An introductory Essay by Dr. Jane Zembaty

Transcription

1 An introductory Essay by Dr. Jane Zembaty The setting in which Socrates' trial took place was very different from contemporary courtrooms. He was tried and made his defense in a building called the Pnyx, which also served as the meeting place of the Ancient Athenian Democratic Assembly. There were no judges at his trial other than the 50l jurors. Thus there was no neutral person to give any directions or advice to the jury. Nor did the jury meet in private to discuss the evidence and deliberate about the verdict. When both sides had presented their cases, the litigants simply voted. Litigants had to speak for themselves. There were no lawyers to represent them. Individuals who had doubts about their legal knowledge or speaking skills could hire professional speech-writers. However they still had to deliver the speeches themselves. Whatever evidence litigants had to present was presented in these speeches. Speakers could question their opponents and the opponents were required to answer. Litigants could also call for assistance from supporting speakers. However, there were severe time restrictions. First, the trial had to be completed in one day. Second, both sides were subject to specific time limits. The time allotted to each side had to include the litigant's speech, the questioning of opponents, as well as any supporting speeches. The usual time division, in public cases such as Socrates', was one-third for the prosecutor, one-third for the defendant, and one-third for speeches about the assessment of the penalty in the cases of defendants who were found guilty. The views of the Pnyx and the speakers' platform give us some visual idea of the conditions under which Socrates spoke. THE PNYX (The Meeting Place of Ancient Athens) SPEAKERS' PLATFORM

2 SPEAKERS' PLATFORM (Detail) Olympia, in the district of Elis, is best known as the site of the ancient Greek athletic Olympics. But it was also the site of intellectual contests--contests in which teachers called the sophists displayed their oratorical skills. Originally, the term "sophist" had no negative connotations. The pejorative connotations we now attribute to "sophists" and "sophistry" are, to a large extent, a part of Plato's legacy since his writings offer numerous criticisms of their teaching. Originally, a sophist was an itenerant teacher who was considered clever, knowledgeable, often especially in rhetoric, and prepared to impart that knowledge to paying students. That sophists were accorded a great deal of respect by some Greeks is reflected in the fact that they sometimes served as ambassadors. Hippias of Elis, for example, one of the most successful speakers at Olympia, also served as an ambassador for Elis. The images of the palaestra and gymnasium in Olympia illustrate the juxtaposition of the intellectual and physical activities in Olympia during the contests, although this palaestra belongs to a later period. Doors from the gymnasium opened directly into the palaestra which contained the athletes' dressing, waiting, and practice rooms. However the palaestra was also a place in which philosophers and rhetoricians met and discussed their subject matter with both one another and with the athletes. In the Apology, we see Socrates trying to distance himself from the people called Sophists. Unlike them, he was not an itenerant teacher but a citizen of Athens. He himself never went to Olympia or gave public speeches. But as Plato's dialogues illustrate, he did question young gymnasts in an Athenian palaestra. PALAESTRA

3 THE GYMNASIUM In the Apology as well as in other dialogues by Plato, Socrates frequently uses an analogy with horse training to argue for the importance of having knowledgeable people as teachers of human children. That might not be the most obvious analogy for a contemporary audience. However, the importance of horse training in ancient Greece is well illustrated by the fact that Xenophon (430-ca 335B.C.), who was both an important calvaryman and the owner of country property, wrote a long, fully preserved manual on the art of horsemanship. In this work, Xenopohon stresses the necessity of understanding the horse's psyche (mentality) just as Socrates repeatedly stresses the need for all of us, and especially for "teachers" of the young, to understand the human psyche. ATHENIAN HORSE TRAINER In the Apology, Socrates reminds his audience that his friend, Chaerephon, went to Delphi to consult the Delphic oracle in order to learn whether anyone was wiser than Socrates. The Delphic sanctuary was the sanctuary of Apollo. The Pythia, who delivered the oracle was supposed to receive direct inspiration from Apollo and spoke in his name. In other words, the god himself delivered the oracle to Pythia, a woman over 50 years old, who served as his medium. The magnificence of the Delphic site is impossible to convey in just the few images presented here. The mountain setting itself as well as the existing ruins can only give us a vague idea of its splendor in ancient Greece. The site of the sanctuary was considered the center or navel of the earth. Thus since the most remote times, Apollo's temple always contained an omphalos (navel

4 stone) and offerings in the shape of omphalos were frequently presented to the god by pilgrims from all over the world. The omphalos pictured here is a Hellenistic or Roman copy. It is covered by an agrenon, sort of a thick net. Numerous wealthy offerings were made to the sanctuary. One of those offerings, for example, was sent by Croesus, a king of Lydia noted for his wealth. It was a lion of solid gold weighing about 250 kilograms and set on a pyramid made of 117 bricks of "white gold," which is a mixture of gold and silver. People who consulted the oracle included kings, such as Croesus, as well as Greeks who were planning to establish new colonies in distant places. The latter would consult the oracle in order to learn just where they should stablish their colonies and to determine who would become the leader of the future colony. THEATER AND TEMPLE OF APOLLO, DELPHI DELPHI

5 OMPHALOS AT DELPHI These images are from the private collection of Diane DeWall and are used by permission. Although we cannot be sure that these are, in fact, pictures of the prison in which Socrates was held after the trial and in which he died, scholars think that it may be. THE PRISON

6 SOCRATES' CELL The first image is a picture of the ruins of the agora--the Athenian marketplace and public center. Socrates would have been a frequent stroller in the agora and might have done some of his questioning here. The second image is part of a painting by Raphael. In the painting as a whole, called The School of Athens, Raphael ( ), presents his images of Athenian philosophers, including Plato and Aristotle. The part of the painting depicted here is his image of Socrates engaged in questioning. Of course, Socrates never had a formal school of any sort although, as he points out in the Apology, he attracted countless followers who observed him questioning others. Later philosophers, including Plato and Aristotle, did establish schools. Plato founded the Academy and Aristotle established the Lyceum. THE AGORA

7 (Detail of) THE SCHOOL OF ATHENS