Epic kleos as a Model for Immortality in Plato’s Symposium

The presentation of immortality in the Symposium persists as one of the most fraught topics in Plato studies, as scholars continue to struggle even to discern what model of immortality is at play. I seek to lend clarity to this issue by considering Diotima’s categorisation of lovers at 208c ff.. I read in Diotima’s introduction of the philotimoi an appeal to a poetic model for the mode of immortality she advances in her wider account. In particular, I argue that Diotima appropriates (and transforms) the epic concept of kleos (glory) to establish the centrality of remembrance of one’s virtue in lovers’ projects of self-immortalisation. I demonstrate that the quest for kleos cannot simply be reduced to the pursuit for mere remembrance, and suggest that Diotima invites us to carry over this richer understanding of kleos to fill out our conception of the psychology, activities, and achievements of the erotic quest for immortality, including that of philosophical lovers.