Socrates: The Decay Of Athenian Democracy

To a significant extent Socrates was persecuted simply for being too outspoken. However, without the decay of democracy and overall insecure socio-political climate of Athens at the turn of the century, it is feasible that Socrates may have been spared the death sentence. Throughout his life, he examined the questions unexamined by his contemporaries, and made his voice heard throughout Athens to mixed reception. His appearance in the works of many comedic poets proves that Socrates was a well-known and his beliefs known across Athens. His death, heralded as both a strange lapse in democracy, and a reflection of the fragility of Athens in the early fourth century.

Socrates was a non-conformist and his ideas; political, philosophical, and

In 404 BC, the Athenian democracy was dissolved and was replaced by a Spartan-installed tyrannical oligarchy, which soon became known as the ‘thirty tyrants’. (Broadie, 2003, p. 92) while the Thirty Tyrants were in control of Athens, over 5% of the population were killed, and thousand of people had there land and rights stripped from them. In less than a year the oligarchy was overthrown in a violent fight to restore Athenian democracy so dear to the demos (the people), which had now become even more important as they had experienced life without it (Broadie, 2003, p. 92). Suddenly Socrates’ rhetoric and ‘free-thinking’ became more prominent as something to be wary of by the demos and Socrates’ liberal use of parrhésia became distressing. Socrates continued to discuss his way of thinking with anyone who would listen, but most prominently to his students. Socrates discussed the Fragile nature of the Gods, the unknown factors of life, and most distressingly continued to talk about the flaws in democracy, and how there are better forms of government. (Wallace, 2004, p. 229). This speech, directly after the horrific events of the Peloponnesian war and then the reign of the ‘thirty tyrants’ was near blasphemous. Additionally, Socrates’ lack of involvement in the politics of the time made him appear passive to the new rulers of Athens, an attribute which made him disliked among the people. Socrates’ arrest appears at a time when the people and authorities of Athens were fearful of dissenting opinions and views despite being familiar with these views for seventy years it was this new unstable socio-political climate which forced them to restrict his parrhésia. When in court as depicted in Plato’s Apology and Phaedo Socrates had no intention to change his ways, in exchange for his life stating,