Socrates blog

Today in class we learned about Socrates and his life. As a young man, Socrates worked as a stone man. After that, he fought in the Peloponnesian War. People think that his working class status and war experience shaped his character. After the war, he met with his students outside of Agora. The Socrates method, the way that he got people to really think for themselves, is asking a series of questions to see what you believe. This later led to the scientific method. After his teachings were spread throughout Athens, he was put on trial for impiety and corruption of the youth. Socrates agreed that he was guilty but insisted that instead of being put to death, he should be rewarded with free dinners for life. The jury found him guilty as well. The vote was 279 to 221. They put him to death by forcing him to drink poison hemlock. He had multiple chances to escape prison before his death but refused because he wanted to show his loyalty to the Athenian democracy. One of Socrates' most famous sayings is "The unexamined life is not worth living." Another thing that we learned was the meaning of the word idiot in Ancient Greek times. They used the word idiot to say that you were so self centered that you didn't participate in the community and politics. They also said that idiots were born and citizens were made through education.