Socrates was a very well known, controversial philosopher who lived in Athens during a transitional period in their democratic government. This transition was due to their loss in the Peloponnesian War to the Spartans whose form of government was a peculiar militaristic system headed by monarchs and aristocrats. The Spartan government had more control over the lives of their citizens than what the Athenians were accustomed to, therefore the Athenians continued to practice democracy. However, many high-class Athenians admired the Spartan militaristic way of governing and used their influence as well as Spartan support to attempt to institute an oligarchy in Athens, failing with each attempt. In spite of the failed coup attempts Sparta installed an overshadowing troop in Athens who worked to narrow its democratic scope. …show more content…
In his youth Critias was an ardent follower of Socrates and was even considered part of the Socratic circle, not to mention that Socrates himself was a supporter of the Spartan government. Also, according to the Ancient History Encyclopedia Critias quickly developed a reputation for being excessively cruel and abusing his power. Consequently, Socrates past association with the disliked Critias, his open support of the Spartan government along with Athenian democratic uncertainty lead to his trial and resulting condemnation. Socrates trial was documented by Plato in “Apology.” The Athenian court’s decision to condemn Socrates was not strategically logical because Socrates had many intellectual advocates who could easily portray him as a heroic martyr when documenting history, thus undermining their initial goal of censoring