GETTING THE JOKE AT PLATO SYMPOSIUM 172A.

The author discusses the unappreciated joke at the start of philosopher Plato's "Symposium" dialogue that is meant as a phallic procession in honor of the god Dionysus. Topics covered include critic Joseph Cotter's suggestion to emend the text leading to a familiar accusation of homosexuality, and the personification of the erect phallus in Phales from playwright Aristophanes' "Acharnians." The author also suggests that at "Symposium" 172A the annual phallic procession is evoked by Glaucon.