HarithaAravind —
One of the greatest Greek philosophers, Socrates (469 BC – 399 BC), lived from 469 BC to 399 BC. He demonstrated how the debate, discussion, and argument may assist people in comprehending complex subjects, the majority of the challenges he dealt with were merely political.
Socrates was sentenced to death by hemlock poisoning in 399 B.C. when the political climate in Greece turned against him.
Socrates was accused of corrupting the young of Athens and impiety (“failing to acknowledge the gods that the city recognizes” and “introducing new deities” ) He chose not to flee and instead spent his final days with his friends before consuming the lethal hemlock.
His friends offered to pay the guards and rescue Socrates so he could flee into exile before his execution.
But he declined, claiming that he was not terrified of death, that he would be no better off in exile, and that he was still a faithful citizen of Athens, willing to obey all of the city’s rules, including those that sentenced him to death.
He chose to go to court to defend himself.
Athenian law enabled a condemned citizen to offer an alternative sentence to the prosecution’s request, which the jury would subsequently determine. Socrates proposed that instead of exiling him, the city praise him for his contribution to their enlightenment.
The jury was not amused, and he was sentenced to death by consuming a mixture of poisonous hemlock combinations.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:
Socrates drank the hemlock mixture without hesitation, as Plato depicted it in his Phaedo dialogue. Numbness crept throughout his body, eventually reaching his heart. Socrates described his death as a liberation of the soul from the body just before his final breath.
Conium maculatum, the hemlock or poison hemlock, is a highly poisonous biennial herbaceous flowering plant in the carrot family Apiaceae, native to Europe and North Africa. A hardy plant capable of living in a variety of environments, hemlock is widely naturalized in locations outside its native range, such as parts of Australia, West Asia, and North and South America, to which it has been introduced. It is capable of spreading and thereby becoming an invasive weed.
All parts of the plant are toxic, especially the seeds and roots, and especially when ingested. Under the right conditions, the plant grows quite rapidly during the growing season and can reach heights of 8 feet (2.4 m), with a long penetrating root. The plant has a distinctive odor usually considered unpleasant that carries with the wind. The hollow stems are usually spotted with a dark maroon color before the plant dies and becomes dry and brown after completing its biennial lifecycle.
