Today, we progressed more through the 'Excellence' slide, We talked about Athens, traditions, corruption, and Socrates. Athens was a great city which attracted brilliant thinkers and visitors from all over the world, shared their knowledge of astronomy, medicine, meterology, literature, philosophy, and all things scientific. This was often at odds with traditional teachings which centered around the Greek Gods, which got young people thinking and questioning about their terms. Socrates was charged with two crimes, corruption of Athen's youth and impiety which is not believing in the Gods of the state. His defense was stated "It's my job to be gadfly to the lazy, sluggish horse that is Athens." He also stated, "I should actually be rewarded with free dinners for life." As a jury of 500 male citizens found him guilty, he was sentenced to death by poison 'Hemlock'. He had the oppurtunity to escape, but he refused, proving his loyalty to Athenian democracy. An 'idiot' in Athenian democracy was someone who was chracterized by self-centerdness and concerned almost exclusively about nothing. In Athenian democracy, idiots were born, and citizens were made through education. If you were to decline in taking part in the public life, such as democratic government of the public (city state) was considered dishonorable.
No comments:
Post a Comment