Before the philosopher Socrates was tried for moral corruption and impiety, the citizens of
Athens knew him as an intellectual and moral gadfly of their society. In the comic play,
The Clouds (423 BC),
Aristophanes represents Socrates as a
sophistic philosopher who teaches the young man Pheidippides how to formulate arguments that justify striking and beating his father. Despite Socrates denying he had any relation with the Sophists, the playwright indicates that Athenians associated the philosophic teachings of Socrates with
Sophism. As philosophers, the Sophists were men of ambiguous reputation, "they were a set of charlatans that appeared in Greece in the fifth century BC, and earned ample livelihood by imposing on public credulity: professing to teach virtue, they really taught the art of fallacious discourse, and meanwhile propagated immoral practical doctrines." Besides
The Clouds, the comic play
The Wasps (422 BC) also depicts inter-generational conflict, between an older man and a young man. Such representations of inter-generational social conflict among the men of Athens, especially in the decade from 425 to 415 BC, can reflect contrasting positions regarding opposition to or support for the Athenian invasion of Sicily. Many Athenians blamed the teachings of the Sophists and of Socrates for instilling the younger generation with a morally nihilistic, disrespectful attitude towards their society. Socrates left no written works; however, his student and friend,
Plato, wrote
Socratic dialogues, featuring Socrates as the protagonist. As a teacher, competitor intellectuals resented Socrates's
elenctic examination method for intellectual inquiry, because its questions threatened their credibility as men of
wisdom and
virtue. It has sometimes been claimed that Socrates described himself as the "
gadfly" of Athens which, like a sluggish horse, needed to be aroused by his "stinging". In the Greek text of his defense given by Plato, Socrates never actually uses that term (viz., "gadfly" [Grk.,
oîstros]) to describe himself. Rather, his reference is merely allusive, as he (literally) says only that he has attached himself to the City (
proskeimenon tē polei) in order to sting it. Nevertheless, he does make the bold claim that he is a god's gift to the Athenians. Socrates's
elenctic method was often imitated by the young men of Athens.
Association with Alcibiades and the Thirty Tyrants Alcibiades was an Athenian general who had been the main proponent of the disastrous
Sicilian Expedition during the
Peloponnesian Wars, where virtually the entire Athenian invading force of more than 50,000 soldiers and non-combatants (e.g., the rowers of the
Triremes) was killed or captured and enslaved. He was a student and close friend of Socrates, and his messmate during the siege of Potidaea (433–429 BC). Socrates remained Alcibiades's close friend, admirer, and mentor for about five or six years. Another possible source of resentment was the political views that he and his associates were thought to have embraced.
Critias, who appears in two of Plato's Socratic dialogues, was a leader of the
Thirty Tyrants (the ruthless
oligarchic regime that ruled Athens, as puppets of Sparta and backed by Spartan troops, for eight months in 404–403 BC until they were overthrown). Several of the Thirty had been students of Socrates, but there is also a record of their falling out. As with many of the issues surrounding Socrates's conviction, the nature of his affiliation with the Thirty Tyrants is far from straightforward. During the reign of the Thirty, many prominent Athenians who were opposed to the new government left Athens. Robin Waterfield asserts that "Socrates would have been welcome in oligarchic Thebes, where he had close associates among the
Pythagoreans who flourished there, and which had already taken in other exiles."
Support of oligarchic rule and contempt for Athenian democracy According to the portraits left by some of Socrates's followers, Socrates himself seems to have openly espoused certain anti-democratic views, the most prominent perhaps being the view that it is not majority opinion that yields correct policy but rather genuine knowledge and professional competence, which is
possessed by only a few. Plato also portrays him as being severely critical of some of the most prominent and well-respected leaders of the
Athenian democracy; and even has his claim that the officials selected by the Athenian system of governance cannot credibly be regarded as benefactors since it is not any group of
many that benefits, but only "someone or very few persons". Finally, Socrates was known as often praising the laws of the undemocratic regimes of
Sparta and
Crete. Plato himself reinforced anti-democratic ideas in
The Republic, advocating rule by elite, enlightened "Philosopher-Kings". The totalitarian Thirty Tyrants had anointed themselves as the elite, and in the minds of his Athenian accusers, Socrates was guilty because he was suspected of introducing oligarchic ideas to them.
Larry Gonick, in his "
Cartoon History of the Universe" wrote: Apart from his views on politics, Socrates held unusual views on religion. He made several references to his spirit, or
daimonion, although he explicitly claimed that it never urged him on, but only warned him against various prospective actions. ==Historical descriptions of the trial==