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A
short time ago, archaeologists found in the Agora the place where Socrates
was imprisoned. Socrates was a great philosopher in the IVth century B.C.
but we only know of him through his disciples (Plato and Xenophon) for he
never wrote anything. Socrates was charged of corrupting the young
and of not believing in the gods of the city. If the first charge
could be grounded in the fact that Socrates taught young people to
question prevailing opinions, the second charge may appear absurd, since
the Greek religion did not impose any single belief.
But
religion was also closely linked to civil affairs and forbearing from
taking part in the festivities which were religious and social at the same
time would prove to be an act of hostility towards the City which could
lead to a death sentence. Socrates worsened his case at the end of the
trial, when he proposed his own sentence, as all culprits had to do( the
judges being able to choose between their own punishment and that of the
prisoner). Instead of repenting and begging the judges’ mercy, he
flouted the court by asking to be fed at the Prytaneus, which was the
supreme reward, reserved for those who had served the City faithfully.
Thus, in 339 B.C. Socrates was condemned to drink hemlock which he did in
a very dignified manner after refusing to run away as he had been prompted
to do. But why was Socrates imprisoned and why was his sentence postponed
until a month later? Each year, the Athenians sent an embassy to Delos to
thank Apollo for saving the young men whom Theseus brought to the Minotaur.
During the length of the voyage of the sacred ship, the town was compelled
to remain pure and undefiled
which prevented any death sentences from being carried out. As soon as the
boat made its return voyage, Socrates carried out his punishment. His
death heralded the end of democracy in Athens. |
