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Trial and death of Socrates
399 BC· Event· Politics, society & justice
Well documentedSolid records, texts or physical evidence.
In 399 BC an Athenian jury convicted Socrates of impiety and corrupting the young, and sentenced him to death.
See it on the Philosophy map →The idea
Three citizens, led by Meletus and Anytus, charged him with not honouring the city's gods, introducing new ones, and corrupting the youth. A jury of about 500 convicted him, by roughly 280 votes to 220. Socrates defended his questioning as a service to Athens and refused to beg. Sentenced to death, he turned down a chance to escape and drank hemlock about a month later. Athens had just lost a long war and endured a pro-Spartan junta that included his former associates.
Why it matters
It made Socrates philosophy's martyr, gave Plato his life's mission, and remains the classic case of free inquiry colliding with majority rule.
Where it comes from
Two accounts by contemporaries who admired him: Plato's Apology, Crito and Phaedo, and Xenophon's Apology and Memorabilia. Their versions of his defence differ in tone and detail.
Still debated
Whether the real motive was religious or political is debated; an amnesty of 403 BC barred prosecuting acts committed under the junta, so political grudges could not be charged openly.
Connections (2)
▸Socrates was condemned at Trial and death of SocratesWell documented
The connection
Socrates' habit of publicly questioning respected men and exposing their ignorance made enemies, and Aristophanes' comedy The Clouds had mocked him as a godless sophist. After the lost war and the junta, his ties to Critias and Alcibiades made him look dangerous, and three citizens prosecuted him.
When and how
Athens, spring 399 BC, before a jury of about 500 citizens; the accusers were Meletus, Anytus and Lycon.
How we know
Plato's Apology and Xenophon's Apology both describe the trial; Diogenes Laertius quotes the formal charge, reportedly still kept in the city archive centuries later.
Debates and open questions
How large a role politics played, and whether Socrates deliberately provoked the jury, as his proposal of free public meals as his 'penalty' suggests.
▸Trial and death of Socrates fed Plato's distrust of democracy in Plato's RepublicDebated
The connection
Plato watched a democratic jury, swayed by speeches, condemn to death the best man he knew. In the Republic he argues that ruling is a skill, like navigating a ship, and that crowds pick leaders by flattery, not expertise. The freed prisoner of the Cave, whom the others would kill, recalls Socrates' fate.
When and how
Athens, between 399 BC and about 375 BC; Plato wrote the Republic roughly 25 years after the execution.
How sure are we?
The Seventh Letter says the execution turned Plato away from politics, but its authenticity is disputed; the parallels in the Republic are suggestive, not proof.
Debates and open questions
Plato's distrust of democracy may owe as much to his aristocratic family, his relatives among the Thirty Tyrants, and Athens's war defeat as to the trial.