The Role of Socrates in the Arginusae Affair
-
Orestis Karatzoglou
Abstract
Sources provide conflicting accounts of the role of Socrates during the trial of the generals after the Battle of Arginusae: in Plato’s Apology and Xenophon’s Hellenica he is presented as the only πρύτανις that opposed the will of the crowd to judge the generals in a single vote. In the Gorgias and Xenophon’s Memorabilia he is elevated to the status of chairman (ἐπιστάτης). This paper revisits the possible interconnections among the sources and re-examines the suggestion that Xenophon’s version in the Memorabilia is influenced by Plato’s Gorgias, while also considering Diodorus Siculus’ narrative of these same events. It is argued that Xenophon’s agenda at Hellenica 1.7.1–16 is driven by the political aim of highlighting the deficiencies of Athenian democracy, whereas similarities between Plato’s Apology and Euryptolemus’ speech at Hellenica 1.7.16–35 encourage the inference that the latter text should be viewed against the backdrop of Socratic literature. The conclusion reached is that Socrates cannot have served as chairman and that the performance of his civic duties may not have been of such overriding importance as might initially appear.
Acknowledgements
This paper has long been in the making, therefore thanks is owed to many, first and foremost to Kirk Sanders during whose seminar on Socrates in 2012 at UIUC I composed the initial draft. Special thanks also goes to Mikołaj Szymański and Jan Kwapisz of the Institute of Classical Studies at the University of Warsaw for providing me with the opportunity to present a renewed version in the Seminarium Mercuriale in March 2023. Moreover, I wish to thank my colleagues of the “Plutarch lab” at the Faculty of History in the University of Warsaw for the encouragement and kind support, in particular Julia Doroszewska, Laurens van der Wiel, and Angelina Gerus, as well as Katarzyna Kuś and Bartosz Maćkiewicz of the Faculty of Philosophy. Other people to whom I owe a debt of gratitude are Kostas Arampapaslis, Christopher L. Gipson, Thomas Tsartsidis, and Nikos Anthopoulos, particularly for their invaluable help with bibliographical matters, as well as Thomas Anessi for his proofreading expertise. Finally, I would like to thank the anonymous reviewers for their useful suggestions and criticisms as well as the editors for accepting this piece for publication. This article was also funded by the National Science Centre, Poland, under the project “Thinking of Thinking. Conceptual Metaphors of Cognition in the Plutarchan Corpus” (UMO-2021/42/E/HS3/00259).
Bibliography
Altman, W.H.F. (2022), The Relay Race of Virtue: Plato’s Debts to Xenophon, Albany, NY.10.1515/9781438490939Search in Google Scholar
Andrewes, A. (1953), “The Generals in the Hellespont”, in: JHS 73, 2–9.10.2307/628231Search in Google Scholar
Andrewes, A. (1974), “The Arginusai Trial”, in: Phoenix 28, 112–122.10.2307/1087236Search in Google Scholar
Asmonti, L. A. (2006), “The Arginusae Trial, the Changing Role of Strategoi and the Relationship between Demos and Military Leadership in Late-Fifth Century Athens”, in: BICS 49, 1–21.10.1111/j.2041-5370.2006.tb00674.xSearch in Google Scholar
Bandini, M./Dorion, L.-A. (eds.) (2000), Xénophon, Mémorables. I, Introduction générale, Livre I, Paris.Search in Google Scholar
Bandini, M./Dorion, L.-A. (eds.) (2011) Xénophon, Mémorables. II, Livres II–III, Paris.Search in Google Scholar
Baragwanath, E. (2017), “The Character and Function of Speeches in Xenophon”, in: M. A. Flower (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Xenophon, 279–297, Cambridge.10.1017/9781107279308.017Search in Google Scholar
Bauman, R. (1990), Political Trials in Ancient Greece, London.Search in Google Scholar
Bearzot, C. (2012), “Eforo e Teramene”, in: MediterrAnt 15, 293–307.Search in Google Scholar
Bearzot, C. (2015), “Diodoro sul Processo delle Arginuse”, in: U. Bultrighini/E. Dimauro (eds.), Gli Amici per Dino: omaggio a Delfino Ambaglio, 173–195, Lanciano.Search in Google Scholar
Bleckmann, B. (1998), Athens Weg in die Niederlage: Die letzten Jahre des Peloponnesischen Kriegs, Stuttgart.10.1515/9783110968392Search in Google Scholar
Brickhouse, T. C./Smith, N. D. (1995), Socrates on Trial, New Jersey.Search in Google Scholar
Burckhardt, L. (2000), “Eine Demokratie wohl, aber kein Rechtsstaat? Der Arginusenprozess des Jahres 406 v. Chr.”, in: L. Burckhardt/J. von Ungern-Sternberg (eds.), Grosse Prozesse im antiken Athen, 128–143, Munich.Search in Google Scholar
Burnet, J. (ed.) (1924), Plato’s Eythuphro, Apology of Socrates and Crito, Oxford.Search in Google Scholar
Canfora, L. (1984), “Il Processo degli Strateghi”, in: V. Giuffrè (ed.), Sodalitas. Scritti in onore di Antonio Guarino, II, 495–517, Naples.Search in Google Scholar
Carawan, E. (2007), “The Trial of the Arginousai Generals and the Dawn of ‘Judicial Review’”, in: Dike 10, 19–56.Search in Google Scholar
Cawkwell, G. (1979), “Introduction and Notes to Xenophon”, in: R. Warner (trans.), A History of My Times, London.Search in Google Scholar
Christ, M. R. (2020), Xenophon and the Athenian Democracy: The Education of an Elite Citizenry, Cambridge.10.1017/9781108862998Search in Google Scholar
Chroust, A.-H. (1957), Socrates, Man and Myth. The Two Socratic Apologies of Xenophon, London.Search in Google Scholar
Cloché, P. (1919), “L’affaire des Arginuses (406 avant J.-C.)”, in: RH 130, 5–68.Search in Google Scholar
Cohen, E. (2000), The Athenian Nation, Princeton.10.1515/9781400824663Search in Google Scholar
Gygax, M. D. (2006), “Plutarch on Alcibiades’ Return to Athens”, in: Mnemosyne 59, 481–500.10.1163/156852506778880996Search in Google Scholar
Danzig, G. (2004), “Apologetic Elements in Xenophon’s Symposium”, in: C&M 55, 17–47.Search in Google Scholar
Danzig, G. (2010), Apologizing for Socrates: How Plato and Xenophon Created Our Socrates, Lanham.Search in Google Scholar
Davies, J. K. (1988), “Religion and the State”, in: J. Boardman/N. G. L. Hammond/D. M. Lewis/M. Ostwald (eds.), Cambridge Ancient History, IV, 368–388, Cambridge.10.1017/CHOL9780521228046.014Search in Google Scholar
Delebecque, É. (1957), Essai sur la vie de Xénophon, Paris.Search in Google Scholar
De Strycker, E. (1950), “Les témoignages historiques sur Socrate”, in: AIPhO 10, 199–230.Search in Google Scholar
De Strycker, E./Slings, S. R. (1994), Plato’s Apology of Socrates: A Literary and Philosophical Study with a Running Commentary, Leiden.Search in Google Scholar
Dillery, J. (1995), Xenophon And The History Of His Times, London.Search in Google Scholar
Dodds, E. (ed.) (1959), Plato, Gorgias. A Revised Text with Introduction and Commentary, Oxford.Search in Google Scholar
Dorion, L.-A. (2018), “Plato and Xenophon on the Different Reasons that Socrates Always Obeys the Law”, in: G. Danzig/D. Johnson/D. Morrison (eds.), Plato and Xenophon: Comparative Studies, 487–509, Leiden.10.1163/9789004369085_020Search in Google Scholar
Due, B. (1983), “The Trial of the Generals in Xenophon’s Hellenica”, in: C&M 34, 33–44.Search in Google Scholar
Due, B. (1989), The Cyropaedia: Xenophon’s Aims and Method, Aarhus.Search in Google Scholar
Duke, E. A./Hicken, W. F./Nicoll, W. S. M./Robinson, D. B./Strachan, J. C. G. (eds.) (1995), Platonis Opera, I, New York.Search in Google Scholar
Erbse, H. (1975), “Zur Entstehungszeit von Platons Apologie des Sokrates”, in: RhM 118, 22–47.Search in Google Scholar
Fowler, H. N. (ed.) (1914), Plato, Euthyphro. Apology. Crito. Phaedo. Phaedrus, Cambridge, MA.Search in Google Scholar
Gauthier, R.-A. (1951) Magnanimité: L’idéal de grandeur dans la philosophie païenne et dans la théologie chrétienne, Paris.Search in Google Scholar
Giannantoni, G. (1962), “La pritania di Socrate nel 406 a.C.”, in: Rivista Critica di Storia della Filosofia 17.1, 3–25.Search in Google Scholar
Giovannini, A. (2002), “Xenophon, der Arginusenprozess und die athenische Demokratie”, in: Chiron 32, 15–50.Search in Google Scholar
Gish, D. (2012), “Defending Dēmokratia: Athenian Justice and the Trial of the Argunisae Generals in Xenophon’s Hellenica”, in: F. Hoben/C. Tuplin (eds.), Xenophon: Ethical Principles and Historical Inquiry, 161–212, Leiden.10.1163/9789004234192_007Search in Google Scholar
Gray, V. J. (1989), The Character of Xenophon’s Hellenica, Baltimore.Search in Google Scholar
Gray, V. J. (1991), “Continuous History and Xenophon, Hellenica 1–2.3.10”, in: AJP 112, 201–228.10.2307/294718Search in Google Scholar
Grayson, C. H. (1975), “Did Xenophon Intend to Write History?”, in: B. Levick (ed.), The Ancient Historian and his Materials: Essays in Honour of C. E. Stevens, 31–43, Farnborough.Search in Google Scholar
Green, P. (2010), Diodorus Siculus: The Persian Wars to the Fall of Athens. Books 11–14.34 (480–401 BCE), Austin.Search in Google Scholar
Grote, G. (1861), History of Greece, VIII, London.Search in Google Scholar
Guthrie, W. K. C. (1975), A History of Greek Philosophy, IV, Cambridge.10.1017/CBO9780511518423Search in Google Scholar
Hamel, D. (1988), Athenian Generals: Military Authority in the Classical Period, Leiden.Search in Google Scholar
Hamel, D. (2015), The Battle of Arginusae: Victory at Sea and Its Tragic Aftermath in the Final Years of the Peloponnesian War, Baltimore.Search in Google Scholar
Hatzfeld, J. (1940), “Socrate au procès des Arginuses”, in: REA 42, 165–171.10.3406/rea.1940.3089Search in Google Scholar
Henry, W. P. (1966), Greek Historical Writing, Chicago.Search in Google Scholar
Hobden, F. (2020), Xenophon: Ancients in Action, Bloomsbury.Search in Google Scholar
Hunt, P. (2001), “The Slaves and the Generals of Arginusae”, in: AJPh 122, 359–380.10.1353/ajp.2001.0042Search in Google Scholar
Huss, B. (2010), “The Dancing Sokrates and the Laughing Xenophon, or the Other Symposium”, in: V. J. Gray (ed.), Oxford Readings in Classical Studies: Xenophon, 257–282, New York.Search in Google Scholar
Johnson, D. M. (2021), Xenophon’s Socratic Works, London.10.4324/9781003036630Search in Google Scholar
Joyal, M. A. (1994), “Socrates and the Sicilian Expedition”, in: L’antiquité classique 63, 21–33.10.3406/antiq.1994.1180Search in Google Scholar
Kagan, D. (1991), The Fall of the Athenian Empire, Ithaca, NY.Search in Google Scholar
Kahn, C. H. (1981), “Did Plato Write Socratic Dialogues?”, in: CQ 31, 305–320.10.1017/S0009838800009617Search in Google Scholar
Kapellos, A. (2019a), “Xenophon and Lysias on the Arginusae Trial”, in: Erga-Logoi 7, 19–44.10.7358/erga-2019-002-kapeSearch in Google Scholar
Kapellos, A. (2019b), Xenophon’s Peloponnesian War, Berlin.10.1515/9783110668315Search in Google Scholar
Kraut, R. (1992), “Introduction to the Study of Plato”, in: R. Kraut (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Plato, 1–50, Cambridge.10.1017/CCOL0521430186.001Search in Google Scholar
Krentz, P. (1989), Xenophon: Hellenika I–II.3.10, Warminster.10.3828/liverpool/9780856684647.001.0001Search in Google Scholar
Krentz, P. (2009), “Appendix A: The Arginusae Affair”, in: R. Strassler (ed.), The Landmark Xenophon’s Hellenika, 317–321, New York.Search in Google Scholar
Kroeker, R. (2009), “Xenophon as a Critic of the Athenian Democracy”, in: HPLS 30, 197–228.Search in Google Scholar
Lacey, A. R. (1971), “Our Knowledge of Socrates”, in: G. Vlastos (ed.), The Philosophy of Socrates, 22–49, Garden City, NY.10.1007/978-1-349-86199-6_2Search in Google Scholar
Lamb, W. R. M. (ed.) (1925), Plato, Lysis. Symposium. Gorgias, Cambridge, MA.Search in Google Scholar
Lang, M. L. (1992), “Theramenes and Arginousai”, in: Hermes 120, 267–279.Search in Google Scholar
Lanni, A. (2017), “Collective Sanctions in Classical Athens”, in: D. P. Kehoe/Th. A. J. McGinn (eds.), Ancient Law, Ancient Society, 9–31, Ann Arbor.Search in Google Scholar
Lavelle, B. M. (1988), “Adikia, the Decree of Kannonos, and the Trial of the Generals”, in: C&M 39, 19–41.Search in Google Scholar
Levy, E. (1990), “L’art de la déformation historique dans les Helléniques de Xénophon”, in: H. Verdin/G. Schepens/E. de Keyser (eds.), Purposes of History: Studies in Greek Historiography from the 4th to the 2nd Centuries BC, 125–157, Leuven.Search in Google Scholar
Lévystone, D. X. (2019), “What Rules and Laws does Socrates Obey?” in: Tópicos (México) 57, 399–432.10.21555/top.v0i57.1024Search in Google Scholar
MacDowell, D. M. (1978), The Law in Classical Athens, London.Search in Google Scholar
MacLaren, M. (1934), “On the Composition of Xenophon’s Hellenica”, in: AJPh 55, 121–139.10.2307/290510Search in Google Scholar
Marchant, E. C. (ed.) (1968), Xenophontis Opera Omnia, I, Oxford.Search in Google Scholar
Marchant, E. C. (ed.) (1971), Xenophontis Opera Omnia, II, 2nd ed., Oxford.Search in Google Scholar
Marchant, E. C./Todd, O. J. (eds.) (2013), Xenophon, Memorabilia. Oeconomicus. Symposium. Apology, rev. J. Henderson, Cambridge, MA.Search in Google Scholar
Mavrogordatos, G. Th. (2011), “Two Puzzles Involving Socrates”, in: CW 105.1, 3–23.10.1353/clw.2011.0105Search in Google Scholar
Mehl, A. (1982), “Fur eine Bewertung eines Justizkandals. Der Arginusenprozeß und seine Überlieferung vor dem Hintergrund von Recht und Weltanschauung im Athen des ausgehenden 5. Jh. v. Chr.”, in: ZRG 29, 32–80.10.7767/zrgra.1982.99.1.32Search in Google Scholar
Munn, M. (2000), The School of History: Athens in the Age of Socrates, Berkeley.10.1525/9780520929715Search in Google Scholar
Nails, D. (2002), The People of Plato: A Prosopography of Plato and Other Socratics, Indianapolis.Search in Google Scholar
Nemeth, G. (1984), “Der Arginusen Prozess: Die Geschichte eines politischen Justizmordes”, in: Klio 66, 51–57.10.1515/9783112534267-007Search in Google Scholar
Ostwald, M. (1989), From Popular Sovereignty to the Sovereignty of Law: Law, Society, and Politics in Fifth-Century Athens, Berkeley.Search in Google Scholar
Pakaluk, M. (2004), “Socratic Magnanimity in the Phaedo”, in: AncPhil 24, 101–117.10.5840/ancientphil20042416Search in Google Scholar
Pelling, C. (2022), “Exercises in Anger Management: Thucydides’ Mytilene and Xenophon’s Arginusae”, in: M. de Bakker/B. van den Berg/J. Klooster (eds.), Emotions and Narrative in Ancient Literature and Beyond – Studies in Honour of Irene de Jong, 214–229. Leiden-Boston.10.1163/9789004506053_015Search in Google Scholar
Pesely, G. (1988), “Socrates’ Attempt to Save Theramenes”, in: AHB 2, 31–33.Search in Google Scholar
Petraki, Z. (2022), “Alcibiades’s Epiphanic Experience in Plato’s Symposium”, in: ICS 47, 45–73.10.5406/23285265.47.1.03Search in Google Scholar
Phillips, D. D. (2013), The Law of Ancient Athens, Ann Arbor.10.3998/mpub.336862Search in Google Scholar
Pownall, F. (2000), “Shifting Viewpoints in Xenophon’s Hellenica: The Arginusae Episode”, in: Athenaeum 88, 499–513.Search in Google Scholar
Pownall, F. (2018), “Socrates’ Trial and Execution in Xenophon’s Hellenica”, in: Mouseion 15, 347–368.10.3138/mous.15.3-03Search in Google Scholar
Reeve, C. D. C. (1989), Socrates in the Apology: an essay on Plato’s Apology of Socrates, Indianapolis.Search in Google Scholar
Richer, N. (2015), “The Lacedaemonian Model in Xenophon’s Non-Historical Works (Excluding the Cyropaedia), trans. W. E. Higgins”, in: N. Richer/A. Powell (eds.), Xenophon and Sparta, 65–107, Swansea.10.2307/j.ctvd58rkn.6Search in Google Scholar
Riedinger, J.-C. (1991), Etude sur les Helléniques: Xénophon et l’histoire, Paris.Search in Google Scholar
Rhodes, P. J. (1985), The Athenian Boule, Oxford.Search in Google Scholar
Roberts, J. T. (1977), “Arginusae Once Again”, in: CW 71, 107–111.10.2307/4348796Search in Google Scholar
Rubel, A. (2014), Fear and Loathing in Ancient Athens: Religion and Politics During the Peloponnesian War, Durham.10.4324/9781315729060Search in Google Scholar
Rubel, A. (2015), “Afterlife and the Living: The Arginusae Trial and the Omission of Burying the Dead”, in: Dacia 59, 277–297.Search in Google Scholar
Schwartz, E. (1889), “Quellenuntersuchungen zur griechischen Geschichte”, in: RhM 44, 161–193.Search in Google Scholar
Seager, R. (2001), “Xenophon and Athenian Democratic Ideology”, in: CQ 51, 385–397.10.1093/cq/51.2.385Search in Google Scholar
Serafeim, A. (2022), “The Questions in (Answering the Question about the Historicity of) Plato’s Apology of Socrates”, in: A. Markantonatos/V. Liotsakis/A. Serafeim (eds.), Witnesses and Evidence in Ancient Greek Literature, 135–154, Berlin.10.1515/9783110751970-008Search in Google Scholar
Smyth, H. W. (1920), Greek Grammar, rev. G. M. Messing, Cambridge, MA.Search in Google Scholar
Sordi, M. (1992), “Teramene e il processo delle Arginuse”, in: Aevum 55, 3–12.Search in Google Scholar
Tamiolaki, M. (2012), “Virtue and Leadership in Xenophon: Ideal Leaders or Ideal Losers?”, in: F. Hoben/C. Tuplin (eds.), Xenophon: Ethical Principles and Historical Inquiry, 563–589, Leiden.10.1163/9789004234192_019Search in Google Scholar
Tzanetou, A. (2005), “A Generous City: Pity in Athenian Oratory and Tragedy”, in: R. Sternberg (ed.), Pity and Power in Ancient Athens, 98–122, Cambridge.Search in Google Scholar
Thesleff, H. (2009), Platonic Patterns, Las Vegas.Search in Google Scholar
Tuci, P. A. (2002), “La boulè nel processo agli strateghi della battaglia delle Arginuse: questioni procedurali e tentativi di manipolazione”, in: D. Ambaglio (ed.), συγγραφή. Materiali e appunti per lo studio della storia e della letterature antica, 51–85, Como.Search in Google Scholar
Tuplin, C. (1993), The Failings of Empire: A Reading of Xenophon Hellenica 2.3.11–7.5.27, Stuttgart.Search in Google Scholar
Underhill, G. E. (ed.) (1888), Xenophon, Hellenica Books I, II, Oxford.Search in Google Scholar
Vogel, F. (ed.) (1893), Diodori Bibliotheca Historica, III, Leipzig.Search in Google Scholar
Worthington, I. (1989), “Aristophanes’ Frogs and Arginusae”, in: Hermes 117, 359–363.Search in Google Scholar
Yunis, H. (1988), “Law, Politics, and the Graphe Paranomon in Fourth-Century Athens”, in: GRBS 29, 361–382.Search in Google Scholar
Yunis, H. (1996), Taming Democracy: Models of Political Rhetoric in Classical Athens, Ithaca, NY.10.7591/9781501711374Search in Google Scholar
© 2024 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Articles in the same Issue
- Titelseiten
- Archilochus frs. 23, 93a–94, 98, 112–113 W.: New readings and interpretations
- The Role of Socrates in the Arginusae Affair
- Mythos and catharsis in Aristotle’s Poetics
- The Περὶ ποιητῶν Literature. A General Outline and Survey of the Extant Fragments
- χὠς ἴδον, ὣς ἐμάνην. Space, Desire and the Female Gaze in Hellenistic Poetry
- The scripted audience in Roman comedy
- “What is ‘the tradition overall’?”: Theorising Classical Reception through the Lens of Memory Studies
- List of contributors
Articles in the same Issue
- Titelseiten
- Archilochus frs. 23, 93a–94, 98, 112–113 W.: New readings and interpretations
- The Role of Socrates in the Arginusae Affair
- Mythos and catharsis in Aristotle’s Poetics
- The Περὶ ποιητῶν Literature. A General Outline and Survey of the Extant Fragments
- χὠς ἴδον, ὣς ἐμάνην. Space, Desire and the Female Gaze in Hellenistic Poetry
- The scripted audience in Roman comedy
- “What is ‘the tradition overall’?”: Theorising Classical Reception through the Lens of Memory Studies
- List of contributors
