NEW SEXUAL PUNS IN PLATO’S SYMPOSIUM : HICCUPS, SNEEZES AND PAUSANIAS

Abstract

Abstract No consensus has been reached about the humorous banter in the sneezing and hiccups passages in Plato’s Symposium (185d2–e5, 189a1–c1). Drawing on the work of Craik, Henderson and others, as well as new evidence from the Hippocratic Corpus and Aristophanes’ plays, this article shows they involve unsuspected medical puns and name puns with vulgar, sexual significance.