The trial of Socrates refers to the trial and the subsequent execution of the Athenian philosopher Socrates in 399 BC. Socrates was tried and convicted by the courts of democratic Athens on a charge of corrupting the youth and disbelieving in the ancestral gods. The trial was described by two of Socrates' contemporaries (Plato and Xenophon), and is one of the most famous trials of all time.
Socrates had been an ill-reputed figure in Athens for so...
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The trial of Socrates refers to the trial and the subsequent execution of the Athenian philosopher Socrates in 399 BC. Socrates was tried and convicted by the courts of democratic Athens on a charge of corrupting the youth and disbelieving in the ancestral gods. The trial was described by two of Socrates' contemporaries (Plato and Xenophon), and is one of the most famous trials of all time.
Socrates had been an ill-reputed figure in Athens for some years by the time of his trial. Aristophanes' comedy Clouds (Nephelai), produced in 420 BC, has Socrates as a main character, portraying him as a pompous, bombastic con artist or sophist. Clouds appears to demonstrate that Socrates was active in the midst of the sophistic movement in Athens, but this claim was denied by Socrates. The Sophists were a group of intellectuals and teachers attracted to Athens through the patronage of Pericles and other wealthy citizens. They were popular amongst a relatively select group, but also widely...
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