Today in class we continued talking about Socrates and had a vote on weather we thought he was guilty or not guilty of his crimes. When we added up the votes not guilty had 11 votes and guilty had 10 votes but in real life he ended up getting the death sentence because more people thought he was guilty then not guilty. Below are some more notes about what we talked about in class.
- Athens was a great city which attracted brilliant thinkers
- Visitors from all over the world shared their knowledge of astronomy, medicine, meteorology, literature, philosophy and all things that had to do with science
- this was often at odds with traditional teachings which centered around the Greek gods, which got young people thinking and questioning
- Socrates was charged with two crimes including corruption of Athens youth and impiety( not believing in the Gods of the state)
- Socrates defense was "it's my job to be a gadfly to the lazy, sluggish horse that is Athens."
- "I should actually be rewarded with free dinners for life."
- A jury of 500 male citizens had to vote guilty or not guilty and they found him guilty with 279 votes and the vote for not guilty was 221
- They sentenced him to death by drinking a poison hemlock
- Socrates had the opportunity to escape but refused because he wanted to prove his loyalty to Athenian Democracy
- An idiot in Athenian democracy was someone who was characterized by self-centerness and concerned almost exclusively with private as opposed to public affairs
- In Athenian democracy, idiots were born and citizens were made through education
- Declining to take public life, democratic government of Polis was dishonorable
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