From the magazine

Finding your other half in ancient Athens

According to Aristophanes, human beings were two-bodied before Zeus split them – which is why we spend our lives perpetually searching for our missing partner

Philip Womack
A Graeco-Roman terracotta figurine of Eros and Psyche. Alamy
EXPLORE THE ISSUE 01 February 2025
issue 01 February 2025

Who would you invite to your ideal dinner party? Plato answered that question centuries ago with his sublime Symposium, a gripping, novel-like account of a gathering of Athenian notables, which is also a powerful philosophical exploration of the force of Eros, or love. We know that the feast is supposed to have taken place in 416 BC since its host, Agathon, has just won a prize for one of his tragedies.

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