Phaedrus

During the second speech, when Socrates begins describing the nature of the soul, there are strikingly similar images to my mind as that of angels, especially when he mentions the development of wings. Of course I keep in mind that he mentions prior that he will describe this situation in metaphor (what it is like), at least according to the footnote (246A). Though I wonder if this is a partial inspiration for the angelic images found throughout Christian literature/thought. I am also curious if the angels referred to in the Old Testament (the Jewish angelic hierarchy could have also been inspired by Babylonian/Zoroastrian concepts which may have surfaced a few hundred years before Plato) appeared before Phaedrus. I'm willing to bet that concepts of the divine coupled with the notion of wings appeared before Plato conjured up this idea. This also brings to question as to whether Plato considers the soul (or whatever one wants to call it) divine. Within his metaphorical analysis of the soul, it appears one's soul can be either bodily or divine, and this at least draws a distinction between two states (which the soul can adhere to). He explains the struggle a soul goes through when encountering a situation (love) that can swing the soul in either direction (to the body or the divine) depending on the labor and will of the driver of the soul. This concept is central to the mysteries, and laboring to unite one's soul with the divine, rather than the body is the aim of the initiate. This tells me that, even if the overarching theme of this dialogue is rhetoric or education, this tale about the immortal soul and how to shift it toward the divine in such a confusing situation as love is no less important, at least for initiates (Plato and others). And to shift the dialogue to a theme of rhetoric, may have been strategic for the majority (non-initiates) to easily latch onto and undermine the philosophic love speech.