ABSTRACT
Highly intelligent, shrewd, playful, stubborn, physically and morally courageous, frugal, single-minded, notoriously ugly and chubby, charming, funny, and lovable, one of the great philosophers and teachers of the ancient world, Socrates lived in Athens during the 5th century BCE, a very special time. By far Athens did not have a perfect democracy, for there was slavery and women had no rights. From all of the sources, despite the lacunae, author can assemble an intriguing portrait of the greatest teacher of the ancient world. He turned philosophical inquiry from natural phenomena to the problems of the moral life. In reality, the Thirty were hostile to Socrates, who had refused to be complicit in the arrests of innocent people. They are happier there than they are here in other respects, and for the rest of time they are deathless, if indeed what they are told is true. In Plato's dialogues, they see other traces of the great celebrity he enjoyed.
