Odysseus Socrates, Orpheus Protagoras: the dramatic arc of homerization at the beginning of Plato’s Protagoras
Keywords:
Protagoras, Socrates, Odysseus, OrpheusAbstract
The central theme of the Protagoras dialogue is the teachability of political excellence. Yet Plato’s form of writing is not the treatise but instead the dramatic dialogue. This article brings up a discussion about the first part of the dialogue delineating its dramatic element. The main aim is to question Heda Segvic’s view that Socrates is assimilated to Hermes in the initial metaphor created by Socrates’ homerization. In opposition, the hypothesis purported herein is that Socrates claims to be comparable with Odysseus and that, when he equates Protagoras with Orpheus, he performs a double equating of characters who, in some way, visit Hades. We contend for the significant exegetical value for the understanding of the dialogue.
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