Why Socrates Died Dispelling the Myths

Socrates' Trial and Death Together Form an Iconic Moment in Western Civilization. the Picture We Have of It - Created by His Immediate Followers and Perpetuated in Countless Works of Literature and Art Ever Since - is That a Noble Man Was Put to Death in a Fit of Folly by the Ancient Athenian Democracy. but an Icon, an Image, is Not Reality. the Trial Was, in Part, a Response to Troubled Times - a Catastrophic War and Turbulent Social Changes - and so Provides a Good Lens Through Which to Explore the History of the Period; the Historical Facts Allow Us to Strip Away Some of the Veneer That Has for so Long Denied Us Glimpses of the Real Socrates. Written by a Scholar, but Not Only for Scholars, This is an Accessible, Authoritative Account of One of the Defining Periods of Western Civilization.