Eros as ‘Pteros’. Allegorical Mythology in Plato’s Phaedrus

While most experts agree that myth plays an important role in Plato’s dialogues, the more exact nature of this role still haunts Platonic studies. Critical perspectives have changed over the years, yet two essential positions continue to prevail, equally interlacing their interpretation of Plato’s view of myth with an estimation of his own qualities as a literary author: on one hand, negligence of the intrinsic aesthetico‐philosophical interest of Platonic myth and unreserved or qualified subordination of poetic mythos to philosophical logos; on the other hand, recognition of the significance of Plato’s myths and relaxation of the dichotomy of philosophy and myth conducing in some cases even to evaluation of poetic myth over philosophical dialectic. In order to appreciate the fundamental interaction of literature and philosophy in these myths, I suggest that we approach them armed with the tools of close textual analysis and a redefined concept of allegory – tools frequently employed in relation to Platonic myth, albeit generally in a thoroughly negative or, at best, imprecise way. On the basis of a close reading of the myth in Phaedrus 246a–256e, key passage to understanding the status of myth in Plato’s work, I tie Platonic writing to an allegorical aesthetics intricately entwined with the philosophical core of the dialogue.