Il ruolo di Efesto e il tema prometeico nel discorso attribuito da Platone ad Aristofane nel Simposio

Abstract

This article aims to presenting a new analysis of the sources of the hypothetical
question of Hephaestus, and of the subsequent words of Aristophanes, in Plat.
Symp. 192d-193b. From the comparison with the Homeric source (the so-called song of
The Loves of Ares and Aphrodite) it emerges that Hephaestus in Plato replaces Apollo and
that the lovers, just as all men and the Platonic audience, play the role of Hermes, due
to the irrationality of human beings but also to the emotionally engaging effect of the
epic narrative. Hephaestus is also a character belonging to the broader “Prometheus
theme”, whose influence is most evident in Aristophanes’ comment on the words of
the god and in his concluding exhortation to men to be pious, an exhortation that
seems to go back to an interpretation of Hesiod’s Erga (especially regarding the Elpis
of Pandora’s box), shared with the tragedy Prometheus Bound.