The Function of Desire in Relationships Between a Man and a Youth

The marriage of an Athenian woman and man is hard to define exactly because there has not been an exact word translated that is equivalent to the word, “marriage.” The Athenians have words that translate as physical acts for a marriage for the sake of having a child, they also have words that translate as “cohabit” or “live together.” This leads to the conclusion that our traditional connotation of marriage as a bond is not the way it was in Athens. The reasons for a man and a woman to be joined in marriage were nor for love, as we would expect, it would be for profitable and more pragmatic reasons. Usually most beneficial to the male’s in the bride’s life. Since the women were not supposed to be unattended they are assumed to have accepted what was decided for them in terms of a husband. “…A husband normally addresses his wife as “woman.” The Greek word for woman, is

Aphrodite was a powerful goddess who held raw power over gods and immortals. When she walked, flowers bloomed at her feet. She is the goddess of love, desire, and seduction, and though she was once just foam from the sea, she was born and manifest into such a power that can bring those who look at her down to their knees. She had a magic girdle that mad others around her to desire her.

In Plato’s Symposium, he constructed a dialogue between peers at a drinking party regarding the art of love. After hearing speeches of others in attendance, Socrates presented the thoughts of his former teacher, Diotima, by recounting the speech she had delivered years ago. Diotima first dissected two manifestations of the phenomenon: acquisitive desire, which is a longing to acquire something of beauty, and procreative desire, which is the longing to reproduce in the presence of beauty, either in body or in soul. She then described the ascent of eros, discussing forms of love in terms of their nobility. This spectrum of eros’ nobility brought forth by Diotima is reflected in and expanded on notions brought up in previous speeches, particularly those by Phaedrus and Pausanias, resulting in a much more complex understanding of love, its results, and what it stems from.

Holding great influence over both gods and mortals, Aphrodite could have anyone or anything she wanted. Using her unique powers, she could charm and convince her various desired lovers for much more than love and romance. Many have said that she was the goddess of lust, desire, trickery and sex appeal. Either way, Aphrodite had an assortment of engagements with other mortals and immortals. Her most recognized encounter was with the notorious Ares, who later went on to take the actual title of being her husband.

Aphrodite represents erotic love as a fascinating form of divine influence. The nude Aphrodite has powerful meaning and

The first Homeric Hymn of Aphrodite tells the story of Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love, desire, and beauty. She is the daughter of Zeus and highly regarded among both immortals and mortal men. The story recounts the power that Aphrodite possesses as well as the limitations of her power. One limitation this hymn primarily focuses on is a situation in which Aphrodite is humiliated. This myth utilizes strategies such as story structure and word choice in order to describe how Aphrodite is humiliated.

It can start a war or end one. Give you the strength of heroes or leave you powerless. It can be snared with a glance but no force can compel it to stay. Love. It was the downfall of Troy and the triumph of Odysseus. The dual nature of love in Greek myth as both destruction and salvation may have led to Plato’s unique conceptualization of love. In The Symposium he speaks of two Aphrodites: Common and Heavenly. The first has domain over physical attachments and is considered vulgar. The second, being divine is concerned with the soul, not the body. It is a heavenly love, a love of the mind, the spirit. It is also exclusively for same-sex partners. Although Plato’s conception of love may not have been the prevailing notion of the time, it is

The third speaker, Eryximachus, bases his speech on Pausanias’ theory of common and celestial love. He explains that common and celestial loves are natural within our bodies. Eryximachus tends to stray away from the larger point of view and goes down a narrower path as his definition of love solely pertains to medicinal purposes, as something to bring together polar opposites, like hot and cold, black and white, sweet and sour, and get them to love one another. He wants to consider a general perspective of love, characterizing it not only for human beings but for lifeless objects as well.

In Plato’s work Symposium, Phaedrus, Pausania, Eryximachus, Aristophane and Agathon, each of them presents a speech to either praise or definite Love. Phaedrus first points out that Love is the primordial god; Pausanias brings the theme of “virtue” into the discussion and categorizes Love into “good” one or “bad” one; Eryximachus introduces the thought of “moderation’ and thinks that Love governs such fields as medicine and music; Aristophanes draws attention to the origin and purposes

Greek popularity of erotic behavior lay in strict division of social life and family to the realm of male and female. Marriage were usually not for love, but to fill traditions and strengthen men’s social status. The men spent their time mostly in their own company and the company o "hetairai" - looking for friendship and understanding, and erotic fascination.

The older man will exchange his knowledge and virtue to the younger man for the fulfillment of the older man’s sexual desires. Like Plato, Pausanias believes that the highest maxim in the world to strive for is virtue: “For he too has demonstrated something about himself: that he is the sort of person who will do anything for the sake of virtue—and what could be more honorable that that? It follows, therefore, that giving in to your lover for virtue’s sake is honorable, what ever the outcome.” (185B) Yet, Plato, through Socrates and Diotima, differs from Pausanias in the way in which virtue is obtained. For Pausanias, the relationship between desire and virtue requires favors to be exchanged for both bodily and mindful stimulation. Since virtue is the desired outcome for the young man, he must submit to the authority of the older man by basically any means necessary, namely through sexual favors. Homosexuality appears to be a common beginning for the quest of virtue and philosophy, but by what means necessary to obtain these ends? Plato presents Pausanias’s theory to be only partially correct, as he ultimately extols a love that requires no sexual love. In Pausanias’s theory of love, sexual love is necessary to fulfill the both needs. Plato’s ideal form of love is fully expressed in the concept of Diotima’s ladder.

Joshua Mark’s claim that Sappho’s poetry “…concerns itself with romantic love between women” (Mark 2014) is valid and evident in the text. Sappho states if “…she does not love, soon she will love / even unwilling” (Poem 1 23-24). This statement is more likely to be literal in nature; rather than referring to the abstract love of the world, it refers directly to the love of another woman. This conclusion is further supported by Aphrodite who states “…Who, O Sappho is wronging you?” (19-20), reaffirming the idea that a particular is the subject of discussion rather than an idea. Another confirmation of the relation to romance is Sappho’s direct mention of the heart when she states “…do not break with hard pains, / O lady, my heart…” (3-4).

Plato was a philosopher from Classical Greece and an innovator of dialogue and dialect forms which provide some of the earliest existing analysis ' of political questions from a philosophical perspective. Among some of Plato 's most prevalent works is his dialogue the Symposium, which records the conversation of a dinner party at which Socrates (amongst others) is a guest. Those who talk before Socrates share a tendency to celebrate the instinct of sex and regard love (eros) as a god whose goodness and beauty they compete. However, Socrates sets himself apart from this belief in the fundamental value of sexual love and instead recollects Diotima 's theory of love, suggesting that love is neither beautiful nor good because it is the desire to possess what is beautiful, and that one cannot desire that of which is already possessed. The ultimate/primary objective of love as being related to an absolute form of beauty that is held to be identical to what is good is debated throughout the dialogue, and Diotima expands on this description of love as being a pursuit of beauty (by which one can attain the goal of love) that culminates in an understanding of the form of beauty. The purpose of this paper is to consider the speeches presented (i.e. those of Phaedrus, Pausanias, Eryximachus, Aristophanes, and Agathon) in Plato 's Symposium as separate parts that assist in an accounting of the definition and purpose of platonic love.

There is no suggestion in the comedy that the boy has to marry the young woman. The young man’s father is not surprised that he wishes to marry for love. Which, can prove that this might not have been a rare occurrence, and shows men could have married for ‘love’. Lever gives examples of other plays that display unmarried Athenian men in love with women who are known to be of citizen birth. Both Brown, Walcot, and Wies define the term eros differently, so it is incredibly difficult to establish what exactly constituted as ‘love’ for these people, and the social history of Athens is far to dense to use comic drama as evidence for everyday life. Researchers can make valid arguments, but they wont know exactly what these ancient Athenians felt. People cannot compare the word love in the present culture to the erotic world in which Wiles

Unlike twenty-first century America, ancient Greece viewed human sexuality depending on the person’s control on their sexual impulses. Bisexuality was very accepted and the most widespread same – sex relation was between an adult man and a pubescent boy. This relationship was usually just for sexual pleasure, than an actual emotional committed relationship. Like mentioned before ancient Greeks did not believe in sexual orientation rather, it depended whether the person was the penetrator or the penetrated. As a dominant male centered society, men imposed their