From the book
Symposium
Plato · Diotimos Editions · 2026
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At a Glance
- The wordThe place-names distinguish two campaign settings and several episodes.
- In the SymposiumAt Potidaea the men share meals; Socrates endures lack of food and winter frost, later stands thinking through a separate summer day and night, and saves the wounded Alcibiades.
- In this editionThe source’s historical notes identify the campaigns, while the continuous speech provides the sequence and distinctions used here.
- A place to readThe Potidaea account includes scarcity, winter cold, summer inquiry, and rescue.
Meaning
The place-names distinguish two campaign settings and several episodes. They are not interchangeable locations for one feat.
Use in the book
At Potidaea the men share meals; Socrates endures lack of food and winter frost, later stands thinking through a separate summer day and night, and saves the wounded Alcibiades. The story then changes to the retreat from Delium, where Alcibiades is mounted and Socrates is on foot with arms. Keeping the locations, seasons, and observer’s circumstances distinct prevents the dramatic examples from collapsing into a generic legend of endurance.
Places to read
Translation in this edition
The source’s historical notes identify the campaigns, while the continuous speech provides the sequence and distinctions used here. The two printed forms of Potidaea differ in accentuation with their inflection and are retained as printed.
Δήλιον (Dēlion)
Dēlion — The place from which the Athenian army retreats in Alcibiades’ second military example.
- 220e — Δηλίου. The army retreats in flight while Socrates and Laches remain composed.
Read: Potidaea and Delium.
Ποτείδαια (Poteidaia)
Poteidaia — The campaign setting shared by Socrates and Alcibiades, where endurance and rescue are recalled.
- 219e — Ποτείδαιαν. Their shared campaign follows the unsuccessful seduction in Alcibiades’ narrative.
- 221a — Ποτειδαίᾳ. Alcibiades compares his observation of Socrates there with his better view at Delium.
Read: Potidaea and Delium.