When Was Socrates Trial In Plato's Apology

After my reading of the Apology by Plato and studying Socrates’ trial I have come to understand the complexity of Plato’s apology and Socrates’ defence as presented to us. Socrates’ was seen as an unpopular individual who did no right or just in the eyes of his accusers. The account of Socrates’ defence was a long and detailed account which at times was hard to comprehend but it is evident that his approach towards his trial and his accusers was factual. There are many allegation’s put forward on Socrates. He in turn provides a detailed defence against the allegations of corruption and against the different thoughts of his accusers. Socrates is accused of not believing in the same gods as the city but believing in new spiritual things and of corrupting the youth. The people of the city did not like this and therefore this is the reason behind Socrates’ trial and his defence towards this trial. In this assignment I will look at the account of Socrates’ defence as …show more content…
He challenges the basis of their argument. In court he begins to question Meletus who is acting on behalf of the poets by accusing Socrates of corrupting the youth. Socrates goes on to challenge Meletus by asking him does all the Athenians make the young into fine good men and is he, Socrates the only one to corrupt them unwillingly He stands alone as the condemned person for this charge. He believes you should be true to yourself and he goes on to say that Meletus is indeed contradicting himself, talking in riddles, by saying in one instance that Socrates believes in new spiritual Gods but during the questioning he states that Socrates “does not believe in gods at all”. (Plato, 2000) He questions Meletus deeply and asks him whether he is a wiser person than him and if he is, why he avoided him all along and did not instruct him but instead brings him to a court where he is to be punished and condemned rather than given