Eros at the Banquet (Oklahoma Series in Classical Culture) (Volume 40)

I was dreading reading Plato, but this book is really helpful. I love how there is vocab for every section...not just a huge section at the end (or worse, nothing at all). The space in between lines for writing was also helpful for me; the text wasn't as crammed as in other books. It was also really good that the notes were at the bottom of each page. I HATE going back and forth between the beginning and the end of a book to find the notes. Overall, this was a great book. I wish more of my Latin and Greek classes used books like this.

very fun to read.

Good

I have had the pleasure of teaching with this edition of the Symposium twice now, and cannot rave about it enough. Pratt's edition is fabulous, especially for students returning to school after a summer's vacation. Her editorial comments quickly remind the student to relearn purpose or result or object clauses when necessary, to review indirect speech, etc. The student is able to delve into an actual Greek text while getting reminders as to the basics of Greek grammar. As the student proceeds through the text, the hints slowly drop out or ask the student to identify the grammar. Pratt's edition assures, then, that students do not begin to forget the grammar as they deal with vocabulary and constant exceptions of non-textbook Greek. But at the same time, the student begins to feel comfortable with the messiness that Greek is, with the constant exceptions, and with the sheer difficulty of second year Greek.There is, of course, the concern that students wil not learn quickly enough to navigate the dictionary and to approach texts with minimal apparatuses. My thought, though, is that the command of grammar and forms that Pratt's edition imparts easily makes up for this. A third year student who used Pratt's text in the second year will be, I think, more prepared (even if he or she has not before seen a text with minimal notes) than a student who took a conventional second year Greek course. I particularly like Pratt's text because it offers an alternative to teaching Homer or an anthology in the second year. Homer, in my experience, does not adequately prepare students for Attic, and anthologies do not give students the opportunity to get a feel for the language.In short, highly recommended for any second year Greek course.

This book is perfect for any second year Greek class, or for someone trying to tackle the language on their own. As for the dialogue itself, the Symposium itself is completely sublime and a great choice for this kind of textbook. Frankly, it's hard to think of a better dialogue to teach a second year class. As for Louise Pratt's commentary, it makes reading this (at times, rather challenging) text feasible and fun. Pratt has done a superb job toeing the line between giving the student too much information or too little. Geoffrey Steadman's commentary, for instance, probably gives you a little too much help and enables you a little too much. The result is that your critical thinking skills atrophy and your Greek never improves. Kenneth Dover's commentary, on the other hand, while incredibly interesting, probably doesn't give the second year student enough help, and so the student won't be able to understand the Greek, which isn't a desirable outcome either. Pratt's commentary, by contrast, will tell you everything you need to know (vocabulary, grammar, allusions, context, etc.) to figure the text out for yourself and consequently improve your ability to figure out other Greek texts without excessive help. Additionally, the exercises and supplementary readings in the back are very helpful for sharpening your grammar (which may be rusty from a summer of inactivity) and the cross-references to Pratt's separate grammar book The Essentials of Greek Grammar give you a better idea of the greater scheme of Greek grammar, and opposed to the ad hoc explanations of Steadman. In conclusion, if you like Plato and can read some Greek, then buy this book and it will get you up to speed real fast.

Eros is a really good text for those who are just coming off of their first two (or so) years of Greek. Pratt's notes are learned and well chosen. After working my way through, all the while checking back with her superbly interconnected Essentials of Greek Grammar, I found myself easily able to go back and read the entire Symposium unedited. I would recommend this to any students who are trying to make the plunge into Attic prose.

I owned two Symposium commentaries during my Ancient Greek study (and countless others online) and this one was by far my favourite. It offered contextual information before each section and it was all in all simple to follow and offered interesting insights that I felt were lakcing in the others. It was expensive but woooorth itttt.

Fun. Informative. Helpful for refreshing my Greek!