Socrates -- Ancient History Encyclopedia

Definition

Greek philosopher born in 470 BCE to the sculptor Sophronicus and the mid-wife Phaenarete. Socrates studied music, gymnastics and grammar in his youth (the common subjects of study for a young Greek) and followed his father's profession as a sculptor. Tradition holds that he was an exceptional artist and his statue of the Graces, on the road to the Acropolis, is said to have been admired into the second century CE. Socrates served with distinction in the army and, at the Battle of Potidaea, saved the life of the General Alcibiades.

When he was middle-aged, Socrates' friend Chaerephon asked the famous Oracle at Delphi if there was anyone wiser than Socrates, to which the Oracle answered, "None." Bewildered by this answer and hoping to prove the Oracle wrong, Socrates went about questioning people who were held to be 'wise' in their own estimation and that of others. He found, to his dismay, "that the men whose reputation for wisdom stood highest were nearly the most lacking in it, while others who were looked down on as common people were much more intelligent" (Plato, Apology, 22). The youth of Athens delighted in watching Socrates question their elders in the market and, soon, he had a following of young men who, because of his example and his teachings, would go on to abandon their early aspirations and devote themselves to philosophy (from the Greek 'Philo', love, and 'Sophia', wisdom - literally 'the love of wisdom'). Among these were Antisthenes (founder of the Cynic school)Aristippus (the Cyrenaic school) Xenophon (whose writings would influence Zeno of Cithium, founder of the Stoic school) and, most famously, Plato (the main source of our information of Socrates in his Dialogues and the teacher of Aristotle, who was the tutor of Alexander the Great).

In 399 BCE Socrates was charged with impiety by Meletus the poet, Anytus the tanner and Lycon the orator. The accusation read: “Socrates is guilty, firstly, of denying the gods recognized by the state and introducing new divinities, and, secondly, of corrupting the young.”

Ignoring the counsel of his friends and refusing the help of the gifted speechwriter Lysias, Socrates chose to defend himself in court and, instead of the expected speech of self justification filled with pleas for his life, Socrates defied the Athenian court, proclaiming his innocence and casting himself in the role of Athens' 'gadfly' - a benefactor to them all, at his own expense, who kept them awake and aware. When it came time for Socrates to suggest a penalty to be imposed he suggested he should be maintained in honor with free meals in the Prytaneum, a place reserved for heroes of the Olympic games.

Socrates was convicted and sentenced to death (Xenophon tells us that he wished for such an outcome and Plato's account of the trial in his Apology would seem to confirm this). The last days of Socrates are chronicled in Plato's Euthyphro, Apology, Crito and Phaedo, the last dialogue depicting the day of his death (by drinking hemlock) surrounded by his friends in his jail cell in Athens and, as Plato puts it, "Such was the end of our friend, a man, I think, who was the wisest and justest, and the best man I have ever known" (Phaedo, 118).

Socrates' influence was felt immediately in the actions of his disciples as they formed their own interpretations of his life, teachings and death, and set about forming their own philosophical schools and writing about their experiences with their teacher. Of all these writings we have only the works of Plato, Xenophon, a comic image by Aristophanes and later works by Aristotle to tell us anything about Socrates' life. He, himself, wrote nothing but his words and actions in the search for and defense of Truth changed the world and his example still inspires people today.

Written by Joshua J. Mark, published 02 September 2009.

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