Monday 23 July 2012

THE NEW TRIAL OF SOCRATES 2012: Serious stuff for Thought Leaders



In the spring of 399 B.C., Socrates confronted 500 Athenians, citizens, judges and jurors, in his trial initiated by the charges leveled at him by Meletus, Anytos and Lycon. The trial began with a reading of the formal charges: Socrates is guilty of crime in refusing to recognise the gods acknowledged by the state, and importing strange divinities of his own; he is further guilty of corrupting the young.
On May 2012, almost 2,500 years later, the trial of Socrates was repeated. This time Socrates was acquitted in a historical trial which is not a re-enactment but a modern perspective based on current legal framework supplemented with ancient Greek elements and comical theatrics.
The Alexander S. Onassis Foundation found advocates for its venture, top American and European judges and lawyers, who all examined the trial material retrieved from ancient texts by Plato (Apology, Crito, Euthyphro, Phaedo), Xenophon (Memorabilia) and Aristophanes (The Clouds), as well as the corresponding Athenian law of that time.
The 2012 event took place in Athens ( the 2011 trial was in New York), and you may see the relevant video ( also in English and French languages, with concurrent translation), at : http://www.sgt.gr/en/programme/event/688