Is Athens guilty?

Is Athens Guilty?

In the last post, I looked at the Burnyeat essay in which he claims that, the formal structure of the Apology contained an accusatory drive. This accusatory drive, being directed by Plato to the Athenian οἱ πολλοί, had the indictment of Socrates by his fellow citizens as a catalyst. The assumption made by Burnyeat was that Athens was responding to the subversive moral teachings of Socrates; the ethics of his daimonion contradicted that of the gods, and put the whole city in jeopardy by virtue of impiety.  However, in Robert Parker's The Trial of Socrates, an argument is presented for the motive of the Athenian jury as being mostly political. In the Burnyeat reading, it is clearly stated that the political and the religious sphere were necessarily interconnected. However, Parker seems to think their might be a way around this that strips the hostility of its religiosity. Keep in mind that this article can be read with the very same reading strategy Burnyeat proposed in the last post; consider the ideal Athenian juror and what would have influenced his (all jurors were male) decision.

Firstly, Parker states that the Athenian population have reacted similarly to instances of religious deviance before; they had clearly executed some for unorthodoxy, but they looked at execution with a degree of hesitation; a different penalty 'would doubtless(y) have been preferred (by the jury).' (145) Introducing new divinities was apparently 'standard practice of the Athenian people', and this must have weighed into the jury's decision. But what of the democracy of Athens? Would freedom of speech not have been important in the Athenian court? Parker considers the outcome of Socrates' trial as a very important factor in answering that question. The main concern for Parker at this point however, is the religious aspect of this problem; namely, 'is it legitimate to speak of a religious crisis in the late fifth century?'

The answer to this question is yes and no interestingly. While there may have been crises, I.e. vandalism of religious objects and a nihilistic phase (Parker describes this as resembling the re-evaluation of the Leibnizian prinicple 'all that is, is good', by those who witnessed the aftermath of the Lisbon earthquake of 1755) as a by-product of a plague, the truth is that these crises 'strengthened the faith of the Athenians'. Athens had allowed for the return of many banished Athenians who had been condemned for impiety in the past, which Parker argues, shows that the state could have shown lenience in relation to new religious trends. So a religious crisis may not be to blame for the execution. This is when Parker turns to the portrayal of Socrates in Aristophanes' Clouds. This has much importance in regards to the effect image had on the opinion of the ideal Athenian juror.

Clouds is noteworthy specifically because of its relation to the charge of corrupting the youth. The Socrates of Clouds essentially turns all young visitors of his 'Pondertorium' into gadflies that pester any idea, regardless of the measure of honour possessed by he who communicates it. This questioning of superiors is what Parker claims Plato and Xenophon believed led most to the indictment of Socrates, and this idea is actually supported by texts. Xenophon explicitly states that older men had issues with being put on the same level of their subordinates (whether they were Socrates' students or not).

Unfortunately that is all the time I have for today.  I feel like changing the pace of the blog might be a good idea. What I intend to do in the next couple of weeks is provide summaries of Plato's Dialogues featuring notable sophists. I will start with either the Protagoras or Gorgias this week. Keep in mind that the topic at hand, the question of Socrates' guilt, will be revisited.  I simply feel like I might be getting ahead of myself with this question; as Parker states in his article: Socrates' death is, after Jesus, the most discussed death of all time. This means there are undoubtedly many volumes of analysis on this very subject; things that should be taken into account when writing about this issue.

Oh and, to those listening, the daily ancient Greek word is a weekly thing; I need weekends for a brain de-thaw period.

Cheers and happy reading.