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Agathon (c. 448- 400 B.C.) was an Athenian tragic poet and friend of Euripides and Plato. He is best known from his mention by Aristophanes (Thesmophoriazusae) and in Plato's Symposium, which describes the banquet given to celebrate his obtaining a prize for his first tragedy ( 416). He was the long time (10-15 years) beloved of Pausanias, also mentioned in the Symposium and Protagoras . Pausanias followed Agathon to the court of Archelaus, king of Macedonia, who was recruiting playwrights. This is where Agathon probably died. He introduced certain innovations, and Aristotle (Poetica, 9) tells us that the plot of his Antho was original, not, as usually, borrowed from mythological subjects.
See: Aristophanes, Thesmoph. 59, 106, Eccles. 100
Ancient Athenians
