The Death of Socrates: Hero, Villain, Chatterbox, Saint
Nov 2026 · Harvard University Press - T
Ebook
256
Pages
infoThis book will become available on November 10, 2026. You will not be charged until it is released.
About this ebook
“An exceptionally lucid introduction to this famous trial and death . . . The history of the interpretation of Socrates’ death, it turns out, is in large part the history of philosophy itself.” —Thomas Meaney, Wall Street Journal
There were heroic lives and deaths before and after, but none quite like that of Socrates. He died not by sword or spear, braving all to defend home and country, but as a condemned criminal, swallowing a painless dose of poison. And yet Socrates’ death in 399 BCE has figured large in our world ever since, shaping how we think about heroism and celebrity, religion and family life, state control and individual freedom, the life of the intellectual and of the ordinary citizen. In The Death of Socrates, best-selling classicist and translator Emily Wilson analyzes the enormous and enduring power that the trial and death of Socrates has exerted over the Western imagination.
Wilson offers a critical and comprehensive look at the death of Socrates as both a historical event and a controversial cultural ideal. She considers works by Plato, Cicero, Milton, Voltaire, Hegel, and Brecht, among others, that used the death of Socrates to discuss power, politics, religion, the life of the mind, and the good life. Wilson vividly shows how Socrates’ death—more than his character, actions, or philosophical beliefs—has mattered so much, for so long, to so many different people.
There were heroic lives and deaths before and after, but none quite like that of Socrates. He died not by sword or spear, braving all to defend home and country, but as a condemned criminal, swallowing a painless dose of poison. And yet Socrates’ death in 399 BCE has figured large in our world ever since, shaping how we think about heroism and celebrity, religion and family life, state control and individual freedom, the life of the intellectual and of the ordinary citizen. In The Death of Socrates, best-selling classicist and translator Emily Wilson analyzes the enormous and enduring power that the trial and death of Socrates has exerted over the Western imagination.
Wilson offers a critical and comprehensive look at the death of Socrates as both a historical event and a controversial cultural ideal. She considers works by Plato, Cicero, Milton, Voltaire, Hegel, and Brecht, among others, that used the death of Socrates to discuss power, politics, religion, the life of the mind, and the good life. Wilson vividly shows how Socrates’ death—more than his character, actions, or philosophical beliefs—has mattered so much, for so long, to so many different people.
“An exceptionally lucid introduction to this famous trial and death . . . The history of the interpretation of Socrates’ death, it turns out, is in large part the history of philosophy itself.” —Thomas Meaney, Wall Street Journal
There were heroic lives and deaths before and after, but none qui...
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About the author
Emily Wilson is a professor of classical studies at the University of Pennsylvania. She has been named a fellow of the American Academy in Rome, a Guggenheim Fellow, and a MacArthur Fellow. In addition to best-selling editions of Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, she has published translations of Sophocles, Euripides, and Seneca.
Emily Wilson is a professor of classical studies at the University of Pennsylvania. She has been named a fellow of the American Academy in Rome, a Guggenheim Fellow, and a MacArthur Fellow. In addition to best-selling editions of Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, she has published translations of Sophoc...
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