What could Socrates have said or done that prompted a jury of Athenians to send him to his death just a few years before he would have died naturally? Finding an answer to the mystery of the trial of Socrates is complicated by the fact that the two surviving accounts of the defense or apology of Socrates both come from disciples of his, Plato and Xenophon. Historians suspect that Plato and Xenophon, intent on showing their master in a favorable light, failed to present in their accounts the most damning evidence against Socrates.
What appears almost certain is that the decisions to prosecute and ultimately convict Socrates had a lot to do with the turbulent history of Athens in the several years preceding his trial. An examination of that history may not provide final answers, but it does provide important clues.
Socrates , the son of a sculptor or stonecutter and a midwife, was a young boy when the rise to power of Pericles brought on the dawning of the "Golden Age of Greece. Pericles created the people's courts and used the public treasury to promote the arts. He pushed ahead with an unprecedented building program designed not only to demonstrate the glory that was Greece, but also to ensure full employment and provide opportunities for wealth creation among the non-propertied class.
The rebuilding of the Acropolis and the construction of the Parthenon were the two best known of Pericles' many ambitious building projects.
Growing to adulthood in this bastion of liberalism and democracy, Socrates somehow developed a set of values and beliefs that would put him at odds with most of his fellow Athenians.
Socrates was not a democrat or an egalitarian. To him, the people should not be self-governing; they were like a herd of sheep that needed the direction of a wise shepherd.
He denied that citizens had the basic virtue necessary to nurture a good society, instead equating virtue with a knowledge unattainable by ordinary people. Striking at the heart of Athenian democracy, he contemptuously criticized the right of every citizen to speak in the Athenian assembly. Socrates rubbing chin and Plato under tree from a mosaic from Pompeii. Writing in the third-century C.
Laertius wrote that "men set upon him with their fists or tore his hair out," but that Socrates "bore all this ill-usage patiently. We get one contemporary view of Socrates from playwright Aristophanes. In his play Clouds , first produced in B. He is portrayed "stalking the streets" of Athens barefoot, "rolling his eyes" at remarks he found unintelligent, and "gazing up" at the clouds.
Socrates at the time of Clouds must have been perceived more as a harmless town character than as a serious threat to Athenian values and democracy. Socrates himself, apparently, took no offense at his portrayal in Clouds. Plutarch, in his Moralia , quoted Socrates as saying, "When they break a jest upon me in the theatre, I feel as if I were at a big party of good friends.
Bust of Aristophanes. Other plays of the time offer additional clues as to the reputation of Socrates in Athens. Comic poet Eupolis has one of his characters say: "Yes, and I loathe that poverty-stricken windbag Socrates, who contemplates everything in the world but does not know where his next meal is coming from.
Aristophanes labels a gang of pro-Sparta aristocratic youths as "Socratified. The standing of Socrates among his fellow citizens suffered mightily during two periods in which Athenian democracy was temporarily overthrown, one four-month period in and another slightly longer period in The prime movers in both of the anti-democratic movements were former pupils of Socrates, Alcibiades and Critias.
Athenians undoubtedly considered the teachings of Socrates--especially his expressions of disdain for the established constitution--partially responsible for the resulting death and suffering. Alcibiades, perhaps Socrates' favorite Athenian politician, masterminded the first overthrow.
Alcibiades had other strikes against him: four years earlier, Alcibiades had fled to Sparta to avoid facing trial for mutilating religious pillars-- statues of Hermes --and, while in Sparta, had proposed to that state's leaders that he help them defeat Athens.
Critias, first among an oligarchy known as the "Thirty Tyrants," led the second bloody revolt against the restored Athenian democracy in The revolt sent many of Athens's leading democratic citizens including Anytus, later the driving force behind the prosecution of Socrates into exile, where they organized a resistance movement.
Critias, without question, was the more frightening of the two former pupils of Socrates. Stone , in his The Trial of Socrates , describes Critias a cousin of Plato's as "the first Robespierre," a cruel and inhumane man "determined to remake the city to his own antidemocratic mold whatever the human cost.
One incident involving Socrates and the Thirty Tyrants would later become an issue at his trial. Although the Thirty normally used their own gang of thugs for such duties, the oligarchy asked Socrates to arrest Leon of Salamis so that he might be executed and his assets appropriated.
Socrates refused to do so. Socrates would point to his resistance to the order as evidence of his good conduct. On the other hand, Socrates neither protested the decision nor took steps to warn Leon of Salamis of the order for his arrest--he just went home. While good citizens of Athens were being liquidated right and left, Socrates--so far as we know--did or said nothing to stop the violence. The horrors brought on by the Thirty Tyrants caused Athenians to look at Socrates in a new light.
His teachings no longer seemed so harmless. He was no longer a lovable town eccentric. Socrates--and his icy logic--came to be seen as a dangerous and corrupting influence, a breeder of tyrants and enemy of the common man.
A general amnesty issued in meant that Socrates could not be prosecuted for any of his actions during or before the reign of the Thirty Tyrants. Critias was another student of Socrates. In his early life, he had been a philosopher, poet, and writer. Instead, in both works, he spends nearly the entire trial correcting, antagonizing, and even directly insulting the jury.
He did not have the attitude of someone taking the charges seriously or begging for their life. Socrates did have several defenses against the charges. Socrates also had an argument against the charge of impiety.
Socrates says that he believes in the daimonion , which is clearly some sort of spirit, so he is obviously not an atheist. A defense that refused to give the jurors what they wanted, which was an assurance that Socrates believed in the Athenian gods. Despite being one of the most well-known philosophers in history, Socrates faced harsh criticism and disapproval from other Athenians for his unusual religious beliefs, unpopular statements, and the treasonous actions of his students after they left his instruction.
One reason we study ancient history today is to better understand our world. Perhaps he understood how strong the hunt for blood was from his peers. The prosecutor presented his charges and then Socrates was given his chance to speak. He knew that he had until sundown of that day to present whatever he wanted to present. He has taken an oath, sworn to the gods, to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
He has sworn an oath to accept the verdict of the jury and the penalty imposed by the jury. It is his desire to keep these oaths that will be his undoing. His desire to be faithful to his oaths make him say things that disturb many of the jurors and make him remain in prison to die when he could have left and gone into exile.
Socrates opening points out that it is his duty to speak the truth and it is the duty of the jury to provide for justice. Socrates will speak in his normal manner and he maintains that he is not a clever speaker in the fashion of the Sophists.
He is not accustomed to dealing with courts, as he has never been a defendant. He attempts to deal with the 2 sets of charges. He fears that the rumors concerning him are more damaging than the charges. He thinks he is there due to the suspicions surrounding him that he is involved in strange investigations and that he is associated with sophistry. There were no witnesses to support these charges and no evidence to show that Socrates ever charged money for instruction as Sophists did.
The god, the oracle at Delphos, has given him his business. He began to question all who may have had wisdom in any form only to find that it was not so. His questioning of the statesmen, poets and artisans did find them guilty of pride hubris for thinking that they were wise when they were not.
This also won Socrates their enmity. Lycon, Anytos and Meletos were representing the orators, craftsmen and poets he had embarrassed. Socrates does not believe that he can deal with all the antagonisms by which he was disliked by so many. He does not believe that he can deal with the prejudices of so many in so short a time allotted. So he turns to the specific charges. Corruption of the young.
Socrates questions Meletos concerning this charge. Apparently, Meletos believes that Socrates is the only guilty of this. Socrates make light of that idea. Socrates inquires as to whether or not the alleged corruption is deliberate or accidental and notes that either option leads to a course of action other than to charges and a death penalty.
Meletos could name no individuals that Socrates had corrupted. No one in the court room named a single corrupted child. The charge is explained by Meletos to mean that Socrates is an atheist and believes in no gods. Socrates points out that he is not like Anaxagoras who did not believe in the gods. Had Socrates concluded his defense at this point, he might have been acquitted, as the jury was most likely laughing at the prosecutor. But Socrates did not stop there.
Under oath to tell the whole truth, Socrates proceeded to inform the jury as to the real reasons he believed he was charged with crimes.
He informed Meletos and the Jury that Meletos and his conspirators did not know he true charge to place against him. They could not even bring up his loose association with some of the thirty tyrants due to the amnesty.
Socrates knows why he is disliked by so many and now begins to make a defense of the type of life he has lived. He has only to consider whether one does right or wrong. The god has posted him to be a philosopher to test himself and others. He does not fear death. It is unknown. He fears disobeying god, this is definitely bad.
He is not afraid to speak the truth as so many others are. He will act as the god has posted him to act. He will always be a philosopher, a seeker after wisdom. He will do this and obey god rather than the mob. He will always question others concerning truth and virtues and persuade them to care for its soul and its virtue rather than for fame or money or power. He has acted always according to what he thought to be right.
If he considered doing otherwise, an inner voice Daemon would speak to him to warn him away from doing wrong. He has done so and shall continue to do so in his private and public life. In public he has never done wrong. He never took money and his finances show it.
In public he refused the demand of the mob for a trial of ten generals together and instead insisted on separate trials. He refused the tyrants order to arrest Leon of Salamis. He does not believe that he has done wrong anywhere. He does not believe that he corrupted anyone. Socrates informs the jury that he is asking for justice and not mercy or charity.
He would not resort to appeals for mercy as many others had done before him. He would not bring his wife and small children out to remind them of his family obligations. These appeals make Athens look ridiculous in the eyes of others. This encourages the jurors to disrespect their oaths to provide for justice.
These are oaths they swore to the gods as jurors. Socrates is found guilty. The so-called golden age of Athenian culture flourished under the leadership of Pericles B.
Pericles transformed his The warrior Achilles is one of the great heroes of Greek mythology. One of the greatest ancient historians, Thucydides c. Known for his philosophical interests, Marcus Aurelius was one of the most respected emperors in Roman history. He was born into a wealthy and politically prominent family. Growing up, Marcus Aurelius was a dedicated student, learning Latin and Greek. But his greatest The two most powerful city-states in ancient Greece, Athens and Sparta, went to war with each other from to B.
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A brilliant lawyer and the first of his family to achieve Roman office, Cicero was one of the Live TV.
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