Pausanias of Athens

Pausanias(/pɔːˈseɪniəs/;Greek:Παυσανίας;fl. c. 420 BC) was anancient Athenianof thedemeKerameis,who was the lover of the poetAgathon.

Although Pausanias is given a significant speaking part inPlato'sSymposium,very little is known about him. Ancient anecdotes tend to address only his relationship with Agathon and give us no information about his personal accomplishments. Around 407 BC he removed himself together with Agathon from Athens to the court of the Macedonian kingArchelaus.

Pausanias appears briefly in two other Socratic dialogues, Plato'sProtagorasandXenophon'sSymposium.He is also mentioned in Book V ofAthenaeus'Deipnosophistae,and in Book II ofClaudius Aelianus'Varia Historia.

See also

• List of speakers in Plato's dialogues

References

• Harry Neumann, "On the Sophistry of Plato's Pausanias,"Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association,Vol. 95, (1964), pp. 261–267.