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Speaker 1: So what about a major public figure who's sort of

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Speaker 1: a big mouth, but who has to be allowed to

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Speaker 1: say what he or she thinks. It happens all the time, right,

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Speaker 1: that's democracy. Well, what about a guy who most of

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Speaker 1: us have heard of, who's an icon noted as the

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Speaker 1: father of Western philosophy. We're talking about Socrates, who was

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Speaker 1: so stubborn about being right he calmly faced execution even

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Speaker 1: when he could have escaped. I'm Patty Steele. The bizarre

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Speaker 1: life and really bizarre death of a know it all genius.

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Speaker 1: Next on the backstory. The backstory is back. Even if

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Speaker 1: you know very little about the Greek philosophers, you probably

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Speaker 1: heard of Socrates. He was a total character, and that

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Speaker 1: wound up costing him his life. Socrates was born in

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Speaker 1: ancient Athens sometime around four sixty nine BCE. Athens was

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Speaker 1: described as the beating heart of Greece, and Socrates came

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Speaker 1: from a pretty affluent family. That may explain his broad education.

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Speaker 1: He was taught reading, writing, history, gymnastics, poetry, music, but

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Speaker 1: it also might explain his arrogance. He believed he was right,

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Speaker 1: and he stood up for what he believed in really

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Speaker 1: didn't give a damn what anybody else thought? What did

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Speaker 1: he look like? Well, if you imagine him as an

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Speaker 1: old guy with a beard in a toga surrounded by

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Speaker 1: a bunch of young guys listening to him spout deep stuff,

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Speaker 1: you'd be right. But he was more complicated than that.

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Speaker 1: He really really didn't care what anybody else thought of him.

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Speaker 1: He wasn't an attractive guy. His closest friends and students

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Speaker 1: described him as having a flat, turned up nose, bulging eyes,

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Speaker 1: and a big belly. In fact, they joked about his looks,

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Speaker 1: calling him ugly, But Socrates didn't care what they thought,

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Speaker 1: and really didn't care about his own appearance or even

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Speaker 1: his personal comfort. He was noted for being filthy. He

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Speaker 1: hardly ever bathed, always walked barefoot, and owned only one old,

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Speaker 1: crummy coat. He didn't care much about eating, drinking, or

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Speaker 1: even sex. While Socrates was attracted to young guys, which

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Speaker 1: was pretty common and accepted in ancient Greece, he mostly

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Speaker 1: stayed away from sexual relationships with him because, as his

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Speaker 1: student Plato says, he was more interested in educating their souls.

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Speaker 1: So what was he teaching them? Well, he believed that

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Speaker 1: you should constantly be forced to confront the things you

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Speaker 1: took for granted in life. Now. The problem is, he

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Speaker 1: thought it was his responsibility to force people to confront

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Speaker 1: their own beliefs, and there were a whole lot of

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Speaker 1: folks who hated him for that. His questions humiliated them,

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Speaker 1: particularly the big shots, who didn't want answer to anyone,

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Speaker 1: much less of filthy street philosopher. Think about it, You're

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Speaker 1: an Athenian, confident in your beliefs about virtue, justice, and

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Speaker 1: the gods, and here comes this kind of scruffy old

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Speaker 1: guy asking you to explain your ideas, forcing you and

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Speaker 1: others to see that you've got it all wrong. It's

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Speaker 1: obvious that you don't have all the answers, and that

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Speaker 1: makes you angry. Socrates didn't just stop it questioning ordinary folks.

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Speaker 1: He took his philosophical sledgehammer to the beliefs of Athens'

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Speaker 1: most powerful and respected figures. He showed their ignorance, not

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Speaker 1: trying to be a jerk, though he was, but because

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Speaker 1: he believed that admitting one's ignorance was the first step

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Speaker 1: toward real wisdom. But as you can imagine, that didn't

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Speaker 1: exactly make him popular among those big shots. So three

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Speaker 1: of them decided to put Socrates on trial the charges

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Speaker 1: corrupting the youth of Athens and impiety were not buying

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Speaker 1: into accepted beliefs about the gods. What exactly did corrupting

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Speaker 1: the youth mean? Well, he had a following of young

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Speaker 1: men who were drawn to Socrates because of his unusual

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Speaker 1: ideas and also his ability to make the big shots

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Speaker 1: in Athens look stupid. The elders thought Socrates was leading

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Speaker 1: these young guys astray, undermining Athenian society. They also saw

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Speaker 1: him as a threat to the traditional worship of the

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Speaker 1: gods and so to grease itself. The jury found him guilty,

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Speaker 1: mostly because he didn't really try to explain himself. He

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Speaker 1: simply defended his opinions intensely. Now here's where it gets weird.

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Speaker 1: In Athens, a condemned person could choose between two sentences,

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Speaker 1: one offered by the prosecution and one by the defense.

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Speaker 1: Socrates could choose his own punishment. I mean, he could

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Speaker 1: have asked for permission to leave Athens and live in exile,

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Speaker 1: which would have saved his life, but his ego wouldn't

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Speaker 1: let him do that. The only thing he suggested, jokingly

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Speaker 1: was that they give him free meals every day for

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Speaker 1: the rest of his life in recognition of his value

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Speaker 1: to Athens and honor usually reserved for Olympic champions. Duh,

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Speaker 1: that was a no go. Then he suggested a small fine,

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Speaker 1: also a no go. It was too little, too late,

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Speaker 1: so at the end of the day the jurors decided

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Speaker 1: on the death penalty. They decided he would have to

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Speaker 1: drink a cup of poison hemlock to get the job done.

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Speaker 1: That would gradually paralyze his body and stop his heart.

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Speaker 1: Socrates still could have escaped. His friends offered to bribe

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Speaker 1: the guards and get him out of the city, but no,

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Speaker 1: he refused. To Socrates, the law was the law, and

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Speaker 1: while he thought his conviction was bogus, he wasn't about

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Speaker 1: to undermine the legal system he lived under his whole life.

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Speaker 1: He saw his death as a final lesson, a demonstration

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Speaker 1: of his commitment to his principles. Socrates spent his last

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Speaker 1: day in prison and the hours before his execution with

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Speaker 1: his friends and students. They were beside themselves, begging him

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Speaker 1: to escape, but he stayed calm, discussing philosophy until the

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Speaker 1: very end. Finally, Socrates took the cup of hemlock, drank

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Speaker 1: it without any hesitation, and then continued talking until the

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Speaker 1: poison took effect. His final words were to remind a

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Speaker 1: friend to offer a sacrifice to the god of healing,

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Speaker 1: perhaps a final ironic nod to his belief that death

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Speaker 1: was actually a kind of cure. So why was Socrates

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Speaker 1: forced to kill himself. It wasn't only because he was

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Speaker 1: disliked by some powerful people. It was also because he

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Speaker 1: represented something that really unsettles powerful people even today, not

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Speaker 1: just the Athenian big shots. It's the power of questioning

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Speaker 1: and critical thinking. He challenged the status quo. His questions,

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Speaker 1: his refusal to conform, and his influence over young people

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Speaker 1: made him the perfect scapegoat for the city's anxieties. What's

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Speaker 1: interesting is what was meant to silence Socrates only turned

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Speaker 1: up the noise. His death made him a martyr for

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Speaker 1: freethinking and questioning, and a symbol of the struggle against

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Speaker 1: ignorance and repression. His teachings were amplified by his disciples

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Speaker 1: like Plato and later Aristotle. So yet, you can have

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Speaker 1: a big mouth and it can cost you. But if

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Speaker 1: it's based on the search for truth and wisdom, maybe

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Speaker 1: it's worth it. Socrates life and his death teach us

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Speaker 1: the value of questioning even when it feels dangerous, and

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Speaker 1: what we realize is that a lot of times the

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Speaker 1: most important questions have uncomfortable but really important answers. Hope

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Speaker 1: you like the Backstory with Patty Steele. I would love

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Speaker 1: it if you would subscribe or follow for free to

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Speaker 1: get new episodes delivered automatically, and feel free to dm

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Speaker 1: me if you have a story you'd like me to cover.

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Speaker 1: On Facebook, It's Patty Steele and on Instagram Real Patty Steele.

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Speaker 1: I'm Patty Steele. The Backstory is a production of iHeartMedia,

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Speaker 1: Premier Networks, the Elvis Duran Group, and Steel Trap Productions.

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Speaker 1: Our producer is Doug Fraser. Our writer Jake Kushner. We

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Speaker 1: have new episodes every Tuesday and Friday. Feel free to

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Speaker 1: reach out to me with comments and even story suggestions

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Speaker 1: on Instagram at Real Patty Steele and on Facebook at

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Speaker 1: Patty Steele. Thanks for listening to the Backstory with Patty Steele.

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Speaker 1: The pieces of history you didn't know you needed to

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Speaker 1: know