Attributed epigrams and poetic testimonia
Short poems transmitted under Plato’s name address love, mourning, displaced communities and reversals of fortune. Diogenes Laertius quotes eleven at III.29–33; the Greek Anthology preserves overlapping attributions that require individual textual and historical assessment.
Understanding the text
This is a dossier of attributed poetry, not a securely authored poetry book. The partial inventory gives verified Anthology references for the eleven quoted items and does not claim to exhaust every poetic attribution.
Key points
- 01
Love and mourning
The two Aster poems and the epitaph for Dion turn personal attachment into compact images of stars, loss and public memory.
- 02
Voice and attribution
Poems on Alexis, Archeanassa, Agathon and Xanthippe cannot automatically be used as transparent records of Plato’s relationships.
- 03
Epigrammatic reversal
The Eretrian epitaph, Aphrodite’s exchange with the Muses and the gold-and-noose poem use distance or surprise to reshape an ordinary judgment.
How to read it
Read each item with its Anthology reference and witness. Separate literary speaker, attributed author and biographical inference, especially where later anecdotes use poems to reconstruct a private life.
Editions & sources
Summaries and key points are original editorial interpretations. They accompany reading the work and do not replace an edition of the text. Editorial method ↗