batch.motif.greek-plato-symposium-jowett-gutenberg-l999-l1123
---
record_id: batch.motif.greek-plato-symposium-jowett-gutenberg-l999-l1123
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/symposium-jowett.md
passage_locator:
label: Symposium / SYMPOSIUM / INTRODUCTION. / SYMPOSIUM; lines 999-1123
start: '999'
end: '1123'
translation: Symposium
notes: Generated from OpenAI Batch run motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority;
human review required.
canonical_text:
quote: ''
summary: 'The passage opens the dialogue frame: Apollodorus is asked to recount
speeches about love delivered at Agathon’s supper. He explains that he heard the
account from Aristodemus and checked parts with Socrates. The frame then shifts
to Aristodemus meeting Socrates, who is unusually bathed and sandalled before
going to Agathon’s banquet, and Socrates invites Aristodemus to come unasked while
joking with a proverb and a Homeric example.'
language: English
quote_policy: summarized
literal_observations:
- id: obs:1
text: The persons of the dialogue are listed, and the scene is given as the House
of Agathon.
category: setting
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:2
text: Apollodorus is asked to provide an account of speeches in praise of love delivered
by Socrates, Alcibiades, and others at Agathon’s supper.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:3
text: Apollodorus says the meeting occurred in their boyhood, when Agathon won the
prize with his first tragedy, after Agathon and his chorus offered a sacrifice
of victory.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: obs:4
text: Apollodorus says Aristodemus was present at Agathon’s feast, that Aristodemus
was a devoted admirer of Socrates, and that Socrates confirmed some parts of Aristodemus’s
narrative.
category: relationship
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: obs:5
text: Apollodorus and his companion walk toward Athens while speaking about the
discourses on love.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: obs:6
text: Apollodorus says speaking or hearing about philosophy gives him great pleasure
and profit.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: obs:7
text: The companion says Apollodorus is known as Apollodorus the madman and is always
raging against himself and everybody except Socrates.
category: attribute
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: obs:8
text: Aristodemus meets Socrates fresh from the bath and wearing sandals, which
is described as unusual.
category: attribute
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: obs:9
text: Socrates says he is going to a banquet at Agathon’s and has dressed finely
because Agathon is a fine man.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: obs:10
text: Socrates invites Aristodemus to go with him unasked to Agathon’s banquet.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: obs:11
text: Socrates proposes altering a proverb about unbidden guests at feasts and supports
the alteration by citing Homer’s depiction of Menelaus coming unbidden to Agamemnon’s
banquet.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
figures:
- id: fig:1
name_or_label: Apollodorus
description: A speaker who repeats a dialogue he heard from Aristodemus and had
already narrated to Glaucon; he presents himself as prepared to recount the speeches
on love.
role_refs:
- role:1
- role:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:4
- ev:5
- id: fig:2
name_or_label: Companion / Glaucon
description: The requester who asks Apollodorus to repeat the conversation about
the speeches on love.
role_refs:
- role:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:6
- id: fig:3
name_or_label: Aristodemus
description: A shoeless man from Cydathenaeum who was at Agathon’s feast and is
described as a devoted admirer of Socrates.
role_refs:
- role:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:7
- id: fig:4
name_or_label: Socrates
description: A participant in the speeches on love; he confirms parts of Aristodemus’s
narrative and is later met bathed and sandalled on the way to Agathon’s banquet.
role_refs:
- role:5
- role:6
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:4
- ev:7
- ev:8
- id: fig:5
name_or_label: Agathon
description: The host of the supper and banquet; he has won a prize with his first
tragedy and offered a sacrifice of victory with his chorus.
role_refs:
- role:7
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:3
- ev:7
- id: fig:6
name_or_label: Phoenix, son of Philip
description: An intermediary who told another person about the speeches before Apollodorus
is asked for a clearer account.
role_refs:
- role:8
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: fig:7
name_or_label: Menelaus
description: A Homeric figure cited by Socrates as coming unbidden to Agamemnon’s
banquet.
role_refs:
- role:9
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: fig:8
name_or_label: Agamemnon
description: A Homeric figure cited by Socrates as host of a banquet while feasting
and offering sacrifices.
role_refs:
- role:10
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
roles:
- id: role:1
label: Frame narrator
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: Apollodorus says he can comply with the request and rehearse the account
he received.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:5
- id: role:2
label: Devotee of philosophical speech
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: He says speaking or hearing philosophy gives him the greatest pleasure and
profit.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: role:3
label: Requester of the account
assigned_to:
- fig:2
basis: The companion asks Apollodorus to repeat the conversation about the speeches
on love.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:6
- id: role:4
label: Eyewitness source
assigned_to:
- fig:3
basis: Aristodemus is said to have been at Agathon’s feast and to have supplied
the account.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: role:5
label: Philosophical authority checked by narrator
assigned_to:
- fig:4
basis: Apollodorus says he asked Socrates about parts of Aristodemus’s narrative
and Socrates confirmed them.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: role:6
label: Inviter of unbidden guest
assigned_to:
- fig:4
basis: Socrates asks Aristodemus whether he will go with him unasked to Agathon’s
banquet.
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: role:7
label: Victorious host
assigned_to:
- fig:5
basis: Agathon has won the prize with his first tragedy and hosts the supper or
banquet.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:3
- ev:7
- id: role:8
label: Intermediary informant
assigned_to:
- fig:6
basis: Phoenix is named as someone who told another person about the speeches.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: role:9
label: Homeric unbidden guest
assigned_to:
- fig:7
basis: Socrates cites Menelaus as coming unbidden to Agamemnon’s banquet.
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: role:10
label: Homeric banquet host
assigned_to:
- fig:8
basis: Socrates cites Agamemnon as feasting and offering sacrifices when Menelaus
comes unbidden.
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
symbols:
- id: sym:1
label: House of Agathon
literal_form: house
associated_figures:
- fig:5
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: sym:2
label: Road to Athens
literal_form: road
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:2
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: sym:3
label: Victory sacrifice
literal_form: sacrifice
associated_figures:
- fig:5
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: sym:4
label: Sandals
literal_form: sandals
associated_figures:
- fig:4
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: sym:5
label: Banquet or feast
literal_form: banquet / feast
associated_figures:
- fig:3
- fig:4
- fig:5
- fig:7
- fig:8
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- ev:8
scenes:
- id: scene:1
label: Dialogue frame and setting
summary: The passage names the dialogue participants and locates the scene at Agathon’s
house.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:4
- fig:5
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: scene:2
label: Request for the speeches on love
summary: A companion asks Apollodorus to recount the speeches in praise of love
from Agathon’s supper, after hearing an indistinct report through others.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
- fig:4
- fig:5
- fig:6
symbol_refs:
- sym:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: scene:3
label: Narrative chain and philosophical walk
summary: Apollodorus explains that Aristodemus was the eyewitness source, that Socrates
confirmed parts, and that the road to Athens provides occasion for philosophical
conversation.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
- fig:3
- fig:4
symbol_refs:
- sym:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:5
- id: scene:4
label: Socrates invites Aristodemus to Agathon’s banquet
summary: Aristodemus meets Socrates freshly bathed and sandalled; Socrates says
he is going to Agathon’s banquet and invites Aristodemus to accompany him without
an invitation.
figure_refs:
- fig:3
- fig:4
- fig:5
symbol_refs:
- sym:4
- sym:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: scene:5
label: Proverb and Homeric banquet analogy
summary: Socrates jokes about changing a proverb concerning unbidden guests and
cites Menelaus coming unbidden to Agamemnon’s sacrificial banquet in Homer.
figure_refs:
- fig:3
- fig:4
- fig:7
- fig:8
symbol_refs:
- sym:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
candidate_motifs:
- id: motif:1
label: Transmission of a revered discourse through a chain of narrators
taxonomy_refs:
- wisdom
basis: The passage emphasizes that Apollodorus heard the account from Aristodemus,
checked parts with Socrates, and is asked to rehearse speeches concerning love
and philosophy.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:4
- ev:5
confidence: medium
cautions: The passage is a literary dialogue frame rather than a mythic revelation
narrative; the taxonomy reference is broad.
- id: motif:2
label: Philosophical conversation on the road
taxonomy_refs:
- wisdom
basis: Apollodorus and his companion walk toward Athens while discussing the speeches
on love, and Apollodorus praises the pleasure and profit of philosophical speech.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
confidence: medium
cautions: The road functions as a conversational setting; no explicit initiation
or journey symbolism is stated.
- id: motif:3
label: Victory sacrifice followed by feast
taxonomy_refs:
- sacrifice
basis: Agathon’s victory with his first tragedy is associated with a sacrifice of
victory and the later feast or banquet at his house.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:7
confidence: medium
cautions: The sacrifice is mentioned as background and is not narrated in detail.
- id: motif:4
label: Unbidden guest at a feast
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: Socrates invites Aristodemus to go unasked to Agathon’s banquet and explicitly
discusses proverbial and Homeric precedents for unbidden attendance at a feast.
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- ev:8
confidence: high
cautions: No available taxonomy reference directly matches this motif.
comparison_claims:
- id: claim:1
claim: The passage explicitly compares Socrates and Aristodemus going unbidden to
Agathon’s banquet with the Homeric example of Menelaus coming unbidden to Agamemnon’s
banquet.
claim_level: same_function
target: 'Homeric banquet episode cited as Iliad: Menelaus unbidden at Agamemnon’s
feast'
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
counter_evidence_refs: []
confidence: high
limitations: The comparison is made as a playful literary analogy inside the dialogue;
it does not by itself establish a broader mythic equivalence.
- id: claim:2
claim: The passage sets the proposed unbidden attendance beside a proverbial pattern
about good or inferior men going unbidden to feasts.
claim_level: same_motif
target: Proverbial unbidden guest at feast pattern
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
counter_evidence_refs: []
confidence: medium
limitations: The proverb is quoted and altered in jest, and the exact proverb tradition
is not further documented in the passage.
evidence:
- id: ev:1
type: summary
locator: lines 999-1005
quote_or_summary: The dramatis personae are listed, and the scene is identified
as the House of Agathon.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/symposium-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:2
type: summary
locator: lines 1006-1024
quote_or_summary: Apollodorus is stopped and asked for an account of speeches in
praise of love delivered by Socrates, Alcibiades, and others at Agathon’s supper;
Phoenix is mentioned as part of an indistinct report.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/symposium-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:3
type: summary
locator: lines 1040-1048
quote_or_summary: Apollodorus says the meeting was long ago, when Agathon won a
prize with his first tragedy, on the day after Agathon and his chorus offered
the sacrifice of victory.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/symposium-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:4
type: summary
locator: lines 1049-1058
quote_or_summary: Apollodorus identifies Aristodemus as the source, says he was
present at Agathon’s feast and admired Socrates, and says Socrates confirmed some
parts of the narrative.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/symposium-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:5
type: summary
locator: lines 1058-1074
quote_or_summary: Glaucon says the road to Athens is made for conversation; Apollodorus
says they walked and talked of the discourses on love, and that speaking or hearing
philosophy gives him pleasure and profit.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/symposium-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:6
type: summary
locator: lines 1075-1089
quote_or_summary: The companion calls Apollodorus the same as ever, says he speaks
evil of himself and others, and refers to his name as Apollodorus the madman;
Apollodorus answers that his notions of himself and others are why he is thought
mad.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/symposium-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:7
type: summary
locator: lines 1094-1109
quote_or_summary: Aristodemus meets Socrates fresh from the bath and wearing unusual
sandals; Socrates says he is going to Agathon’s banquet, has dressed finely for
Agathon, and asks Aristodemus to come with him unasked.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/symposium-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:8
type: summary
locator: lines 1110-1123
quote_or_summary: Socrates jokes about altering a proverb concerning the good going
unbidden to feasts and cites Homer’s Menelaus coming unbidden to Agamemnon’s banquet
while Agamemnon feasts and offers sacrifices.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/symposium-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
confidence:
extraction: high
motif_candidates: medium
comparison_claims: high
notes: The frame narrative, figures, and Homeric comparison are explicit. Motif
labels are cautious because the passage is primarily introductory dialogue framing
rather than a full mythic episode.
reviewer_status:
status: needs_review
reviewer: ''
reviewed_at: ''
notes: Machine-generated draft from OpenAI Batch; not human-reviewed.
extracted_by: openai_batch:gpt-5.5
extracted_at: '2026-04-28'
notes: |-
Used only the supplied passage and metadata. Taxonomy references are limited to available refs and used only where broadly supported.
batch_run_id=motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority
custom_id=motif_extract:greek-plato-symposium-jowett-gutenberg__l999-l1123
passage_sha256=5f41fdbb16a32560bd07949ff4f9c157b2672aaf4f8b36082c0d30fa858629fc