Images of love and politics : Plato 's conscious manipulation of myths

Abstract

This paper offers a comparative analysis of the ways in which Plato used mythical language in order to convey his views on love and politics. For politics, the myth of the metals in the Republic and of Atlantis in the Timaeus/Critias will be analysed. For love, the function of myths in the Symposium and Phaedrus will be compared and contrasted. The emphasis will be on the self-conscious and subtle ways in which Plato manipulated imaginative constructs in order to serve his philosophical views.