Socrates
 

Does anyone know why ancient Greece imprisoned Socrates at age 70? Has anyone been to the site of the ancient prison?

"There is but one good, knowledge, and one evil, ignorance."

My favorite quote from Socrates. Perhaps the Greeks were ignorant? LOL

Socrates was accused, among other things, of "corrupting the youth." If you are interested in the subject, a good place to start is IF Stone's "The Trial of Socrates."

Socrates was imprisoned for essentially trying to rid himself and others of the mythological gods of the Greeks. The Greeks were a very religious people in the sense of god-worship and Socrates' teachings angered them because they undermined society's views of the gods - the very basis of Greek culture. Specifically, the Greeks charged him of two violations of Athenian law: 1) teaching new gods not recognized by the Athenians, and 2) corrupting the youth of Athens not to reverence the gods" and he was thrown into prison.

The prison is in Athens, Greece, near Filopappou Hill. You enter at the Acropolis and head towards the Beule gate (up the hill) from there you can see Filopappou Hill to the southwest and the prison there.

Thomas, this is a past post of mine on the prison's location.
Regards, Walter
<<<This Agora site is unmarked, often overlooked and alittle off the beaten track. But it is *extremely* likely that this is the location of the prison and the famous cell where Socrates committed his state-ordered suicide by drinking Hemlock.
  Three travel guidebooks that have info on this site are the "Blue Guide Athens", Oxford Archaeological Guides-Greece" and "The Traveler's Key To Ancient Greece" by Richard G. Geldard.  But there is also a tourist fake prison/cell that's listed on maps (Streetwise Athens) and in some guidebooks. This site was probably just a legend/myth passed down over the years and definitely not Socrates' Cell. It's located between the Acropolis and Monument of Filopappou.   So if you'd like to (IMO) stand in the exact spot where Socrates was imprisoned and died 2400yrs ago, I wrote a trip report on it's location. For modern photos of the sites (Tholos, Prison etc) listed below go to this website http://home.arcor.de/atheneus/photo11.html Go to http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~loxias/agora.htm The yellow box in the bottom left corner is the Prison. The yellow arrow next to it is the ditch/drain and actually the Prison should be more to the left "right along side" the ditch and the White path just above the Prison going right-to-left is the path mentioned below in the directions. Click-on the Prison then click-on "See Plan"; on the blueprint notice how a white (square) area projects into the blueprint at the top. Just to the left of this projection are Socrates' *two* adjoining cells. Notice the *only* entrance is thru the bottom (2nd) cell. You can see that all the other single cells open into the hallway also, that runs thru the middle top-to-bottom. To the right of the "projection" is the prison admin/warden office (quad-4 rooms). And at the bottom is the prison courtyard. Diagram and photos:
http://www.wesleyan.edu/~mkatz/grk20...01.Prison.html   <Go back to the Agora map>:  Now follow the ditch/drain up to the yellow triangle and click-on it, this is "Simon the Cobblers" shop. Also click-on the small yellow dot at the top corner of the triangle, this is the "Boundary Stone". And the yellow circle above the triangle is the Tholos where my directions below start. The Hephaisteion (click-on the square in the green area) is the temple on a hill that overlooks the Agora, you can't miss it:). and at the base of this hill is the Tholos. [On-Site Directions] The Tholos (70M SE of the Hephaisteion and marked) is just a circular foundation (photo in above website under "The Prytanelon"). With your back to the Tholos looking E to the Agora Museum there is a small ditch (Great Drain) 15M in front of you. This Drain runs N-S, now look towards the Acropolis (45deg to the right) and you'll see the ditch turns 45deg and heads SW, walk over to *this* spot and stand in the ditch looking SW. In front of you is a Boundary Stone (marked & in the ditch), now the wall that it is against (left side) belongs to a row of houses/shops and 1 of them belonged to "Simon the Cobbler" (his inscribed cup & hobnails were found there***), this was a Socrates' hang-out:). Now follow this ditch SW (walk along the left side) for 120M and you will come to a small path which crosses the ditch (you will have to climb up ~1m to the path so you'll know when you get to it:). Now in front (5m) of you is the Prison (it's on the left side (like you) of the ditch and it's right wall runs *right* alongside the ditch). Just *past* it you'll see marble fragments that have been recently stacked up in a large *neat* rectangle (*excellent landmark*), this was the courtyard of the prison. The Prison is just foundation stones but you'll see the corridor thru the center. On the left the 1st room is the quad, this was the prison administration (possibly was 2 stories high) followed by 3 cells. Now on the right (along side the ditch/drain) there are 5 cells, you'll notice that the 1st cell unlike all the others has no access from the corridor and can only be entered by the 2nd cell which has a corridor entrance. This fits the historical account of the 2-room prison cell setting of Socrates' cell.
  The 1st cell was a bathroom and the 2nd cell was the actual cell where he lived. I guess it's safe to assume that he drank the hemlock and died in his living quarters (2nd cell), alot more dignified than dying in the w.c.:).
  Also small flasks*** were found around the prison which could have been
used for Hemlock.   
  ***In the Agora Museum check-out Case #20 which contains Simon's cup and cobbler's hopnails. Also the small flasks & a plate found around the prison and a modern picture of the prison excavation area.