At a dinner party in ancient Athens, seven guests take turns giving speeches in praise of Love. From Phaedrus's tribute to Eros as the oldest god to Aristophanes's myth of humanity split in two by Zeus, the dialogue builds toward Socrates's revelation of Diotima's "ladder of beauty" — an ascent from physical desire to the eternal Form of Beauty itself. The Symposium is Plato's most lyrical work and his richest meditation on desire, beauty, and the philosophical life.
