Symposium by Plato | Chillbooks 🍇 Welcome to Chillbooks — your sanctuary for classic audiobooks with full on-screen subtitles, ambient visuals, and pure narration.

This is Symposium by Plato, one of the most important dialogues in Western philosophy, translated by Benjamin Jowett and read by Mark Cassidy.

Experience this timeless conversation on love, beauty, and the soul — all presented without background music, just clean narration and visuals to keep you calm and focused.

📘 About Symposium

Set during a lively Athenian banquet, Symposium features a series of speeches by Socrates and his companions as they explore the nature of Eros (love). Their reflections range from humorous to profound, culminating in Socrates’ retelling of Diotima’s mystical teaching on love as a ladder from physical desire to the contemplation of pure beauty.

More than a philosophical treatise, Symposium is a dramatic, poetic, and deeply human work that continues to influence ideas about love, desire, and the relationship between the body and the soul.

✍️ About Plato

Plato (c. 428/427–348/347 BCE) was a Greek philosopher and student of Socrates. Founder of the Academy in Athens, his writings laid the foundations of Western philosophy, covering ethics, metaphysics, politics, logic, and epistemology. Symposium, along with The Republic and Phaedrus, is among his most celebrated dialogues.

🌍 About the Translation

This audiobook uses Benjamin Jowett’s elegant and widely respected English translation, preserving the clarity and rhetorical style of the original Greek dialogue.

🎙️ About the Narration

Mark Cassidy brings steady, accessible narration to Plato’s philosophical banquet, making each voice distinct and the ideas easy to follow. Ideal for listening, studying, or reflecting.

What you’ll get:

• 📺 Full on-screen subtitles
• ❌ No background music
• 🍷 Dialogue-style narration with visual support
• 🧠 Perfect for study, philosophy enthusiasts, or relaxed listening

⏱️ Timestamps

(Chapters are not in the original text, but added to organize the flow of the dialogue)

• 00:00 — Symposium by Plato
• 00:13 — Persons of the Dialogue
• 00:35 — Scene: The House of Agathon
• 03:00 — Apollodorus’ Preface: Recounting the Story
• 07:30 — Phaedrus on Love as the Oldest of the Gods
• 15:00 — Pausanias: Heavenly vs. Common Love
• 24:00 — Eryximachus: Love in Harmony and Medicine
• 33:00 — Aristophanes: The Myth of Soulmates
• 45:00 — Agathon: Love as Young, Beautiful, and Virtuous
• 58:30 — Socrates: Questioning Agathon & Introducing Diotima
• 1:13:30 — Diotima’s Ladder of Love
• 1:31:30 — Alcibiades Interrupts: Praising Socrates
• 1:46:30 — Closing: Aftermath and Reflections

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