REPRESENTING THE SYMPOSION : IDENTITY AND PERFORMANCE IN THE 'SYMPOSIA' OF PLATO AND XENOPHON Fiona Hobden A Thesis Submitted for the Degree of PhD at the University of St Andrews 2003 Full metadata for this item is available in St Andrews Research Repository at: http://research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk/ Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/10023/13817 This item is protected by original copyright Representing the Symposion. Identity and Performance in the Symposia of Plato and Xenophon Fiona Hobden PhD Ancient History July 2003 School of Classics Swallowgate St Andrews FIFE KY16 9AL ProQuest Number: 10170695 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uest. ProQuest 10170695 Published by ProQuest LLC(2017). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106- 1346 ^5i& I, Fiona Hobden, hereby certify that this thesis, which is approximately 85,000 words in length, has been written by me, that it is the record of work carried out by me and that it has not been submitted in any previous application for a higher degree. date...................signature of candidate.......................................... I was admitted as a research student in September 1999 and as a candidate for the degree of PhD in September 2000; the higher study for which this is a record was carried out in the University of St Andrews between 1999 and 2003. date...................signature of candidate.......................................... I hereby certify that the candidate has fulfilled the conditions of the Resolution and Regulations appropriate for the degree of PhD in the University of St Andrews and that the candidate is qualified to submit this thesis in application for that degree. date signature of supervisor .... In submitting this thesis to the University of St Andrews I understand that I am giving permission for it to be made available for use in accordance with the regulations of the University Library for the time being in force, subject to any copyright vested in the work not being affected thereby. I also understand that the title and abstract will be published, and that a copy of the work may be made and supplied to any bona fide library or research worker. date...................signature of candidate.......................................... Abstract This thesis contends that to uncover the ‘real’ symposion from its literary and artistic representations is a difficult task. Every representation of the symposion is informed by its author’s wider textual ambitions. Its shape, the roles it plays, and the meanings it conveys are all determined by considerations other than providing an authentic snapshot of sympotic life. However, by acknowledging and investigating these authorial strategies, it might just be possible to catch a glimpse of the event they purport to represent, as this close reading of the Symposia of Plato and Xenophon aims to show. For, at the heart of Plato and Xenophon’s ambitions lies an interest in the protocols and procedures of the symposion, even as these are shaped for philosophical ends. Chasing the symposion via this route will lead us into a world of philosophy and education, where the democratic city clashes with and is subsumed into processes of elite self-fashioning. The performances in Plato’s idealised symposion are epideixeis which affirm (at the same time as they open up and explore) their performers’ claims to be well-educated, symposion-gQing kaloi kagathoi. By contrast, the epideixeis of Xenophon’s symposiasts take part in a discussion of kalokagathia, and suggest how the symposion might (or might not) facilitate its learning. Both Plato and Xenophon are concerned with the symposion as a location for kalokagathia and with kalokagathia as a process. In its quest for the symposion, this thesis uncovers two distinct, but related, conceptions of the symposion and suggests some new ways of reading Plato and Xenophon’s Symposia. For Plato, the symposion operates alongside the more traditionally ‘philosophical’ content of his dialogue. By contrast, Xenophon imposes his writerly agenda on top of his symposion, extolling the merits of his textual Symposium over the symposion. Contents A cknowledgements vi i Preliminary Notes ix Introduction 1 Chapter 1 Approaching the Symposion. Some Methodological Considerations 12 Historians and the Symposion 14 Art and the Symposion 24 Poetry in the Symposion 34 The Classical Symposion'. History and Comedy 45 An Approach to the Symposion? Some Answers 53 and Some More Questions Part 1 Plato’s Symposium Chapter 2 The Synousia and the Agon in Plato’s Symposium 60 Dramatising the Symposion 63 Competition and Communality in the Synousia-Symposion 74 Competitive Strategies in Plato’s Symposion 86 Conclusion: Testing, Training and Mimesis in the Symposion 103 Chapter 3 Democracy and Elites in the Speech of Pausanias 109 Philosophy, Sexuality and the Imaginary Community 110 of the Symposion Model Behaviours: Aphrodite Pandemos versus Aphrodite Ourania 119 Ho Peri Ton Erota Nomos in Greece and Athens 130 Sex in the Non-Athenian City 130 The Custom at Athens 142 Conclusion: Plato and the Symposion 147 Part 2 Xenophon’s Symposium Chapter 4 How to be a Good Symposiast and Other Performances: 150 Entertainment in the Symposium Xenophon: Litteratus, Teacher and Symposiarch 154 Making your Own Entertainment: Spoude and Paidia 167 in the Symposion Making Jokes 174 Eikasmoi 181 Beauty and Desire 189 Outside Entertainment 194 Philippusthe ‘Laughter-Maker’ 194 The Syracusan’s Troupe 205 Conclusions 213 Chapter 5 Socrates in Xenophon’s Symposium 215 Socrates Symposiarchos? 217 Socrates Gelotopoios and Socrates Spoudaiogeloios 235 Socrates and Xenophon in the Symposium 251 Chapter 6 Learning to be Kalos Kagathos in Xenophon’s Symposium 260 Kalokagathici in Ancient Greece and Modern Scholarship 263 Lessons in Kalokagathici from Hoi Kaloi Kagathoi Andres'! Xenophon’s Kaloi Kagathoi 279 Educating Niceratus 284 The Beauty of Critoboulos 295 Poor Charmides 303 Lessons from the Symposion or the Symposium? 308 Conclusion 316 Re-presenting the Symposion-. Authorial Ambitions for 318 the Symposium Identity and Performance in the Symposion 322 Bibliography 328 vii Acknowledgements The research for this thesis was made possible by the award of a Ronald Morton Smith Scholarship from the University of St Andrews and a Major Scottish Studentship from the Students Award Agency for Scotland, taken over in the final year by the Ails and Humanities Research Board. I would like to offer my thanks to Prof Jill Harries and Prof Liz Moignard, who kindly supervised the initial stages of this project, and to Dr Jon Hesk, who has watched over me for the past two years. Under his patient and insightful guidance, my experience as a research student has been at times painful, often difficult, but always challenging and rewarding. Dr Jason Konig generously gave up his time to read and discuss portions of this thesis, and I have benefited greatly from his thought-provoking remarks. As this thesis has progressed, my mum, dad and brother Iain have been alongside me every step of the way, sharing in my tears, joy and frustration. I can only begin to express my gratitude for their unwavering love and support (and my mum’s proof-reading skills!). Special thanks are due also to Andrew Clark, my well-shod Socrates; and to Ian Grey, whose warmth and affection have made the final stages of this project that bit easier to bear. I have had the good fortune to share my postgraduate years with Ralph Covino, Craig Galbraith, Yukiko Saito and John Serrati, whose laughter will continue to light up my life for many years to come. I would also like to thank the many other postgraduates who have crossed the threshold of Craigard 32, in particular Joanne Walker and Eilidh Macleod, for their friendship and encouragement.. Finally, I would like to extend my gratitude and best wishes to VI11 all members of the School of Greek, Latin and Ancient History which has nurtured me for the better part of a decade. 1 will look back on my time there with the fondest and best of memories. IX Preliminary Notes References to ancient names and works are made according to the list of ‘Authors and Works’ set out in A Greek-English Lexicon Compiled by Henry George Liddell and Robert Scott., revised and augmented by H. Jones and R. McKenzie (Oxford, 1968), xvi-xxxviii. Abbreviated titles of modern journals are cited in accordance with the ‘Liste des Periodiques Depouilles’ in L’Annee Philologique, volume 71 (Paris, 2000), xxi-xlvii. References to the Symposia of Plato and Xenophon are taken from the recent editions by C. J. Rowe (1998) and A. Bowen (1998) respectively. Both derive their text from the relevant Oxford Classical Text (Burnet, 1901; and Marchant, 1921), but modify it to take into account changes suggested by subsequent scholarship. In addition, for Plato’s Symposium, I have consulted Dover (1980), and Robin (Bude, 1989); and for Xenophon’s Symposium, I have referred to Thalheim (Teubner, 1915) and Ollier (Bude, 1961). Finally, the Symposia of Plato and Xenophon (like other authors and their works) will be given their traditional Latin title - the Symposium. However, the symposion will be transliterated in its hellenised form, as will Greek value-terms and other cultural phenomena. This not only follows common usage, but highlights the distinction between text and institution which underlies my approach.