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Why Socrates Died: Dispelling the Myths

by Robin Waterfield (Author)
4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 38 ratings
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A revisionist account of the most famous trial and execution in Western civilization―one with great resonance for American society today.

Socrates’ trial and death together form an iconic moment in Western civilization. In 399 BCE, the great philosopher stood before an Athenian jury on serious charges: impiety and “subverting the young men of the city.” The picture we have of it―created by his immediate followers, Plato and Xenophon, and perpetuated in countless works of literature and art ever since―is of a noble man putting his lips to the poisonous cup of hemlock, sentenced to death in a fit of folly by an ancient Athenian democracy already fighting for its own life. But an icon, an image, is not reality, and time has transmuted so many of the facts into historical fable.

Aware of these myths, Robin Waterfield has examined the actual Greek sources and presents here a new Socrates, in which he separates the legend from the man himself. As Waterfield recounts the story, the charges of impiety and corrupting the youth of Athens were already enough for a death sentence, but the prosecutors accused him of more. They asserted that Socrates was not just an atheist and the guru of a weird sect but also an elitist who surrounded himself with politically undesirable characters and had mentored those responsible for defeat in the Peloponnesian War. Their claims were not without substance, for Plato and Xenophon, among Socrates’ closest companions, had idolized him as students, while Alcibiades, the hawkish and notoriously self-serving general, had brought Athens to the brink of military disaster. In fact, as Waterfield perceptively shows through an engrossing historical narrative, there was a great deal of truth, from an Athenian perspective, in these charges.

The trial was, in part, a response to troubled times―Athens was reeling from a catastrophic war and undergoing turbulent social changes―and Socrates’ companions were unfortunately direct representatives of these troubles. Their words and actions, judiciously sifted and placed in proper context, not only serve to portray Socrates as a flesh-and-blood historical figure but also provide a good lens through which to explore both the trial and the general history of the period.

Ultimately, the study of these events and principal figures allows us to finally strip away the veneer that has for so long denied us glimpses of the real Socrates. Why Socrates Died is an illuminating, authoritative account of not only one of the defining periods of Western civilization but also of one of its most defining figures. 4 pages of illustrations
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  1. ISBN-10
    0393065278
  2. ISBN-13
    978-0393065275
  3. Publisher
    W. W. Norton & Company
  4. Publication date
    June 8, 2009
  5. Language
    English
  6. Dimensions
    6.5 x 1.1 x 9.5 inches
  7. Print length
    284 pages
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Socrates and Alcibiades were an unlikely couple: an ugly old philosopher and a charming, intelligent, ambitious and arrogant aristocrat. The fallout from this relationship and an unpopular war toppled the world's most significant philosophical figure. By placing the execution of Socrates against the context of the Peloponnesian War, classicist Waterfield (Xenophon's Retreat) argues that a guilty verdict against the philosopher, charged with impiety and corrupting Athens's youth, was a rational outcome. Athens of the last third of the fifth century B.C. was affected by a striking list of stress factors. Old certainties were being undermined by prolonged warfare, morally subversive ideas, population displacement and other forms of social upheaval. Sitting atop a solid foundation of scholarship, this valuable survey of an important period of ancient history is especially useful as a prelude to texts by Plato, Xenophon and Thucydides. Of the many introductory studies on the Athenian judicial system, the trial of Socrates, the conflict between Athens and Sparta and the reasons that democracy gave way to oligarchy in Athens, this is among the clearest, most well-organized and most concise. 4 pages of illus., maps. (May)
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From Booklist

*Starred Review* In The Death of Socrates (2007), Emily Wilson illuminated the mythmaking process that converted the execution of a famous ancient philosopher into a symbolic tableau incorporated into a wide range of religious and political ideologies. In this much-needed complementary study, Waterfield deflates that mythmaking by probing the historical dynamics surrounding the trial itself. The analysis will surprise readers accustomed to viewing Socrates’ accusers as paranoid defenders of religious superstitions. For a careful parsing of the evidence reveals that when Athenian judges condemned Socrates, they were defending principles still cherished by most twenty-first-century readers: namely, the principles of democracy. Waterfield convincingly establishes that Socrates fell under hostile suspicion largely because of his close ties to young students of deeply anti-democratic sympathies. One of these arrogant young men joined other oligarchs in conspiring against Athens during its bitter war against Sparta; another scripted the atrocities committed by the Thirty Tyrants when they temporarily overthrew Athens’ democratic government. Waterfield shows that even Socrates’ own belief in an ideal government by experts legitimated, elitist, not democratic governance. Such a belief, readers soon realize, would have appeared particularly menacing to Athenian democrats traumatized by the twin shocks of external assault and internal discord. Impressive scholarship redefining an iconic event. --Bryce Christensen

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ W. W. Norton & Company (June 8, 2009)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 284 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0393065278
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0393065275
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.04 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.5 x 1.1 x 9.5 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 38 ratings

About the author

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Robin Waterfield

Robin Waterfield

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Robin Anthony Herschel Waterfield (born 1952) is a British classical scholar, translator, editor, and writer of children's fiction. Waterfield was born in 1952, and studied Classics at Manchester University, where he achieved a first class degree in 1974. He went on to research ancient Greek philosophy at King's College, Cambridge until 1978, after which he became a lecturer at Newcastle University and then St Andrews University. He later became a copy-editor and later a commissioning editor for Penguin Books. He is now a self-employed writer, living in southern Greece, where he has Greek citizenship.

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Customer reviews

4.3 out of 5 stars
4.3 out of 5
38 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Pseudonymous Account
5.0 out of 5 stars An Accurate Reconstruction of Socrates' Last Days
Reviewed in the United States on May 23, 2013
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In this book, Robin Waterfield reconstructs the final days of Socrates' life as well as describe the social, political, and cultural atmosphere of Ancient Greece, which had contributed to if not alone caused the philosopher's execution. Throughout the first two-thirds of the book, Waterfield focuses on these latter aspects and goes at great lengths to provide an accurate and realistic portrayal of Athens during the years leading up to the death of Socrates. He also thoroughly examines Alcibiades' life and political career, considering him to be a crucial aspect of Socrates and his trial. Moreover, the author investigates the multiple factors that may have influenced the public perception of both Alcibiades and his teacher. In the last third, Waterfield focuses specifically on Socrates himself and analyzes the court case, prosecutors, and various accounts on both in an attempt to understand just what led up to the guilty verdict.

"Why Socrates Died: Dispelling the Myths" is a superb book that investigates every aspect of Socrates' trial. Robin Waterfield was extensive in his research, clear in his prose, and convincing in his arguments. His style and tone are both appropriate; I didn't even find a single typographical error in the entire work! Waterfield's scholarship and sophistication pervades this literary work and anyone who reads it will likely feel the same. If you are an admirer of Socrates, Ancient Greece, or its culture and history--or if you're simply interested in the aforementioned--I highly recommend this book.

Oh and if you idolize Socrates like I did and still somewhat do, be prepared to have your perspective challenged. He disillusioned me from my somewhat idealized perception of Socrates, whom I viewed as my idol. Needless to say, this book is powerful enough to stimulate a die-hard Socratic like me into re-examining the life of one of the greatest philosophers to have ever lived.

Lastly, my only complaint is that the references are collected in the back and simply refer to certain lines in the book. I would have much rather preferred for the references to have been in endnote format and the numbers electronically linked for easy navigation. A small quote snippet given with the assumption that the reader will remember that specific passage--despite how the passage was not noted whatsoever--is disappointing. This alone almost got me to rate this only four stars. That excluded, this is an excellent read and I recommend it to anyone willing to give it a go.
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Donovan Forest
5.0 out of 5 stars Wow!
Reviewed in the United States on May 14, 2015
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Often we look back into the past, whether a century or many millennia, and expect it to be primitive relative to our oh, so sophisticated modern times. We surely are flooded with more data, but there is little evidence we have any more abilities to extract information from them or to utilize them wisely. Most of us are still feeling our ways blindly, if only because we and the world are so exceedingly complex and we’re never sure what question to ask nor if we should believe any answer. This was scarcely less true in the supposedly simpler fifth century BCE Athenian times, which replayed a tale of hubris exposed as foolishness that has been performed over and over again as we are doing in our times. The Athenian story swirls around Socrates’ humanistic rationality-charged certainties and their wobbly foundations as exposed by his students—one, Alcibiades, it seems might have saved the Athenian empire. For most of my eighty years, I’ve regarded Socrates as a personal hero and his “many questions” approach as my own, based it now seems on reading Greek scholars who just didn’t get it. Robin Waterfield does a marvelous job of cleaning that mess up. Since finishing Why Socrates Died, it comes to me that Socrates’ humanistic elitism, the current version of which is killing the natural world and stacks of humans, bled into our own times through Aristotle, Aquinas, Descartes, and so on. Wow! Thanks.
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Johnmeli
4.0 out of 5 stars A good read on the workings of Athenian democracy
Reviewed in the United States on September 17, 2014
This was a fun read. A well-written, engaging book. Waterfield goes to great lengths to describe the context and background of Socrates's execution in 399 BC. We learn a great deal about Athenian political and cultural life, the Peloponnesian War, and the habits of Socrates and his friends. Waterfield made me feel as if I personally knew Alcibiades and Socrates and the many other characters. There is plenty of historical detail, without being too heavy.

Waterfield elucidates the case against Socrates over many pages. He sums it up on page 191, quoting from the book: "He was a clever arguer and taught young men to be clever arguers; he usurped their fathers' roles in education and in general was perceived to be subversive of inherited values..." In a time of unrest, of conflict between democracy and oligarchy, and the war with Sparta, Athenians were fed up with Socrates's undermining of the traditional faith and conventions. That was enough in the Athenian democratic system, to be a crime.

There was more, of course. He was young Alcibiades's teacher, the most prominent young Athenian if his time. Alcibiades was brilliant and handsome, an oligarch, and went on to play a traitorous role in the war with Sparta. Socrates also seemed allied with Critias, a member the The Thirty tyrants, who briefly took power in Athens in a coup that led to civil war, although Socrates himself played no role in the tyranny. Socrates was not a friend of Athenian democracy, as it was structured.

It reads to me as if there are parallels in the struggle between democrats and oligarchs and today's progressive liberals and small-government conservatives. The democrats constantly worked to hedge and contain the power of the few wealthy oligarchs, and believed in collective decision-making and the betterment of "the many" at the expense of the oligarchs. The oligarchs believed in reducing the role of democracy and its conventions and bureaucracy, of promoting the progress of the state by promoting the progress of "the best", of the brightest and most capable men (who were of course oligarchs).

Hemlock could not have been an easy way to die. You didn't simply go to sleep painlessly. You apparently are asphyxiated as your diaphragm stops working. Socrates is said to have willingly taken hemlock rather than escape at the urging of his friends. As Waterfield presents him, he is filled with what we would regard as faults, but not what we could call crimes. And certainly not faults worthy of execution.
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Top reviews from other countries

James Head
5.0 out of 5 stars ‘Highly recommended’ for people wanting to understand the reasons for Socrates’ death better.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 30, 2020
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If like me you consider yourself ‘fairly well read’ on Plato and Greek philosophy generally, but also like me, are confused on some important questions - such as why a relatively sophisticated city state like classical Athens put to death an apparently harmless philosopher like Socrates – then this book is for you.

As often from Robin Waterfield, this book wears its considerable research lightly, and remains very readable and enjoyable. A great deal of information on the turbulent political and legal environment leading up to the execution of Socrates is presented – yet conveniently organised into short sections of just a few pages which are clearly sub titled for people to seek out particular areas of interest and curiosity.

Other questions, like why Plato was so reluctant to get involved formally with politics, are also answered indirectly within this book’s pages. When one understands the harshness of the political environment of the time one can understand Plato’s stance much better.

This book also raised some new questions for me – such as how poor was Socrates really? We should not be fooled by his walking around without shoes; since apparently this was much the custom in Sparta at the time, whose political organisation was of considerable appeal to Socrates. Indeed, two of his former young associates, Alcibiades and Critias, were also pro the Spartan constitution – and hence cast dark shadows on Socrates and whether the city of Athens would simply be better off with him or without him, as the court case tended to focus on. The fragile recently re-established Athenian democracy of the time (following the long war with Sparta and then the cruel period of the 30 tyrants) was very wary of ‘young’ aristocrats with their undemocratic and pro Spartan stance. Of great concern also were older thinkers like Socrates who encouraged them to question the ‘staus quo’ of their ancestors who had traditionally ruled Athens.

In conclusion, the book clearly and succinctly describes the world Socrates inhabited, and the reasons why he ‘really’ was put to death. The reasons are rather more complex than the unfair and harsh execution many of us have traditionally had in our minds. ‘HIGHLY RECOMMENED’.
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The Keen Reader
5.0 out of 5 stars Very insightful and very interesting
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 19, 2010
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I don't think that the author of this book suggests that Socrates supported 'the Thirty' at all. Surely it is more the case that the book argues that Socrates was sacrificed because he was seen by some as a 'sophist'; and that he taught his followers, in a very public manner, to question the underlying assumptions of Athens' way of life.

This book is very insightful and interesting; well-written and very thorough. I recommend it highly. The author's book on Xenophon is also very good, and I would recommend that too.

Both these books offer very good background and interesting historical analysis of Athens during its imperial phase and its struggles with Sparta and Persia.
8 people found this helpful
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S. Smith
4.0 out of 5 stars A Possible Answer, not the only one
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 29, 2012
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This book by Robin Waterfield provides a good account of classical Athenian history as the background to the trial of Socrates and of the mechanics and course of the trial itself. After an introduction, he discusses how the Athenian courts worked, the prosecution and defence and how the jury voting system. Next, Waterfield gives a readable account of the Peloponnesian War and the effect it had on Athenian politics, promoting both extreme democracy or demagogy and brutal oligarchy. In this, the main figure is Alcibiades, handsome and wealthy and hungry for power, either fighting for Athenian democracy or plotting against it.

Socrates had a turbulent relationship with Alcibiades as his teacher and possibly lover, and many of Socrates's student followers were rich and opponents of the Athenian democracy, including Critias, violently anti-democratic and one of the main leaders of the oligarchic coups. Waterfield argues in a final section that, although by 399BC, Critias and Alcibiades were both dead, Socrates was tarnished by his association with them. The charges he faced, impiety, worshipping new gods and corrupting the young were motivated by political revenge rather than moral or religious concerns.

However, Waterfield argues that Socrates' death was caused by his own suicidal behaviour. The jury convicted him by only a narrow majority, after which, the prosecutor and Socrates each proposed a penalty. By not proposing a fine or exile instead of death, but dinners at public expense, he created outrage which ensured a big majority for the death penalty. This is an intriguing argument, but an alternative to Waterfield's view is that Socrates was so out of touch he really believed that his actions were more worthy of praise than condemnation.

Overall an interesting book, but only one of many theories about Socrates's trial and death. He idea that Socrates deliberately sought death is not really proved.
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Broken iPod owner
1.0 out of 5 stars Missing Socrates
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 9, 2011
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Socrates' actions will have been a major contributor to his conviction, and the political hysteria at the time will in turn have been the counterbalance, but this book spends about 95% of its time talking about times well before then. A lot of detail regarding the Peloponnesian war is entered into which could easily have been condensed, yet it gets more coverage than Socrates himself. The book reads more like a study of Alcibiades. I was so disappointed I came to write this review, when I must review less than one in 50 books (and normally only to praise)

The book lacks Socrates. There may be evidential reasons why the book suggested by the title cannot be written, but I feel I have just read a tepid version of Thucydides, and would not encourage anyone to read the book, unless they want to know a lot of detail about what happened BEFORE Socrates trial and death
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