The death of Socrates has been a controversial topic throughout the centuries. Socrates, one of the most influential philosophers in history, shared and taught his political and philosophical beliefs on the street among young Athenians in a language that captivated them. Socrates was an old man who strongly disagreed with the ideas of democracy held by the Athenian government at the time; therefore he was accused and trial of corrupting the youth and not respecting the gods of Athens. Socrates’ thoughts about the flaws of democracy influenced many of his students. His trial took place in 399BC when Socrates was 70 years old and the final verdict was to execute him. He took his own life by drinking Hemlock, a beverage that paralyzed his body …show more content…
One of his students led a group of thirty tyrants, “some whom were thought to be influenced by Socrates’ teachings” about the weaknesses and imperfection of democracy and overthrew the democracy in Athens with military force. This is a clear example that Socrates was corrupting young people rather than educating them. Therefore his sentence to death was reasonable and …show more content…
After his arguments and defense were listened to, the jury deliberated whether he was guilty or not and gave him the option to decide what penalty he should serve. This shows that the decision was made by a group of people randomly selected whose majority found him guilty and sentenced him to death. Regardless of the motives behind the charges, if Socrates was not guilty of corrupting youth and not respecting the gods of Athens the majority of the jury would have thought so based on the arguments to his defense. However, Socrates’ defense was never a real defense because his apology sounded more like explanations and he was questioning the jury . Socrates could have walked alive out of the courtroom if he used his defense time to defend himself rather than to make jokes and question the jury. Perhaps the fact he said, that he should be rewarded rather than punished and ask the jury for free meals in the Prytaneum was something that the jury did not appreciate and makes it seem like he wanted to die because he is