Agathon

Agathon

Agathon (ca. 448-400 BC) was an Athenian tragic poet. He is best known for his appearance in Plato's Symposium, which describes the banquet given to celebrate his obtaining a prize for his first tragedy at the Lenaia in (416). He is also a prominent character in Aristophanes' comedy the Thesmophoriazousae. Agathon was the life-long companion of Pausanias, who also appears in the Symposium and in Plato's Protagoras. Together with Pausanias, Agathon later moved to the court of Archelaus, king of Macedon, who was recruiting playwrights; it is here that he probably died around 401 BCE. Agathon introduced certain innovations into the Greek theater: Aristotle tells us that the plot of his Anthus was original and not, as was usual at the time, borrowed from mythological subjects. Agathon was also the first playwright to write choral parts which were apparently independent from the main plot of his plays

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