Dioniso filosofo: 'Rane' e 'Baccanti' sulla scena del 'Simposio' di Platone

In the field of studies on the 'theatricality' of Plato’s dialogues, this article deals with Plato's 'Symposium', its references to theatre (real and metaphorical), and in particular its relationship with Aristophanes’ 'Frogs' and Euripides' 'Bacchae'. In fact, in his dialogue Plato refers repeatedly to these classical plays, that share their Dionysiac nature with the 'Symposium' their Dionysiac nature: in the verbal competition of the philosophic symposium, the arbiter of which is called Dionysus, Socrates is seen as the comic Aeschylus of Aristophanes’ 'Frogs' (winner of the challenge with Euripides in the underworld, and crowned by Dionysus like Socrates by Alcibiades), and also as the tragic Dionysus of Euripides’ 'Bacchae' (the only tragedy with this god as a character). Thus Socrates appears the absolute king of theatre. The message we receive from these echoes and allusions, is that the mysterious 'player who is able to write comedies as well as tragedies' (mentioned by Socrates in the final part of 'Symposium'), is precisely the philosopher: Platonic philosophy is proposed as a new form of theatre that puts together comedy and tragedy in a single search for truth.