The Backstory: Choosing Your Poison

We’re all pretty fascinated with the summer blockbuster ”The Odyssey” right now. So it’s a good time to revisit an unusual story about Socrates, Homer’s compatriot. Although he was born several hundred years later, Socrates admired Homer. But he was a different sort of guy. We all know major public figures who drive us crazy because they loudly share opinions we don’t agree with. But that’s democracy, right? So, this iconic Greek philosopher, Socrates, was exactly that kind of big mouth 2400 years ago in Athens . . where democracy was just being originated. Problem is, he angered the wrong big shots . . and wound up being executed in a really unusual way.

Feel free to DM me if you have a story you’d like me to cover . . on Facebook it’s Patty Steele and on Instagram Real Patty Steele.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
So what about a major public figure who's sort of
a big mouth, but who has to be allowed to
say what he or she thinks. It happens all the time, right,
that's democracy. Well, what about a guy who most of
us have heard of, who's an icon noted as the
father of Western philosophy. We're talking about Socrates, who was
so stubborn about being right he calmly faced execution even

(00:23):
when he could have escaped. I'm Patty Steele. The bizarre
life and really bizarre death of a know it all genius.
Next on the backstory. The backstory is back. Even if
you know very little about the Greek philosophers, you probably
heard of Socrates. He was a total character, and that

(00:45):
way wound up costing him his life. Socrates was born
in ancient Athens sometime around four sixty nine BCE. Athens
was described as the beating heart of Greece, and Socrates
came from a pretty affluent family. That may explain his
broad education. He was taught reading, writing, history, gymnastics, poetry, music,

(01:06):
but it also might explain his arrogance. He believed he
was right, and he stood up for what he believed in.
Really didn't give a damn what anybody else thought? What
did he look like? Well, if you imagine him as
an old guy with a beard in a toga surrounded
by a bunch of young guys listening to him spout
deep stuff, he'd be right. But he was more complicated

(01:26):
than that. He really really didn't care what anybody else
thought of him. He wasn't an attractive guy. His closest
friends and students described him as having a flat, turned
up nose, bulging eyes, and a big belly. In fact,
they joked about his looks, calling him ugly, But Socrates
didn't care what they thought, and really didn't care about

(01:47):
his own appearance or even his personal comfort. He was
noted for being filthy. He hardly ever bathed, always walked barefoot,
and owned only one old, crummy coat. He didn't care
much about eating, drinking, or even sex. While Socrates was
attracted to young guys, which was pretty common and accepted
in ancient Greece, he mostly stayed away from sexual relationships

(02:11):
with him because, as his student Plato says, he was
more interested in educating their souls. So what was he
teaching them? Well, he believed that you should constantly be
forced to confront the things you took for granted in life. Now.
The problem is, he thought it was his responsibility to
force people to confront their own beliefs, and there were

(02:32):
a whole lot of folks who hated him for that.
His questions humiliated them, particularly the big shots, who didn't
want answer to anyone, much less of filthy street philosopher.
Think about it, You're an Athenian, confident in your beliefs
about virtue, justice, and the gods, and here comes this
kind of scruffy old guy asking you to explain your ideas,

(02:56):
forcing you and others to see that you've got it
all wrong. It's obvious that you don't have all the answers,
and that makes you angry. Socrates didn't just stop it
questioning ordinary folks. He took his philosophical sledgehammer to the
beliefs of Athens' most powerful and respected figures. He showed
their ignorance, not trying to be a jerk, though he was,

(03:19):
but because he believed that admitting one's ignorance was the
first step toward real wisdom. But as you can imagine,
that didn't exactly make him popular among those big shots.
So three of them decided to put Socrates on trial
the charges corrupting the youth of Athens and impiety, or
not buying into accepted beliefs about the gods. What exactly

(03:42):
did corrupting the youth mean? Well, he had a following
of young men who were drawn to Socrates because of
his unusual ideas and also his ability to make the
big shots in Athens look stupid. The elders thought Socrates
was leading these young guys astray, undermining Athenian society. They
also saw him as a threat to the traditional worship

(04:04):
of the gods and so to grease itself. The jury
found him guilty, mostly because he didn't really try to
explain himself. He simply defended his opinions intensely. Now here's
where it gets weird. In Athens, a condemned person could
choose between two sentences, one offered by the prosecution and

(04:24):
one by the defense. Socrates could choose his own punishment.
I mean, he could have asked for permission to leave
Athens and live in exile, which would have saved his life,
but his ego wouldn't let him do that. The only
thing he suggested, jokingly was that they give him free
meals every day for the rest of his life in
recognition of his value to Athens and honor usually reserved

(04:47):
for Olympic champions. Duh, that was a no go. Then
he suggested a small fine, also a no go. It
was too little, too late, so at the end of
the day the jurors decided on the death penalty. They
decided he would have to drink a cup of poison
hemlock to get the job done. That would gradually paralyze

(05:07):
his body and stop his heart. Socrates still could have escaped.
His friends offered to bribe the guards and get him
out of the city, but no, he refused. To Socrates,
the law was the law, and while he thought his
conviction was bogus, he wasn't about to undermine the legal
system he lived under his whole life. He saw his

(05:28):
death as a final lesson, a demonstration of his commitment
to his principles. Socrates spent his last day in prison
and the hours before his execution with his friends and students.
They were beside themselves, begging him to escape, but he
stayed calm, discussing philosophy until the very end. Finally, Socrates

(05:49):
took the cup of hemlock, drank it without any hesitation,
and then continued talking until the poison took effect. His
final words were to remind and a friend to offer
a sacrifice to the god of healing, perhaps a final
ironic nod to his belief that death was actually a
kind of cure. So why was Socrates forced to kill himself.

(06:13):
It wasn't only because he was disliked by some powerful people.
It was also because he represented something that really unsettles
powerful people even today, not just the Athenian big shots.
It's the power of questioning and critical thinking. He challenged
the status quo. His questions, his refusal to conform, and

(06:34):
his influence over young people made him the perfect scapegoat
for the city's anxieties. What's interesting is what was meant
to silence Socrates only turned up the noise. His death
made him a martyr for freethinking and questioning, and a
symbol of the struggle against ignorance and repression. His teachings

(06:55):
were amplified by his disciples like Plato and later Aristotle. So, yes,
you can have a big mouth and it can cost you,
But if it's based on the search for truth and wisdom,
maybe it's worth it. Socrates life and his death teach
us the value of questioning even when it feels dangerous,

(07:15):
and what we realize is that a lot of times
the most important questions have uncomfortable but really important answers.
I hope you like the Backstory with Patty Steele. I
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to dm me if you have a story you'd like

(07:36):
me to cover. On Facebook, It's Patty Steele and on
Instagram Real Patty Steele. I'm Patty Steele. The Backstory is
a production of iHeartMedia, Premiere Networks, the Elvis Duran Group,

(07:59):
and Steel Trepp Productions. Our producer is Mike Paeseglia. Our
writer is Jake Kushner. New episodes are out every Tuesday
and Friday, and feel free to reach out to me
with comments and story suggestions on Instagram at reel Patty
Steele and on Facebook at Patty Steele. Thanks for listening
to the Backstory with Patty Steele. The pieces of history

(08:20):
you didn't know you needed to know