Pausanias (; grc-gre, Παυσανίας; fl. c. 420 BC) was an ancient Athenian of the

deme In Ancient Greece, a deme or ( grc, δῆμος, plural: demoi, δημοι) was a suburb or a subdivision of Athens and other city-states. Demes as simple subdivisions of land in the countryside seem to have existed in the 6th century BC and ear ...

Kerameis Cerameis or Kerameis ( grc, Κεραμεῖς) was a deme of ancient Attica, located in the center of Athens, northeast of the Dipylon Gate, which extended both inside and outside the city walls. In its territory lay an important necropolis. Ety ...

, who was the lover of the poet

Agathon Agathon (; grc, Ἀγάθων; ) was an Athenian tragic poet whose works have been lost. He is best known for his appearance in Plato's ''Symposium,'' which describes the banquet given to celebrate his obtaining a prize for his first tragedy a ...

. Although Pausanias is given a significant speaking part in

Plato Plato ( ; grc-gre, Πλάτων ; 428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 BC) was a Greek philosopher born in Athens during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. He founded the Platonist school of thought and the Academy, the first institution ...

's '' Symposium'', very little is known about him. Ancient anecdotes tend to address only his relationship with Agathon and give us no information about his personal accomplishments. Around 407 BC he removed himself from Athens to the court of the Macedonian king Archelaus. Pausanias appears briefly in two other Socratic dialogues, Plato's '' Protagoras'' and

Xenophon Xenophon of Athens (; grc, Ξενοφῶν ; – probably 355 or 354 BC) was a Greek military leader, philosopher, and historian, born in Athens. At the age of 30, Xenophon was elected commander of one of the biggest Greek mercenary armies o ...

's '' Symposium''. He is also mentioned in Book V of

Athenaeus Athenaeus of Naucratis (; grc, Ἀθήναιος ὁ Nαυκρατίτης or Nαυκράτιος, ''Athēnaios Naukratitēs'' or ''Naukratios''; la, Athenaeus Naucratita) was a Greek rhetorician and grammarian, flourishing about the end of th ...

' '' Deipnosophistae'', and in Book II of

Claudius Aelianus Claudius Aelianus ( grc, Κλαύδιος Αἰλιανός, Greek transliteration ''Kláudios Ailianós''; c. 175c. 235 AD), commonly Aelian (), born at Praeneste, was a Roman author and teacher of rhetoric who flourished under Septimius Severu ...

' ''Varia Historia.''

References

*Harry Neumann, "On the Sophistry of Plato's Pausanias," ''Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association'', Vol. 95, (1964), pp. 261–267. 5th-century BC Athenians Courtiers of Archelaus I of Macedon Ancient LGBT people {{AncientGreece-bio-stub

See also

References