In his dialogues, Plato mentions an enigmatic figure who stands out both for her wisdom and her gender: a woman named Diotima of Mantinea. She was a priestess who instructed none other than Socrates ...

Socrates was famous for saying: “The only thing I know is that I don’t know.” But Plato, in Symposium (199b), reports him as saying that he learned “the truth about love” from a clever woman. That ...

Socrates then relates a conversation that he once had with a mysterious priestess, Diotima of Mantinea, who, he says, taught him the art of love. This Diotima [‘Honoured by the gods’] told him ...

Plato’s Symposium is set in 416 BCE at a drinking party held by the playwright Agathon to celebrate his victory at the Lenaia festival. Most of the guests have a hangover from the previous night ...

The god of love “seeks food among flowers” and therefore will not settle on body or soul “whose flower has faded away”. Socrates recounts a conversation with the philosopher Diotima who ...

The god of love “seeks food among flowers” and therefore will not settle on body or soul “whose flower has faded away”. Socrates recounts a conversation with the philosopher Diotima who ...

She has studied fine art and French alongside philosophy—her brand name comes from the Greek classics, in which Diotima was a prophetess who taught Socrates about love. The designer has also ...

But Plato, in Symposium (199b), reports him as saying that he learned “the truth about love” from a clever woman. That woman is given the name “Diotima” – and in Symposium Socrates ...