Homer, Plato and the Modes of Teaching Exposition

The aim of this essay is to investigate the relationship between Homer and Plato, by highlighting Plato’s ability – according to Neoplatonists – to represent also metaphysically the agreement between inspired poetry and philosophy. I will discuss this aspect by focusing on the various modes of teaching exposition or ways of teaching the divine, a question addressed in isagogical terms in the Anonymous Prolegomena and the Proclean Commentary on the Parmenides, but treatedmore extensively in the Platonic Theology. Despite its theoretical complexity, the intertextual analysis of the modes of theological exposition that Plato adopts in the dialogues may be useful because it seems able 1) to offer some new and interesting insights into the Homer-Plato question, and 2) to explain why Plato can be considered an inspired author of philosophical poetry, a philosopher among poets and a poet among philosophers.