Greek’s have the coolest names.
This was really neat. Hearing it in modern terms makes it much easier to understand the arguments.
I remember reading about this in a rather annoying translation, full of translation notes. The adaptation is rather interesting, and easier to parse.
Important detail: they’re basing this mostly on Plato’s record, not Xenophon’s (the one that I’ve read). This is evident by the request of alternative punishment:
- In Xenophon’s Apology, Socrates refuses to propose an alt punishment, and tells his friends to not do it
- In Plato’s Apology, he accepts his friends’ suggestion about 30 mnai
I have done no research but based of this one video of a made up rendition of the trial I 100% believe Socrates was innocent. Does that say anything about humans
I think so, too. At least, if Plato and Xenophon are to be trusted.
The accusations are rather fishy; they boil down to “he doesn’t pay respect to the sacred!” on one side and “won’t you think on the children?” at the other. They sound like the vague stuff that still leaves people angry and irrational. Couple that with Socrates standing up against the thirty tyrants, five years before and pissing people left and right with his “you aren’t as smart as you think that you are”, and the whole thing feels like a petty revenge.
