Key Facts
full title · Lysis, or Friendship
author · Plato
language · Ancient Greek
time and place written · Athens, c.380 BCE (exact year unknown)
speaker · Socrates (469–399 BCE), Plato's mentor.
other main characters · Hippothales, Ctessipus (both friends of Socrates), Lysis (a boy, Hippothales sought-after beloved), and Menexenus (Lysis's friend).
translation used in this note · Benjamin Jowett, with some corrections by Eugene O'Connor.
setting · The festival of the Hermaea (a feast in honor of the god Hermes), in an Athenian temple.
primary topic of the dialogue · Friendship
other topics · Passionate love, desire, likeness, and the relationship between understanding and freedom.
conclusion to the dialogue · Aporia; nothing is decided.
