Tally and matching halves · Lexicon

From the book

Symposium

Plato · Diotimos Editions · 2026

Orientation

At a Glance

The wordSymbolon here is a recognition-token whose matching portion is held elsewhere.
In the SymposiumAfter explaining the new bodily arrangement, Aristophanes calls each human a tally, cut two from one like a flatfish.
In this editionThe edition renders symbolon “tally” and lispai “halved dice”, explaining both in notes.
A place to readFlatfish and the matching tally describe present humans.

Meaning

Symbolon here is a recognition-token whose matching portion is held elsewhere. It is not primarily the modern “symbol” as an arbitrary sign. The tally image makes divided identity and recognition palpable.

Use in the book

After explaining the new bodily arrangement, Aristophanes calls each human a tally, cut two from one like a flatfish. The sought partner is described as one’s own matching token. The image contributes more than the simple fraction “half”: the parts can identify one another by fitting together. It supports the felt shock of friendship and affinity when one encounters the other part.

The later warning imagines another division, producing beings like profile reliefs and halved dice. These objects turn the same image from recognition toward vulnerability. The myth’s surviving half may also seek a different partner after a death, so the token-image should not be expanded into a strict modern theory of exactly one possible partner. Diotima subsequently tests the value of any proposed whole by the good.

Places to read

191dFlatfish and the matching tally describe present humans.
192b–cRecognition is experienced as friendship, affinity and love.
193aReliefs and halved dice illustrate the threat of another cut.
205d–eDiotima qualifies the value of the sought half and whole.

Translation in this edition

The edition renders symbolon “tally” and lispai “halved dice”, explaining both in notes. The latter is a rare concrete term; the article follows the edition’s explanation rather than pretending to establish the object’s material history independently.

λίσπαι (lispai)

lispai — Halved dice, the concrete comparison for a further division that would leave humans thinner still; the plural is retained as a source-form headword.

193a — λίσπαι. A threatened further cut yields bodies like halved dice.

Read: Tally and matching halves.

σύμβολον (symbolon)

symbolon — A matching token or tally, one part retained to identify its counterpart; Aristophanes uses it for the divided human.

191d — ἀνθρώπου σύμβολον. Each present person is a tally of a human being.
191d — τὸ αὑτοῦ ἕκαστος σύμβολον. Each seeks the matching tally of his or her own.

Read: Tally and matching halves.