# Agathon — Dialogues character guide

> Agathon in Dialogues by Plato.

**Role:** supporting

**First appearance:** 0031-symposium

## Snapshot

The young tragic poet whose first victory sets the feast in motion, hosting a night of speeches that will echo through Athens for years.

## Who they are

Agathon is the celebrated host whose recent prize-winning tragedy occasions the gathering, and whose house becomes the stage for the evening's contest of speeches on love. He is youthful, beautiful, and self-consciously the center of attention, a man whose charm and theatrical sensibility make him both a gracious host and a subtle rival to Socrates. His absence from Athens in later years is what makes the night so hard to reconstruct, and his presence at its center is what makes it worth reconstructing at all.

## In the story

### [Symposium](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/dialogues_se/chapters/symposium)

Hosts the symposium and gives a speech praising love as young and beautiful.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/dialogues_se/characters/agathon
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- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/dialogues_se/characters