DIOTIMA OF MANTINEA
Diotima is a central figure at the end of Plato’s Symposium—the famous dialogue where all participants examine the concept of love. No women allowed. Socrates, as the figure of “the philosopher,” introduces his teacher’s ideas about “love”… and that teacher is a female philosopher! Yes, Diotima of Mantinea is actually the source of “Platonic love”. Her theories have been widely used by religious and spiritual authors throughout history to discuss the “rising of the human soul”.
