The Historical Socrates

By Robin Waterfield | Published in History Today Volume: 59 Issue: 1 2008

The popular image of Socrates as a man of immense moral integrity was largely the creation of his pupil Plato. If we examine evidence of his trial, argues Robin Waterfield, a different picture emerges, of a cunning politician opposed to Athenian democracy.

The great Athenian philosopher Socrates is widely lauded as one of history’s wisest men, a reputation forged by his pupil Plato.

In the course of his Apology of Socrates, Plato tells a curious story. The Apology consists of the speeches that, according to Plato, Socrates delivered at his trial in Athens in 399 BC, and at one point Socrates feels he needs to explain why he has a certain reputation for wisdom. He says that his close and impulsive friend Chaerephon once paid a visit to the Pythia, the oracle in Delphi, to ask whether Socrates was the wisest man alive. The oracle proclaimed it so.

This article is available to History Today online subscribers only. If you are a subscriber, please log in.

Please choose one of these options to access this article:

Purchase a online subscription and receive unlimited access to our archive for one week, one month or a year

Purchase a print and website subscription, giving you one year's access to all our content and 12 editions of History Today magazine.

If you are already a print subscriber, purchase the online archive upgrade for a year's worth of access at a reduced price

Call our Subscriptions department on +44 (0)20 3219 7813 for more information.

If you are logged in but still cannot access the article, please contact us

Tags:

If you enjoyed this article, you might like these:

This Month's Magazine

Subscribe to our weekly e-newsletter:

From The Current Issue

History Today App

From The Archive

Lords of the Northern Forest

The Hudson's Bay Company was one of the central forces moulding the development of the vast tracts of land that today are Canada - but as Barry Gough explains here, the circumstances of its launch in 1670 also reveal much about the commercial forces, personalities and rivalries of Restoration England.