Rivisitazioni dell'eros. Attualità di un antico materiale emozionale (§§ 1-6)

This paper first remembers some of the most significant passages on Greek èros: Hesiod’s cosmic Eros, the invincible first god; Sappho’s and Theognis’ poems on human lovers; Odysseus’ love experiences with Calypso, Circe and Nausicaa; conjugal love in the Odyssey, in Euripides’ Alcestis, in Plato and Aristotle. While preserving its primordial divine power, this pàthos gradually becomes a subjective source of action in the social and political life. This emerges especially in Plato’s Symposium, where Socrates stresses the importance of a personal “exercise” (àskesis) in love. Twentieth-century scholarship on Greeks’ homosexual èros (Dover, Calame, Halperin, Cantarella) confirms that èros is fundamental to the institution of the pòlis, and shows its relevance to the contemporary discussion on emotions. Bringing together contemporary scholarship on emotions and ancient texts, especially Plato’s, that elicit an emotion on emotions, the paper rethinks the modifications the Western subject underwent in its inner and most vital dimension.