From the book
Symposium
Plato · Diotimos Editions · 2026
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At a Glance
- The wordPausanias makes two Aphrodites support two Loves.
- In the SymposiumThe older Aphrodite is motherless and descends from Heaven; the younger is daughter of Zeus and Dione.
- In this editionThe edition renders the titles “Heavenly” and “Common”, preserving the connection with Heaven in the first.
- A place to readThe two titles, genealogies and differentiated objects of attraction.
Meaning
Pausanias makes two Aphrodites support two Loves. Heavenly and Common are divine titles that become evaluative classifications within his speech. Their meaning in that argument must not be mistaken for an exhaustive taxonomy of attraction.
Use in the book
The older Aphrodite is motherless and descends from Heaven; the younger is daughter of Zeus and Dione. Pausanias infers a Love corresponding to each and then judges actions by how they are performed. Common Love is directed toward women no less than boys, toward bodies rather than souls, and toward the most unthinking partners available. Heavenly Love is confined in his account to males and to a purportedly durable educational attachment. The comparison “rather than” is important: the speech does not produce a simple body-only versus soul-only opposition.
The speech’s distinction also cuts within male-directed love. Pausanias criticizes seeking immature boys whose later character is uncertain and says the worthy lover seeks an enduring common life. These claims belong to a historical and partisan defense of the relationship, not to an unqualified endorsement by Plato.
Eryximachus attaches his analogous distinction to two Muses, not to another pair of Aphrodites. Diotima later tells a different story: Love is conceived at Aphrodite’s birth-feast and therefore becomes her follower, drawn to her beauty. That account does not simply repeat Pausanias’ two divine genealogies.
Places to read
Translation in this edition
The edition renders the titles “Heavenly” and “Common”, preserving the connection with Heaven in the first. Its contextual note distinguishes the Hesiodic and Homeric genealogies. The quantifiers and comparisons at 181b rule out the false equation of Common Love with heterosexual desire alone.
Ἀφροδίτη (Aphroditē)
Aphroditē — Aphrodite, whose two genealogies and titles provide Pausanias with a framework for distinguishing Loves.
Οὐρανία (Ourania)
Ourania — Heavenly, the title of the older, motherless Aphrodite; the masculine derivative names the corresponding Love.
- 180d — Οὐρανίαν. The daughter of Heaven receives the title Heavenly.
Οὐράνιος (Ouranios)
Ouranios — Heavenly, the masculine adjective used for the Love associated with Heavenly Aphrodite.
- 180e — Οὐράνιον. The corresponding masculine title for Love.
Πάνδημος (Pandēmos)
Pandēmos — Of all the people or Common; in Pausanias’ evaluative distinction the title describes a less discriminating Love.