The most important aspect of Athenian democracy is the fact that "power is in the hands not of a minority but of the whole people"(Thucydides, II.37). Decisions are made after being discussed and voted. Each citizen's vote stands equal, regardless of occupation or economic status. This is (according to the Athenians) the fairest political system, which actually helps the city-state improve and develop. The majority of the citizens ar

Socrates questions authority and the politics of his time and sometimes doubts them. Proof of this is the fact that in the past, when member of the Council, as Plato writes in The Trial and Death of Socrates, when he thought his superiors' decisions were unjust he simply decided not to keep them up, not fearing the consequences.

Socrates' opinions and beliefs are ahead of his time definitely, and maybe even ours. To give up everything else in order to be a just person sounds impossible to achieve. One should not fear anything or anyone when searching for justice and should be brave and persistent towards his goal, disregarding the 'painful' road one must follow. The answers to his questions constitute an unreachable perhaps vision, which we could never be sure that it will ever be obtained. As ideas and speculations they are unique though and worthwhile studying in detail

His belief is that he is a gift to the city from the gods. He has some sort of spiritual influence guiding him away from things that he should not do. With statements like these he is misunderstood, for he claims he is special and favored by the gods. This could cause confusion to the jury, the Athenians present at this trial. They feel inferior to him and it is ironic since they are the ones judging Socrates, and not the other way around. Blaspheme of this sort is unaccepted in the Athenian community, which looks at Socrates as an arrogant, foolish perhaps, and overrated individual.

He seems extremely confident for himself, claiming he has no one to fear of doing him harm, since he is better and therefore cannot be harmed. Even death does not scare him, since death is unknown to Socrates, unlike the vast majority. Although his argument makes perfect sense, he is looked at as a person who acts like a god, or of a person that has no fear in divine spirits, a very extreme behavior for the Athenian democracy.

He asks all types of people, young and old, of all social classes and economic status. "After politicians, I went to the poets, the writers of tragedies and dithyrambs... Finally I went to the craftsmen" as Plato describes (Apology, 22b, 22c). He realizes from their discussions that because they posses knowledge on a certain subject they get carried away and believe their knowledge is more general than it really is. The fact that Socrates points out to them their flaws disappoints them, to say the least, and creates an unfriendly attitude towards Socrates. They are unable to see the real point S

Some common words found in the essay are:
Athenians Based, II37 Decisions, Peloponnesian War, Council Assembly, BC Greek, Olympus Sacrifices, Death Socrates, Socrates Prejudice, Socrates Blaspheme, Citizens Athens, athenian democracy, athenian citizen, citizens athens, believe gods, types people, people wise, economic status, fellow citizens, athenian society, trying help,
Approximate Word count = 1678
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)