Well, there were no Americans in the Athens “re-trial” last year. (TBH, there may have been one on the panel but I can’t be bothered searching right now.)
I would think that the farther back in time one goes, the harder it would have been to oppose or to stand up to TPTWere at the time.
Both “re-trials” are available on the internet, if you can be bothered to look them up.
Of course, all we know about the trial and death of Socrates comes from the writings of his friends and pupils, Xenophon and Plato. Just sayin’.
But a bugger when he’s pissed.
Hemlock :smack: I thought he was killed with ham hocks. Well now it makes a lot more sense.
And Socrates (if we can trust Plato’s account) accepted that. After he was condemned, his friends offered to arrange his escape from jail and from Athens, but Socrates would have none of it.
Of course, this was the same Socrates who defied the Tyranny of the Thirty when they ordered him to arrest enemies of the state; and his philosophy offers no grounds to suppose the rule of the Thirty any less legitimate than the later democratic state that condemned him.
I beg to differ. But I am only speaking from my experience as a criminal defense attorney. You may learn something different next year in 12th grade US Government.
BTW, Anonymous User, if this subject interests you, you really should read the historical novel The Last of the Wine, by Mary Renault; Socrates is a main character and most of the other main characters are his pupils. And it’s a really good read, too.
Now, now! This was the dude who had the chance to cornhole the beautiful young Alcibiades and passed it up! Of which Alcibiades later incredulously complained. Again, if Plato’s account is to be trusted.
“Well, philosophize with him!”
“All right . . . As the sands through the hourglass, so go the Days of Our Lives!”
For further reading try Picture This by Joseph Heller.
A fantastic novel not only about Socrates but also Rembrant and the Dutch and current New York and America.
Socrates managed to play his little word games and embarrass virtually every Athenian who ever gave him the time of day. They probably would not have put him to death for that. But he also was a teacher of Alcibiades. And at least one of the tyrants. Alcibiades alone would have been dangerous enough to be associated with. The tyrants didn’t help anything as far as Socrates goes.
Socrates taught people to question everything, and this is really irritating. Especially to people who don’t like to question everything or anything. He taught that there was a real truth, but declined to say what it was.
In short, he was the town wise ass and know it all.
Death by snoo snoo? I wouldn’t vote for it, even back in Athens 399 b.c. But I might have gone for a flogging. The common Athenian felt about Socrates they way Aristophanes portrayed him in theater: an annoying know it all.
TLDR: I’m a giant douchebag and own a history textbook.
I literally burst out laughing when I saw the length of the OP. Did anyone here actually manage or even try to read it all?
[kneels down and prays:]
Please, dear Mod, can’t you ban this dumbass, before he makes more threads like this? Sure, no rules were violated, but can’t you make a ruling under ‘Don’t be a Jerk’, that this sort of thread is, in fact, jerkish?
I pray this in Cecil’s name, Amen.
[rises and goes to drink many beers]
will your next pit thread be about Gaius Julius Caesar, Dictator?
So, he invented a salad, big hairy ass deal.
And he fucked potatoes.
Isn’t that what Dictator means?
I drank what?
CMC