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The Symposium is a philosophical text by Plato dated c. 385-370 BC. It concerns itself at one level with the genesis, purpose and nature of love, and (in latter-day interpretations) is the origin of the concept of Platonic love.

Love is examined in a sequence of speeches by men attending a symposium, or drinking party. Each man must deliver an encomium, a speech in praise of Love (Eros).

Plato sets the action at a party hosted by the poet Agathon to celebrate his first victory in a dramatic competition, the Dionysia of 416 BCE. There a discussion develops between the guests on the theme of love.

Socrates in his speech asserts that the highest purpose of love is to become a philosopher or, literally, a lover of wisdom. Commonly regarded as one of Plato's major works, the dialogue has been used as a source by social historians seeking to throw light on life in ancient Athens - in particular, upon human sexuality and the symposium as an institution.

The Symposium was written as a dramatic dialogue - a form used by Plato in more than thirty works - and, according to Walter Hamilton, it is his most perfect one. Set in Athenian social life, it develops the themes of love and also of Socrates' character. There is little doubt that the content of the dialogue is fictitious, although Plato has built a very realistic atmosphere.

The dialogue's seven major speeches are delivered by:

Phaedrus (speech begins 178a): was an Athenian aristocrat associated with the inner-circle of the philosopher Socrates, familiar from Phaedrus and other dialogues.
Pausanias (speech begins 180c): the legal expert.
Eryximachus (speech begins 186a): a physician.
Aristophanes (speech begins 189c): the eminent comic playwright.
Agathon (speech begins 195a): a tragic poet, host of the banquet, that celebrates the triumph of his first tragedy.
Socrates (speech begins 201d): the eminent philosopher and Plato's teacher.
Alcibiades (speech begins 214e): a prominent Athenian statesman, orator and general.

Plato's Symposium is one of the best loved classics from the ancient world, a work of consummate beauty as both philosophy and as literature, most appropriate since the topic of this dialogue is the nature of love and includes much philosophizing on beauty.

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