Loving Wisely: Gender, Wisdom, and Ourania in Xenophon's Symposium
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.47611/jsrhs.v10i4.2478Keywords:
Xenophon, wisdom, Ourania, sophia, genderAbstract
Xenophon’s Symposium details a dinner party including Socrates in a manner like Plato’s Symposium. Also similar to Plato’s Symposium, Xenophon’s Socrates speaks on the nature of love, and the different types of love; Ourania, heavenly, and Pandemos, common. How are gender and wisdom linked to the idea of Ourania, or heavenly love between souls, as depicted in Xenophon’s Symposium? This paper will discuss whether women are capable of Ourania, which is traditionally reserved for only men. To answer this question, this paper will first show how wisdom is inherently tied to Ourania. This is because the love of souls involves knowledge of the soul, which is wisdom, or sophia. Then, it goes on to argue that virtues, including wisdom, can be taught. Finally, women are reintroduced, and it is argued that women can be taught wisdom. Consequently, this paperconcludes that women are capable of Ourania, for their souls can be wise.
Downloads
References or Bibliography
Baragwanath, E. (2010). Xenophon's Foreign Wives. In V. J. Gray (Ed.), Xenophon (Oxford Readings in Classical Studies) (pp. 41-72). Oxford University Press.
Danzig, G. (2017). Xenophon's Symposium. In M. A. Flower (Ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Xenophon (pp. 132-151). Cambridge University Press.
Dorion, L.-A. (2017). Xenophon and Greek Philosophy. In M. A. Flower (Ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Xenophon (pp. 37-56). Cambridge University Press.
Ferrario, S. B. (2017). Xenophon and Greek Political Thought. In M. A. Flower (Ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Xenophon (pp. 57-83). Cambridge University Press.
Gray, V. J. (1992). Xenophon's Symposion: The Display of Wisdom. Hermes, 120(1), 58-72.
Gray, V. J. (2017). Xenophon's Language and Expression. In M. A. Flower (Ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Xenophon (pp. 223-240). Cambridge University Press.
Guthrie, W.K.C. (1971). Socrates. Cambridge University Press.
Hindley, C. (2010). Xenophon on Male Love. In V. J. Gray (Ed.), Xenophon (Oxford Readings in Classical Studies) (pp. 72-110). Oxford University Press.
Huss, B. (2010). The Dancing Sokrates and the Laughing Xenophon, or the Other Symposium. In V. J. Gray (Ed.), Xenophon (Classical Readings in Classical Studies) (pp. 257-282). Oxford University Press.
Johnstone, C. L. (2009). Listening to the Logos: Speech and the Coming of Wisdom in Ancient Greece. University of South Carolina Press.
Kamtekar, R. (2013). Ancient Virtue Ethics: An overview with an emphasis on practical wisdom. In D. C. Russell (Ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Virtue Ethics (pp. 29-48). Cambridge University Press.
Krinks, P. (2018). Pausanian Classification or Socratic Participation: Theologizing the Plurality of Erotic Praxis is Plato's Symposium. Religions, 9(9).
Lear, A., & Cantarella, E. (2008). Images of Ancient Greek Pederasty: Boys Were Their Gods. Routledge.
Lee, J. W. I. (2017). Xenophon and his Times. In M. A. Flower (Ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Xenophon (pp. 15-36). Cambridge University Press.
Luraghi, N. (2017). Xenophon’s Place in Fourth-Century Greek Historiography. In M. A. Flower (Ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Xenophon (pp. 84-100). Cambridge University Press.
Okin, S. M. (1977). Philosopher Queens and Private Wives: Plato on Women and the Family. Philosophy and Public Affairs, 6(4), 345-369.
Plato. (2008). The Symposium (M. C. Howatson & F. C. C. Sheffield, Eds.; M. C. Howatson, Trans.). Cambridge University Press.
Rood, T. (2017). Xenophon's Narrative Style. In M. A. Flower (Ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Xenophon. Cambridge University Press.
Xenophon. (1890). The Symposium (H. G. Dakyns, Trans.). Macmillan and Co.
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
Copyright (c) 2021 Elizabeth Casey; Namrata Narula
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Copyright holder(s) granted JSR a perpetual, non-exclusive license to distriute & display this article.
