Civilization #10: The Trial of Socrates and Plato's Allegory of the Cave

Athenian playwrights like Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides championed democracy as a divine gift from Athena. Socrates, their contemporary, became democracy’s most vocal critic by questioning whether ordinary citizens could access truth through reason.

Socrates spent his days in the Agora of Athens engaging citizens in elenctic dialogue, systematically exposing flaws in their reasoning. His method attracted both aristocratic followers and popular resentment.

Aristophanes, Athens’ famous satirist who mocked political leaders like Pericles and Cleon, produced The Clouds in 423 BCE, making Socrates a comic villain who corrupts youth through fraudulent reasoning.

In 399 BCE, Athenian citizens charged Socrates with corrupting youth and impiety. A jury of 501 citizens voted by narrow margin to execute the 70-year-old philosopher, who could have escaped but chose to drink hemlock.

Socrates spent his life arguing democracy fails because people cannot reason to truth. His trial and execution became the ultimate performance validating this thesis before Athens and history.

At age 28, Plato witnessed his beloved mentor Socrates executed by Athenian democracy. This trauma shaped his entire life’s work—founding the Academy at age 40 and writing The Republic to restore Socrates’ reputation as truth-seeking philosopher rather than fraudulent sophist.

Plato wrote this allegory in The Republic (375 BCE) to redeem Socrates’ reputation and explain why democracy killed his mentor. The allegory became Western philosophy’s most famous metaphor.

Plato wrote The Republic at age 40 (375 BCE) to answer what makes a good society and redeem Socrates’ reputation. It became arguably the greatest work of Western philosophy, transforming how civilizations understand politics and truth.