This new edition of Plato's Symposium provides beginning readers
and scholars alike with a solid, reliable translation that is both
faithful to the original text and accessible to contemporary
readers. In addition, the volume offers a number of aids to help
the reader make his or her way through this remarkable work:
´A concise introduction sets the scene, conveys the tenor of
the dialogue, and introduces the reader to the main characters with
a gloss on their backgrounds and a comment on their roles in the
dialogue. It also provides a list of basic points for readers to
keep in mind as they read the work.´A thought-provoking
interpretive essay offers reflections on the themes of the
dialogue, focusing especially on the dialogue as drama.´A
select bibliography points to works, both classic and contemporary,
that are especially relevant to readers of the Symposium.´Two
appendices consist of a line drawing that depicts the spacial
layout and positioning of characters in the Symposium, and a chart
that shows the relation of the first six speeches to number, age,
parentage and the function of Eros.