And What It Exposed About the A thusian IdealAccording to the Oxford English Dictionary, an ensample is ?a criterion of stainlession, beauty or excellence and as an supreme objective or aim of endeavour.? The Athenian Ideal therefore, was to cook the character reference of society that the Athenians thought to be perfect. This meant freedom of tongue, a commonwealth and freedom of thought, to allow the sciences to develop. The struggle of Socrates exposed the limits of this non such in trine ways. Firstly, it undermined their idol of freedom of speech, acc develop handst him of using evil-minded words to corrupt the youth of capital of Greece. Secondly, the holy person of crystalise until proven felonious was completely disregarded, as Socrates trial threatening into a he-said/she-said type of argument with actually little induction on either side. Thirdly, it showed the hypocrisy of the exemplar since Athenians thought that to kick the bucket the exam ple, they had to assault in from it and win an exception. First, a brief diachronic context. From 490-480 BCE, capital of Greece had dickens wars with the Persians, both of which resulted in Athenian victories, leave the Persians actually bitter. Ten years later, in 4691, Socrates was born. In an antagonist ten dollar bill years, Pericles, the some powerful Athenian leader ever, took control of and conduct Athens into its golden age, which lasted until the Peloponnesian War of 4311, which pitted the Spartans and the Persians once morest the Athenians and their Delian league. A plague dash Athens in 4301, and Pericles was kicked out, altogether to be rein substantial groundd unity year later, practicedifiedly before dieing of the plague. The war then accidental injury down and was about to end with the tentative write of a 50 year peace treaty in 4211 surrounded by Sparta and Athens. However, in 4201, Alcibiades, a fountain student of Socrates, who Socrates protected in 4321, at the battle of Potidae! a, became the lead General. In 4161, Alcibiades fixd Melos, and viciously killed the men and enslaved the women and children, rase though they had surrendered. Socrates remained silent, which led some to indict him of having echo standards. In 4151, Alcibiades led an expedition into Sicily, but was recalled to hardihood the perpetrate of defacing a statue of Hermes. He fled to Sparta, where he helped the Spartans overthrow Athens? republic and re dictated it with the dictatorship of the four-hundred1. In 4041, Athens unload to the Spartans, who placed the thirty tyrants in control, the leader of which was Critias, another(prenominal) maven of Socrates? former students. The democracy was restored one year later, likely sparing Socrates? life, since he had disobeyed a direct order from the 30 to capture Leon of Salamis. another(prenominal) attempt to overthrow the democracy toke place in 4011, and it once more featured Socrates? former pupils. This attempt is defeat ed and in 3991, Socrates was time-tested and convicted of ?corrupting the youth? and ?not believing in the give tongue to religion?. Freedom of speech. Athens was one of, if not the, truly first civilizations in which this was one of the main tenants of its laws . However, Athenians would put aside these laws whenever they saw a threat to their dominant place in the Greek world. In Socrates? case, it was simply because they needed someone to direct down for their pathetic loss to Sparta in the Peloponnesian War, and as Alcibiades and Critias were not on hand, they decided on Socrates. He was elect because the trey sets of traitors were all lead by people who had listened to him mould his right to free speech. Thus, the Athenian people decided that to push their ideal, they had to make an exception, like the Americans did in Vietnam, or like any other civilization has done at some presage in their history. Innocent until proven guilty. This was another part of the A thenian ideal that was again tossed aside to protect ! the ideal from a sensed threat. During the trial, no evidence was brought forward that Socrates had intentionally or even unintentionally corrupted the youth or that he did not believe in the state religion. In fact, the only statements that did not pertain to Socrates? character went towards the talk of the Oracle at Delphi and how Apollo?s priestess had given him the divine inspiration to do what he did. insincere ideal. As stated before, an ideal is something that is perfect. For Athenians to uphold their ideal, they stone-broke from it. This is one of the moral uncertaintys that have been a matter of roll since the starting time of mankind. Even Socrates himself did not answer this question adequately, though he did give us an interesting explanation of what a just man is, which is at odds with the Athenian ideal. However, the general consensus is that to run an ideal to uphold it defeats the purpose of having the ideal.
Since the Athenians entangle the need to intercept from their ideal to uphold it, it exposes one of two things. Either, it exposed the limits of the ideal, such that it could not survive since you would need to break from it to quash all threat, or it should the limit in that no practitioner of the ideal could uphold it without feeling the need to break from it. Either way, the trial of Socrates exposed a serious tarnish in the ideal. In conclusion, the trial of Socrates exposed the limits of the Athenian ideal in three ways. First, the trial relied on breaking from the ideal of freedom of speech to find a guilty verdict. Second, the guilty verdict was put i n without any proof, breaking from another part of th! e ideal. And thirdly, and perhaps most importantly, the trial exposed the impracticality of the ideal in that it could not be practiced without needing to break from it. ?Socrates Chronology. UMKC naturalize of Law. http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/socrates/socrateschrono.html (accessed November 6, 2008). Hooker, Richard. quaint Greece: The Persian Wars. uppercase State University - Pullman, Washington. http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/GREECE/PERSIAN.HTM (accessed November 7, 2008). Hooker, Richard. antique Greece: The Pelopponesian War. Washington State University - Pullman, Washington. http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/GREECE/PELOWARS.HTM (accessed November 7, 2008). Timeline: a history of free speech. The Guardian.com - The Observer. 5 Feb. 2006. 6 Nov. 2008 . Apology of Socrates (by Plato). UMKC School of Law. http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/socrates/xenophonapology.html (accessed November 8, 2008). Plato, and gum benjamin Jowett. The Internet Classics acco unt | Apology by Plato. The Internet Classics history: 441 searchable works of classical literature. http://classics.mit.edu/Plato/apology.html (accessed November 8, 2008). Plato, translated by G.M.A. Grube. Platos Republic. Indianapolis: Hckett produce Company, 1974. * acknowledge*: my footnotes didnt copy, so sourcing is incomplete. Uploaded file has better (but not perfect format) citations. If you call for to get a full essay, order it on our website:
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