Phaedrus

Related to Phaedrus: Plato

Phaedrus

Phaedrus (fēˈdrəs), fl. 1st cent. A.D., Latin writer, a Thracian slave, possibly a freedman of Augustus. He wrote fables in verse based largely on those of Aesop. The prose collections of fables that were popular throughout Western Europe in the Middle Ages were probably derived from Phaedrus.

The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Phaedrus

Born circa 15 B.C. in Macedonia; died circa A.D. 70 in Rome. Latin fabulist.

Phaedrus was a slave and later a freedman of the emperor Augustus. Of his five books of Aesopian Fables in iambic verse, 134 fables have been preserved. In the later books, Phaedrus expanded the range of the traditional genre by introducing moral judgments, anecdotes, and other new material. Phaedrus was plebeian in outlook, and he devoted much attention to social motifs. His style is rather dry and the narrative is invariably subordinate to the moral.

REFERENCES

Fedri Babrii: Basni. Translated by M. L. Gasparov. Moscow, 1962.
Gasparov, M. L. Antichnaia literaturnaia basnia (Fedr i Babrii). Moscow, 1971.

Phaedrus

?15 bc--?50 ad, Roman author of five books of Latin verse fables, based chiefly on Aesop

Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

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Comfortably perched under the tree by the river, seeking shelter from the scorching summer in Athens, the young Phaedrus appears shocked, wondering how the usually sober and detached Socrates is so 'totally out of place.'

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The most demanding readers will love the exciting narrative, Slapsak's haikulike concision in her descriptions of nature, the sharp-minded and rhythmically organized dialogues, all while continuosly discovering the importance of Plato's Phaedrus and the rich knowledge of numerous intertextual and interarts connections.

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Hermias' commentary on the Phaedrus is the only example of the Neoplatonic commentaries on this dialogue to have survived in its entirety, say Baltzly and Share, though many Neoplatonic commentaries are known.

Hermias: On Plato, Phaedrus 227A-245E

Plato in the Phaedrus, for example, talks about the typology of madness; in the discussion at Phaedrus 249 the discussion has turned to the philosopher who is inspired and so has a kind of knowledge not arrived at through reasoning whom, because they do not know the philosopher is inspired, the crowd considers to be mad.

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In the lecture later, ironically, recorded in writing as "Phaedrus," the ancient Greek philosopher said written words divorced information from its original spoken source, and said writing things down would irreversibly weaken people's memories.

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Plato's Phaedrus: A Defense of a Philosophic Art of Writing.

Socrates' veil in the Phaedrus and the weave of the Platonic dialogues/El vel de Socrates al Fedre I el teixit dels dialegs Platonics

Before he leaves, he hands Laurie one of Plato's' most interesting dialogues, Phaedrus. The book will serve as a talisman as Laurie later serves in the Navy in the Second World War.

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In Plato's Phaedrus, Socrates relates how Theuth, the Egyptian god of invention, tells King Thamus that writing will enhance the memory and wisdom of its users.

The Invention of News: How the World Came to Know About Itself

In Plato's Phaedrus, Socrates tells the story of the ancient Egyptian deity Theuth, who invented the arts of mathematics, astronomy, and writing.

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More particularly, the reference is to Plato's Phaedrus, when Phaedrus tells Socrates that he has been learning Lysias's discourse but wonders whether he will be able to remember and recite it adequately, at which point Socrates states that Phaedrus would never have decided to go for a walk if he had not already learnt the discourse by heart: "[Socrates:] when he [Phaedrus] was tired with sitting, he went out to take a walk, not until, by the dog, as I believe, he had simply learned by heart the entire discourse" (Plato, Phaedrus 134).

The Zibaldone as Leopardi's self-education

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