Diotima of Mantinea

Diotima of Mantinea appears in Plato's Symposium as the teacher Socrates credits with his understanding of Eros, her existence circa 440 B.C. a matter of scholarly dispute. Through Socrates' account, she articulates a doctrine of love that moves from physical attraction toward higher forms of beauty and knowledge. That ladder of desire, passed down through one dialogue, shaped centuries of philosophy and poetry. Whether she walked the earth or lived only in Plato's prose, the ideas attributed to her endure as the foundation of Western thought on longing and transcendence.