Reading the Mystical Visions of Love in Plato’s Erotic Dialogues with Plotinus and Rumi

n this paper, I wish to try to reconstruct the mystical scenes of intimacy in Plato’s erotic dialogues, taking cues from other mystical literature, including the Divan of the 13th century Persian poet, Rūmi, and the Enneads of Plotinus. I especially draw on Plotinus’ mystical interpretations of the Symposium’s erotic imagery, especially as we find them in Enneads I.6, III.5, VI.7, and VI.9.