Phaedrus (Athenian)
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Phaedrus (), son of Pythocles, of the Myrrhinus
deme In Ancient Greece, a deme or (, plural: ''demoi'', δήμοι) was a suburb or a subdivision of Classical Athens, Athens and other city-states. Demes as simple subdivisions of land in the countryside existed in the 6th century BC and earlier, bu ...
(
Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...
: Φαῖδρος Πυθοκλέους Μυῤῥινούσιος, ''Phaĩdros Puthokléous Murrhinoúsios''; c. 444 – 393 BC), was an ancient Athenian aristocrat associated with the inner-circle of the
philosopher Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...
Socrates Socrates (; ; – 399 BC) was a Ancient Greek philosophy, Greek philosopher from Classical Athens, Athens who is credited as the founder of Western philosophy and as among the first moral philosophers of the Ethics, ethical tradition ...
. He was indicted in the profanation of the
Eleusinian Mysteries The Eleusinian Mysteries () were initiations held every year for the Cult (religious practice), cult of Demeter and Persephone based at the Panhellenic Sanctuary of Eleusis in ancient Greece. They are considered the "most famous of the secret rel ...
in 415 during the
Peloponnesian War The Second Peloponnesian War (431–404 BC), often called simply the Peloponnesian War (), was an Ancient Greece, ancient Greek war fought between Classical Athens, Athens and Sparta and their respective allies for the hegemony of the Ancien ...
, causing him to flee Athens. He is best remembered for his depiction in the dialogues of
Plato Plato ( ; Greek language, Greek: , ; born  BC, died 348/347 BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher of the Classical Greece, Classical period who is considered a foundational thinker in Western philosophy and an innovator of the writte ...
. His philosophically
erotic Eroticism () is a quality that causes sexual feelings, as well as a philosophical contemplation concerning the aesthetics of sexual desire, sensuality, and romantic love. That quality may be found in any form of artwork, including painting, sculp ...
role in his eponymous dialogue and the ''
Symposium In Ancient Greece, the symposium (, ''sympósion'', from συμπίνειν, ''sympínein'', 'to drink together') was the part of a banquet that took place after the meal, when drinking for pleasure was accompanied by music, dancing, recitals, o ...
'' inspired later authors, from the ancient comedic playwright Alexis to contemporary philosophers like
Robert M. Pirsig Robert Maynard Pirsig (; September 6, 1928 – April 24, 2017) was an American writer and philosopher. He is the author of the philosophical books ''Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inq ...
and
Martha Nussbaum Martha Nussbaum (; Craven; born May 6, 1947) is an American philosopher and the current Ernst Freund Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Ethics at the University of Chicago, where she is jointly appointed in the law school and the philos ...
.Martha Nussbaum, ''The Fragility of Goodness'', Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001; pp. 200–224


Life

Phaedrus, whose name translates to "bright" or "radiant" in particular how one might show light on something, "to reveal" at its earliest etymology,John Sallis, ''Being and Logos'', Indianapolis: University of Indiana Press, 1997; pp. 104–172 was born to a wealthy family sometime in the mid-5th century BC, and was the first cousin of Plato's stepbrother Demos. All sources remember him as an especially attractive young man. His depiction in the writing of Plato has led scholars to assume that he did not have his own system of philosophy, despite his interest in such contemporaneous movements as
rhetoric Rhetoric is the art of persuasion. It is one of the three ancient arts of discourse ( trivium) along with grammar and logic/ dialectic. As an academic discipline within the humanities, rhetoric aims to study the techniques that speakers or w ...
,
tragedy A tragedy is a genre of drama based on human suffering and, mainly, the terrible or sorrowful events that befall a tragic hero, main character or cast of characters. Traditionally, the intention of tragedy is to invoke an accompanying catharsi ...
and
sophism A sophist () was a teacher in ancient Greece in the fifth and fourth centuries BCE. Sophists specialized in one or more subject areas, such as philosophy, rhetoric, music, athletics and mathematics. They taught ''arete'', "virtue" or "excellen ...
.
Debra Nails Debra Nails (born November 15, 1950) is an American philosophy professor who taught at Michigan State University. Nails earned her M.A. in philosophy and classical Greek from Louisiana State University before going on to earn a Ph.D. in philosophy ...
, ''The People of Plato'', Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing, 2002; pp. 233–234
He is present for the speeches delivered in Plato's ''
Protagoras Protagoras ( ; ; )Guthrie, p. 262–263. was a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher and rhetorical theorist. He is numbered as one of the sophists by Plato. In his dialogue '' Protagoras'', Plato credits him with inventing the role of the professional ...
'', whose dramatic date of 433/432 suggests that Phaedrus was involved in prominent Athenian intellectual circles from a young age; the dialogue also notes his early interest in astronomy and long-standing friendship with the
physician A physician, medical practitioner (British English), medical doctor, or simply doctor is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through the Medical education, study, Med ...
Eryximachus. The ''Symposium'''s certain dramatic date of 416 suggests his close association with Socrates by this time. Further details in Plato's writing point to Phaedrus' interests in
mythology Myth is a genre of folklore consisting primarily of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society. For scholars, this is very different from the vernacular usage of the term "myth" that refers to a belief that is not true. Instead, the ...
and natural science. ''On the Mysteries'', an extant speech of Andocides, names Phaedrus as one of the individuals indicted by the city of Athens, at the behest of the ''
metic In ancient Greece, a metic (Ancient Greek: , : from , , indicating change, and , 'dwelling') was a resident of Athens and some other cities who was a citizen of another polis. They held a status broadly analogous to modern permanent residency, b ...
'' Teucrus, in the profanation of the Eleusinian mysteries, a major domestic event preceding the calamitous
Sicilian Expedition The Sicilian Expedition was an Classical Athens, Athenian military expedition to Sicily, which took place from 415–413 BC during the Peloponnesian War between Classical Athens, Athens on one side and Sparta, Syracuse, Sicily, Syracuse and Co ...
in 415. Inscribed records of the property confiscated from the profaners of the mysteries and a speech of
Lysias Lysias (; ; c. 445 – c. 380 BC) was a Logographer (legal), logographer (speech writer) in ancient Greece. He was one of the ten Attic orators included in the "Alexandrian Canon" compiled by Aristophanes of Byzantium and Aristarchus of Samothrac ...
further attest to his role in this event. Phaedrus fled Athens at this time along with the other accused parties, losing his wealth and property in the process. Some scholars had previously interpreted Andocides as naming Phaedrus in his list of mutilators of the Herms, a contemporaneous Athenian scandal, but this is generally dismissed within present scholarship. Phaedrus married his first cousin, whose name is Phoebe, circa 404. After his early death in 393, his wife remarried Aristophanes, son of Nicophemus.


Depiction in literature and influence

In his eponymous Platonic dialogue, Phaedrus recites a speech attributed to Lysias, while he calls upon several classical myths to construct a tragic account of Eros in the ''Symposium''. His character in Plato, along with the ill-fated implications of his oncoming exile, has long exerted influence on literature and philosophy. Among the ancients, Alexis' mid-late 4th century comedic play ''Phaedrus'' depicts a man philosophizing on the nature of eros, while
Diogenes Laërtius Diogenes Laërtius ( ; , ; ) was a biographer of the Greek philosophers. Little is definitively known about his life, but his surviving book ''Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers'' is a principal source for the history of ancient Greek ph ...
assumes Phaedrus to be Plato's "favorite" individual.Diogenes Laërtius, 3.29 Modern scholars such as Nussbaum and John Sallis have interpreted his character as an embodiment of the fecundity and potential tragedy of philosophical eroticism.


See also

*
List of speakers in Plato's dialogues following is a list of the speakers found in the dialogues traditionally ascribed to Plato, including extensively quoted, indirect and conjured speakers. Dialogues, as well as Platonic ''Epistles'' and ''Epigrams'', in which these individuals app ...


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Phaedrus 5th-century BC Athenians 4th-century BC Athenians Ancient Greeks accused of sacrilege Pupils of Socrates 440s BC births 393 BC deaths