The idea of having a soulmate is hardly new.

Long before romance novels, dating apps and the phrase “my person,” people were already wondering why falling in love can feel like finding someone you’ve known all your life.

One of the oldest explanations comes from ancient Greece, in a story told by the philosopher Plato in his Symposium, a dialogue about the nature of love written around the fourth century BCE. The famous “soulmate” story, however, was not Plato’s own argument but a myth told by the playwright Aristophanes during the discussion. 

According to the myth, humans were very different from how we looked today.

Instead of two arms and two legs, humans had four arms, four legs, two faces looking in opposite directions, four ears and a single body. There were three kinds of humans: male, female and androgynous — a combination of both. They were incredibly strong and could move by rolling across the ground. 

Their strength eventually became a problem.

The humans grew so powerful that they tried to challenge the gods on Mount Olympus. Zeus wanted to stop them, but he did not want to destroy them completely because humans worshipped the gods and offered sacrifices. Instead, he came up with another punishment. He split every human in half.

Apollo then healed the wounds, turned their faces forward and gathered the skin together, leaving behind what the myth says became the navel, a reminder that humans were once whole. 

From that moment on, every person began searching for the half they had lost, forever condemning them to spend the rest of their lives searching for their other halves --- their soul mates. 

The separated halves missed each other so deeply that when they found one another, they refused to let go. Aristophanes says Zeus eventually took pity on them and changed the position of their reproductive organs so humanity could continue and people could find comfort in each other’s embrace. 

That, according to the myth, is where love began.

The story has survived for more than 2,000 years, becoming one of the most recognizable explanations for why people feel drawn to one another. Even today, people still describe their partners as the person who “completes” them, an idea that echoes Aristophanes’ tale almost word for word. 

Of course, Plato’s Symposium is a philosophical work, not a history book. Scholars generally agree that Aristophanes’ story is a myth used to explore the meaning of love rather than explain how humans actually came to be. Later in the dialogue, Socrates presents a different view of love altogether. 

Perhaps it is because everyone, at one point or another, has wondered if there is someone out there who simply feels familiar. Whether or not soulmates exist, Plato’s Symposium gave the world one of its most memorable love stories, one that continues to shape how we think about romance more than two millennia later.