Diotima's “Philosophy of Love” and Sappho's Poetry

Abstract

I have tried to show that the "Theory of Eroticism" that Socrates develops in The Symposium, wherein he proclaims "wise" Diotima as his teacher, connects to the images from Sappho’s poetic world. To illustrate this, I examined three, in my opinion, main issue and showed that: I. Plato not only was familiar with Sappho’s works, but also acknowledged the Mytilenean poetess as ‘wise’ and, most importantly, even called her his “tenth muse”; II. Sappho’s and Diotima’s understanding of Eros’s divine power is identical; III. The central doctrine of The Symposium – the doctrine of divine beauty ( καλοκἀγαθία), which Diotima (or her symbolic image) was proving employing her philosophical logic – was inspired by Sappho’s wisdom expressed through her poetic images.