Aristophanes’ speech from the symposium attempts to define love and explains why people love who they love. A symposium was a social gathering for men in ancient Greece and included activities that were meant to bring people together. This speech was recorded by Plato in Greece in the fifth century BCE. Aristophanes was a comedic playwright, so this speech may have been intended as a joke to provoke laughter in his audience. Playwrights often write about topics that they have analyzed, and, since they hope to appeal to a large audience, incorporating societal values that many people can relate to encourages an engaged audience. In this speech, societal values regard love, a concept many people have experiences with. Listeners may have been surprised by his ideas, but the emergence of new aspects in their society likely encouraged people to reflect on uncommon thoughts, as opposed to instantly criticizing them. Aristophanes displays that various sexualities were tolerated in ancient Greece and indicates the presence of pederasty, values of a relationship, and greater importance of men in their society.

Greece widely colonized between the eighth century BCE to sixth century BCE, so in the fifth century BCE members of their society seem to be more focused on settling through developing and spreading societal values. During this time, an increase of colonization, festivals, and games encouraged people to share ideas. More social gatherings between all classes and sexes encouraged developing connections and likely led to spreading abstract ideas. A broader range of economic activities emerged with the creation of currency in the middle of the sixth century BCE which also may have encouraged people to branch out and develop uncommon connections and share more ideas. Philosophy appears to be a meaningful practice in ancient Greece. This is shown through documents that attempt to make sense of developing social customs and ideas through philosophical arguments, including ideas about democracy, personal relationships, and sexuality. Tolerated acts, including homosexual relationships, in ancient Greece were based on contradictions discovered through philosophical argument strategies. Phaedrus gives the first speech written in Plato’s Symposium and claims that love between men and youth is the strongest type of love. This idea is present in Aristophanes’ speech as he mainly talks about men’s relationships, including a large portion regarding pederasty. The comparison of the matching ideas in the two different speeches indicates that it was common for ancient Greek societal values and practices to be discussed during symposiums. 

At the symposium Aristophanes states that there were originally three sexes: male, female, and hermaphrodite. He explains that a hermaphrodite was a human with male and female genitalia, and that this sex no longer exists and is “solely a term of abuse”. Aristophanes shows that the ancient Greeks did not have knowledge that there were humans with both male and female genitalia and exhibits a negative viewpoint towards humans that did not fit either determined sex. He claims that the original human race consisted of characteristics of two humans: four arms, four legs, two sets of genitalia, and two heads and faces. The speech shares that Zeus cut humans in half to eliminate excessive pride, establishing two sexes (male and female) in ancient Greece. He likely explains the process of cutting humans in half not to highlight hermaphrodites, but to help the audience understand his point that love results from two halves yearning to be a whole.  

The main idea of the speech is that people love who they love because it was their other half of the original sex. Before being cut in half, humans had either two male genitalia, two female genitalia, or male and female genitalia, so the other half that one desired could be of the same sex. Aristophanes is giving this speech at an event with men, so him discussing homosexual relationships for a large portion of his speech indicates that homosexuality was a known practice and that others would not frown upon this type of relationship. His goal is to explain the origin of love, an abstract concept, so he would likely not use an abstract concept to illustrate this. Homosexuality was talked about in a light and comedic manner, not describing the practice as sinful or forbidding it like other ancient civilizations and religions, showing how the practice was morally and legally permitted in ancient Greece.

Morality and legality was often established by the Greek gods. Zeus decided to move reproductive organs to the front to satisfy two objectives: a male could couple with a female and have sex, and, most notably, that a male could have relations with another male. Homosexual relationships were present enough in Greece that Zeus, their divine ruler, was willing to change the construction of humans to allow for homosexual relations. Due to societal norms, a divine being approving social practices in ancient Greece led citizens to believe that the practice is just and should be accepted. If Zeus changed the formation of humans to allow for male and male intercourse, then homosexuality was accepted among the gods and citizens likely approved of this belief as well.

Aristophanes explains that original humans who had two male genitalia “love men throughout their boyhood” and that “such boys and lads are the best of their generation, because they are the most manly”. Since it was thought of as manly to engage in a male homosexual relationship, the idea of homosexuality must not have been discouraged. Considering this speech was given at a symposium that both boys and men could attend, Aristophanes may have intended to promote these relationships; he appears to motivate boys to practice pederasty by stating that the best boys of the generation are those that partake in this practice. The Greeks likely developed philosophical arguments that support a man and youth engaging in sexual acts, whether this is due to promoting manliness or to advancing boys in society. Pederasty was a cycle because “such persons are devoted to lovers in boyhood and themselves lovers of boys in manhood,” showing that the practice was reoccurring and common in ancient Greece.

Aristophanes displays that homosexual relationships were admirable, and therefore common. He only includes one sentence regarding the presence of lesbian relationships, furthering the idea that homosexuality was accepted and indicating that women did not deserve as much attention of men and were less significant in society. Homosexual men were characterized as having “high spirit and manliness and virility”, all traits that are valued in a society. He indicates a difference in heterosexual and homosexual relationships by mentioning that “most adulterers come from this class” of the common sex, implying that a societal norm was cheating on a wife and that a homosexual relationship typically held more mutual respect. Aristophanes implies that a man coupling with a woman could result in a burden: if a man couples with a woman there is “natural disinclination to marriage and procreation”, but if a man couples with a man they are “free from it to turn to other activities and to attend to the rest of the business of life.” A homosexual relationship allowed a man to be sexually and romantically satisfied without societal norms forcing him into the role of a parent.

Relationships were not always formed with the purpose of marriage or reproducing. This is highlighted through Aristophanes’ analysis of homosexual relationships. In a theoretical situation, Hephaestus, the god of blacksmiths and fire, asks a homosexual couple what they hope to gain from the other, and it is assumed that the homosexuals would not have an answer. This situation suggests that since homosexuals cannot reproduce, then they cannot gain from one another, also showing that a common purpose of relationships was to reproduce. Aristophanes continues the scenario by saying Hephaestus would reword his question to be “is the object of your desire to be always together as much as possible and never to be separated from one another day or night? If this is what you want, I am ready to melt and weld you together”. His statement acts as a modern definition of a relationship. Aristophanes believes that relationships are about one finding their other half, and this statement shows that relationships in ancient Greece could be based off personal pleasure, not solely on the possibility of reproducing. The speech is about love but hardly discusses marriage or reproduction, supporting the idea that feelings and connections were more significant regarding relationships than the ability to reproduce. He attempts to spread the idea that Greeks should prioritize finding their other half, not just someone to reproduce with.

The speech provides little information about women, lesbian relationships, and marriage. Aristophanes described lesbians in one sentence; he indicated that lesbians were accepted, which provokes the idea that women may have been given some choice. The only other time women are mentioned is when the behaviors of the common sex are described. Immediately after saying most adulterers are men from the common sex, he states that most women who are “mad about men and sexually promiscuous” belong to the common sex. Aristophanes does not explicitly state societal feelings towards adultery, so one must infer his purpose in using this phrasing. Since he praised men’s relationships and hardly mentioned anything about women it is logical that placing these two ideas together implies a negative view towards women’s behaviors. An arising belief based on philosophical arguments was that women should be involved in societal matters, but in Plato’s The Republic Socrates indicates that people will not take women seriously. The lack of mentioning women shows that women were not as significant as men in a relationship or society and were not considered the same way men were; the same concept applies to marriage. Aristophanes states that homosexual relationships are “quite content to live with one another unwed” which indicates homosexuals were not allowed to get married, yet they were still clearly a big part of romance in ancient Greece. This is the only mentioning of marriage in a speech about love, which suggests that the end goal of relationships was simply to find the other half and be happy.

Aristophanes’ speech from the symposium shows an ancient Greek belief that love is about finding the other half of one’s original sex. The acceptance and wide practice of homosexual relationships and pederasty in ancient Greece is apparent through comments made about men and boys and through extensive discussion about male and male relationships. The speech declares that homosexual relationships were naturally encouraged, through Zeus and the development of humans, and ancient Greek social norms led society to accept this belief. The lack of information shared about women provides the idea that women were not as important as men, and the comment regarding women being promiscuous and obsessed with men shows gender dynamics in ancient Greece. 

 

Sources:

David Cohen, Law, Society and Homosexuality in Classical Athens (Oxford University Press on behalf of The Past and Present Society, 1987) 4-8.

 Marvin Easterling, “Symposium by Plato” (Salem Press Biographical Encyclopedia, 2022), “Many Views of Love”.

Plato, “Aristophanes’ Speech from the Symposium,” in The History of Sexuality Sourcebook, ed. Mathew Kuefler (University of Toronto Press, 2007), 70, 72.

PJ Rhodes, A Short History of Ancient Greece (I.B. Tauris Short Histories, 2014), 28, 29, 32, 33.

Nancy Tuana, Feminist Interpretations of Plato (Penn State Press, 2010), 34-36.