes + Eromenos — Sacred Band of Thebes - 150 couples - dominate fight against sparta
Coward becomes brave so as not to desert their lover
Love as Didactic
- teaches to be a good citizen
Plato Symposium - Pausanias
Two forms of love - Celestial (Uranian) vs Common (Pandemian)
Celestial - 100% male - Rational
- Love is intelligent - both have autonomy
Common - 50% male/female
- Lustful after women - cannot have intelligent conversations
Plato Symposium - Aristophanes
Love applies to everyone -
- originally one being until Zeus split them
men/men - men/women - women/women - Explains the idea of Soulmates
Doesn’t prioritise one sexuality.
Sun - Men Moon - Androgynous Earth - Women
Plato Symposium - Agathon
Eros is youthful + tender
Eros is - virtuous - temperate - courageous
Eros overcomes everything/influences all good things (Stronger than Ares etc.)
Love as all the good things and shows more of every side too Eros/Love
Plato Symposium - Eyrximachus
Love is ever present and all powerful in our lives, as it is the cause of all self-control, happiness, and justice and it produces good actions.
There is good and bad in love - they type of love that is good unites us with the gods and makes us complete.
Plato Symposium - Socrates
Diotima -
Ladder of love -
- Love of a beautiful individual
- Love of beautiful things
- Love of institutions and laws
- Love of knowledge (Philosophy)
- Love of beauty in its absolute form
Desire for immortality - through offspring in both having children to continue the line, and offspring in mentorship relationship (teachings in Erastes/Eromenos)
Plato Symposium - Alcibiades
Alcibiades in love with Socrates - physical symptoms of desire as a man who was bitten by a snake, bitten in heart/soul.
Pain of desiring someone who doesn’t want you back is the most painful thing.
Socrates wants mental love not physical and therefore wouldn’t be gaining anything by taking Alcibiades as a lover
Plato - Phaedrus
Beautiful and good are the objects of desire.
Soul of a human is both troublesome and noble - Soul = Noble horse + Evil horse + Charioteer
Souls of philosophers and lovers of beauty get the most insight into (true) Reality - their souls follow the divine in an earlier life/ existence, out of reach of human comprehension.
Plato - Republic
Sex is excessive pleasure, and if you pursue these desires, you cannot fully concentrate on other desire (music, poetry) - cannot practice moderation on sexual desires (it is not compatible).
Erastes/Eromenos - should be only be student/teacher - mentor/mentee like father and son
Plato proposes a rigged lottery system to control who has sex with everyone, to ensure the best gene pool.
Lawless desires appear in dreams as the rational part of the mind is asleep - irrational/savage parts want to tale control of its desires - should be controlled by the law.
Plato - Laws
Homoerotic relationships are a result of those who are slaves to pleasure (no self control) - Zeus and Ganymede made up by the Cretan’s to excuse their behaviour. It is unnatural as it doesn’t contribute to any virtues.
Teaching/ imposing law of moderation on the youth will restrain young peoples desire - having someone watch over them at all time teaches desire in regulation.
Relationships are good for the state if they are honourable, and will lead towards a virtuous life.
Relationships should be have ‘a tie of mutual affection.’ and the soul desires the soul.
Against Neaira
Apollodorus getting revenge on Steaphanos
Neaira was originally a prostitute - not an Athenian.
Married stephane’s and passes off her children as Athenian citizens
Children marry
- Apollodorus says that at the end “Women will just make citizens less ‘pure’ if you let Neaira off, it will give others expectations to do the same.”
The Murder of Eratosthenes - Lysias
Law - if you catch them in the act it is legal to kill him or demand money
Euphiletos trusted his wife when she had kids
Wife started to wear makeup when in mourning - Euphiletos becomes suspicious
Euphiletos tortures a salve to find the truth of his wife.
Euphiletos kills the other man.
Reaffirms Athenian views of women outside the house - cheating.
Lysistrata - Aristophanes
Aristophanes 411BC
Women go on a sex strike until men win the Peloponesian war
Fundamental inversion of roles —> oikos takes over the polis
Sex strike implies consent - women don’t have autonomy
Reinforces view that women are obsessed with sex.
Feminist or not..?
Sappho - Context
Where? Family? Type of Poetry? Exciled?
- Lessons, Mytilene
- Wealthy, Aristocratic family
- May have had a husband and daughter
- Lyric poetry - monody or Epithalamia
- Exciled to Sicily, 604-595 BC (?)
Sappho’s circle and role
Sappho’s circle of hetairai (companions) - exclusive group of elite women, defined by their luxury leisure
might’ve lead a Thiasos - a religious institute for the education of girls before marriage
Topos
A recurrent feature in literature.
- Love & Desire
- Pain of Love
- Youth as beauty
- Nature as a metaphor for sex
- Shift in narrative/focus
- Fertility of nature
- Invocation/ Relationship with gods
Aphrodite, goddess of the embroidered throne
- Love & Desire
- Sappho asking Aphrodite for help in love
- Explores the mortal vs immortal experience of love - human love seems impulsive compared to gods
- Cyclical nature of love & desire
Come to me, leave Crete behind!
- Nature and Society
- Nostalgic - written when in excile?
- Explores divinity mixed with mortals - “Nectar mixed with our festivities”
- emphasises the beauty and desirability of Lesbos
Cypris
- Society
- Relationship between men + women
- disapproval of her brothers relationship, looking down on her because of her class in comparison
- public shaming in her performance as family may have been in the audience
The most beautiful sight in the whole world
- Homeric
- Love & Desire
- Men + Women - perception of beauty
- Talks of the consequences of love & desire - Helen leaving her family
- Explore her desire for her student
- Exploration of beauty through men and women - female agency contrast with military might
Come, Queen Hera
- Society
- Kletic Hymn to Hera - sanctuary to Hera on lEsbos
Sappho is asking for safety in voyage - herself? her brother? for luxury/merchant?
I call upon you, Abanthis
- Unrequited love
- Physical Desire
- Not Sappho first time - stop/start relationship
- Sappho did wrong - is calling to fix it
You will remember
- Nostalgia - reminiscent of youth
- Young love/ lustful indulgence of youth
- Sex
May the maidens sing
- Nature
- Marriage
- Society
- Nature as metaphor for sex - “violets” loss of virginity
- Brides friends stand outside all night - sing wedding song.
- Also where there is the opportunity to meet new husband/wife
