A toast to virtue: drinking competitions, Plato, and the Sicilian tyrants

Eva Anagnostou-Laoutides

doi:10.2307/j.ctv15tt78p.12

A toast to virtue: drinking competitions, Plato, and the Sicilian tyrants

Eva Anagnostou-Laoutides

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review

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Abstract

This paper examines Plato’s use of wine-drinking as an underrated paradigm for discussing the temperament of the tyrannical man in the Republic and the Symposium. I argue that Plato found in the Syracusan tyrants, with whom he had recurrent interaction from 388 BCE onwards, a striking example of the interplay between tyranny, philosophy, and drinking. Given the consensus on the composition date of the Republic around 380 BCE, and regardless of whether book 1 was originally written as a separate dialogue, my paper corroborates the view that Plato’s tyrannical man in book 9 was modelled on Dionysius I and his son, Dionysius II, whose penchant for heavy drinking was notorious.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	Conflict and competition
Subtitle of host publication	Agōn in Western Greece: selected essays from the 2019 Symposium on the Heritage of Western Greece
Editors	Heather L. Reid, John Serrati, Tim Sorg
Place of Publication	Sioux City, USA
Publisher	Parnassos Press- Fonte Aretusa
Pages	123-138
Number of pages	16
ISBN (Print)	9781942495352
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv15tt78p.12
Publication status	Published - 2020

Bibliographical note

Version archived for private and non-commercial use with the permission of the author/s and according to publisher conditions. For further rights please contact the publisher.

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10.2307/j.ctv15tt78p.12

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Cite this

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abstract = "This paper examines Plato{\textquoteright}s use of wine-drinking as an underrated paradigm for discussing the temperament of the tyrannical man in the Republic and the Symposium. I argue that Plato found in the Syracusan tyrants, with whom he had recurrent interaction from 388 BCE onwards, a striking example of the interplay between tyranny, philosophy, and drinking. Given the consensus on the composition date of the Republic around 380 BCE, and regardless of whether book 1 was originally written as a separate dialogue, my paper corroborates the view that Plato{\textquoteright}s tyrannical man in book 9 was modelled on Dionysius I and his son, Dionysius II, whose penchant for heavy drinking was notorious. ",

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Anagnostou-Laoutides, E 2020, A toast to virtue: drinking competitions, Plato, and the Sicilian tyrants. in HL Reid, J Serrati & T Sorg (eds), Conflict and competition: Agōn in Western Greece: selected essays from the 2019 Symposium on the Heritage of Western Greece. Parnassos Press- Fonte Aretusa, Sioux City, USA, pp. 123-138. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv15tt78p.12

A toast to virtue: drinking competitions, Plato, and the Sicilian tyrants. / Anagnostou-Laoutides, Eva.
Conflict and competition: Agōn in Western Greece: selected essays from the 2019 Symposium on the Heritage of Western Greece. ed. / Heather L. Reid; John Serrati; Tim Sorg. Sioux City, USA: Parnassos Press- Fonte Aretusa, 2020. p. 123-138.

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review

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A toast to virtue: drinking competitions, Plato, and the Sicilian tyrants

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