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Was Diotima Real?



Who was Socrates' teacher? Is there someone (historical) who bears the same relationship to him that he bears to Plato and Plato bears to Aristotle, so that we can extend the line of apostolic succession one link further back? 

 The SYMPOSIUM, Socrates said that he was taught about Love (and, it seems, about other conceptions basic to his philosophy) by a woman named Diotima. There is room for debate about how historical this bit was. Plato may have invented her for expository purposes.
One consideration though is the placename associated with her. She is called “Diotima of Mantinea,” and Mantinea was a city in the Peloponnese affiliated with Sparta. Plato, I think, would not have invented this detail. In the climate after the execution of Socrates, he would not have encouraged the notion that “perhaps he had the hemlock coming because he was consorting with the enemy.” So … maybe she is historical and the right answer to our question.

 (The above is the image assigned to her by a painter in the 1850s.) 
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