A BRIEF HISTORY OF GREECE:

A Background for Platos Apology

By Al Parker
There are many Greek contributions to modern Western culture: classical art, architecture,
philosophy, geometry and mathematics; Homers epic tales of Mycenaean villains and heroes;
Olympian deities; democracy; and the rise of Christendom. Greek history, recorded for the last
three millennia, provides fantastic insight to the story of Socrates trial as told by Plato.

Archaic Greece: the rise of the polis

There is evidence of a human population in Greece as early as 500,000BC, and evidence suggests
homo sapiens inhabitants as early as 40,000BC. The Mycenaean Greek population, described by
Homer in 750BC in his epics Iliad and Odyssey, are purported to have thrived between 1600BC and
1200BC. Although these epics are literature, Homers portrayal of a heroic society is believable
and buoyed by archeological remains of a city identified as Troy in present day Turkey. The
Mycenaeans could read and write. Their Linear B script (only Chinese is older) survives, although
recovered documents appear to be mundane lists of commodities.
Aristotle described a Greek or civilized man as by nature an animal of the polis. By the 8th century
BC, the polis or city-state, from which the English word politics originates, had emerged as the
independent political and social unit in Greece (the first Olympics were held in 776). It was selfgoverning and consisted of a city and the surrounding countryside. The largest and most powerful
city-states were militaristic Sparta (the basis for Platos Republic), Athens and Thebes. Each of
these three at one time or another headed coalitions or leagues in response to threats from each
other, Persia, and later from Phillip II of Macedonia, Alexander the Greats dad.
Since the early 6th century BC, the city-state of Athens had been gradually implementing
democratic reforms. By 510BC, after monarchy, tyranny and oligarchy, Kleisthenes, an aristocrat
from Delphi, came to power. With the blessing of the Oracle at Delphi, he allied himself with the
demos, the ordinary people and divided Athens into ten tribes which were composed of demoi or
village units. Each demoi had its own political structure and an elected Assembly became the
focus of decision-making. Eventually, all adult males with Athenian parents were able to speak for,
or against, motions put before the Assembly. Citizens not only took part in legislation but were also
required to serve their term on the executive of the government.
During the heyday of the
democracy, all government posts were chosen by lot, except for the office of general. The ten
generals were elected annually by citizens.
City-states fiercely defended their autonomy, even in the face of common foreign enemies. In
492BC, the Persians, apparently intent on subjugating Greece, defeated the city-states of the
Cycladic islands. On the mainland, after a six-day siege, the city-state Eretria fell. Athens, knowing
that she was next, appealed to her powerful neighbor Sparta for aid, but the Spartans declared
themselves unable to march because they were in the middle of a religious festival. The Persians
landed a huge force at the bay in Marathon about 25 miles from Athens, where they were
decimated by a much smaller force of Athenian defenders.
This victory was a remarkable
demonstration of Athenian military prowess and a reaffirmation of the superiority of Athenian
democracy.
In 480BC, the Persians attacked again, but this time the threat was met by a unified Hellenic
League of Greek city-states led by Sparta. After an initial battle, the Persians sacked Athens and
destroyed the Acropolis. However, the largely Athenian navy destroyed the Persian fleet, and in
the next year, the Greek army, led by the fearsome Spartan hoplites, decimated the Persian army.
The League endeavored to stay together after their victory. Sparta was unable to keep its lead role
since it had virtually no navy, and so Athens assumed leadership. Athens, through the use of her

naval superiority and tight political controls, gradually converted the alliance into an Athenian
empire.

Classical Greece: Socrates Time

Socrates was born in 470BC. He was a stonecutter by trade. During his lifetime, Athens power and
influence in the Greek world grew tremendously as a consequence of her major role in the defeat of
the Persian invasion, and her subsequent leadership of the Hellenistic League. He witnessed
massive fortifications erected around Athens and the magnificent building campaign on the
Acropolis, which resulted in celebrated architectural works such as the Parthenon which still stand
today.
In 431BC, Athens imperialism sparked the beginning of a long war between Athens (and its League)
and Sparta (and her Peloponnesian allies). All of the major city-states were allied with one side or
the other in the Peloponnesian War, which was marked by Athenian superiority on the sea and by
Spartas superiority on the land. Socrates fought as an Athenian hoplite against Sparta some time
between 431BC and 421BC, and even had enough money to own a suit of armor.
In 406 BC, the Athenian navy defeated the Spartan fleet in a major battle near the small island of
Arginoussai off the coast of Turkey. Although the Athenian navy only lost 13 ships, 5000 crew were
drowned. There were accusations that the commanding generals did not attempt to rescue the
drowning men, most of whom were conceivably rowers, the poorest sailors, and the most resolutely
committed to democracy. The people decided to try the generals en masse for this crime. On that
day however, Socrates was the chairman of the executive, and he refused to conduct the trial since
it violated an Athenians right to an individual hearing. Nevertheless, the hysteria was such that
the people condemned all of the generals, and six were put to death. According to Socrates, this
exposed a fundamental flaw in democracy: the will of the majority is not necessarily based on
ethical principle.
Athens suffered a humiliating defeat two years later and was forced to surrender unconditionally to
Sparta. Sparta abolished Athens democracy and established an oligarchy known as the Thirty
Tyrants. Two Tyrants, Kritias and Alcibiades, were former pupils of Socrates. Backed by a Spartan
garrison in the Acropolis, the short rule of the Thirty was violent and repressive. Many democrats
fled Athens, but Socrates remained and abided by the laws of the new government.
The following year, Anytus, a former general under the democracy, and other exiled democratic
leaders, lead a successful uprising and the Thirty Tyrants were defeated. The Spartans were
conciliatory, and the democracy was reborn. Rather than punish those Athenians who had
collaborated with the tyrants, the new leaders declared a general amnesty.
In 399 BC, Socrates was put on trial in Athens. He was charged with not respecting the official gods
of the state and corrupting the youth of Athens. The chief accusers of Socrates were Anytus,
Meletus, and Lycon. Because it would have violated the terms of the general amnesty, Socrates
was not charged with collaborating with the Tyrants. But it has been speculated that this trial was a
way for his political enemies to get rid of the philosopher they may have considered a threat. Some
of the democratic leaders, like Anytus, who had been exiled during the reign of the tyrants, may
have not liked the fact that two of the Tyrants were former students of Socrates. Some also disliked
or distrusted Socrates because he remained in Athens during the reign of the tyrants and did not
seem to overtly criticize the policies or actions of that anti-democratic government.
Socrates often taught that not every person was equally qualified to rule and make important
decisions about the state. Therefore, only the wisest and those with the most knowledge should
rule. This teaching of Socrates was interpreted by some to be opposed to democratic principles.
Socrates himself never wrote anything down in his lifetime or, if he did, nothing has survived. The
text of Platos Apology is not a word-for-word transcription of what Socrates said at his trial. Plato

was at the trial and later wrote down his impression, or at least what he wanted the world to think,
of Socrates defense.
The Greek word apologia means defense or reply. It does not carry the same meaning of the word
apology in English. The Apology, therefore, is not Socrates saying hes sorry, but rather it is an
official defense that Socrates is required to make in answer to the charges brought against him.
Socrates greatest contribution to the history of knowledge was to articulate a unified philosophy of
how individuals should relate ethically to themselves, to the state, and within the larger universe.
In the Apology, Socrates argues that it is the individual citizens responsibility to question the state
to help assure that the actions of the state are just and good. And Socrates explains why: The
unexamined life is not worth living.

Greek History to the Present: Macedonian, Roman, Byzantine, Ottoman,

and Modern
The Peloponnesian Wars, the subsequent defeat of Sparta by Thebes in 371BC, and then the defeat
of Thebes by a unified Sparta and Athens in 362BC, marked the end of the power of the city-states.
Their energy and resources were spent engineering their own defeat to a new threat to the north.
All of Greece fell to Phillip IIs Macedonian army in 338BC. Upon Phillip IIs death, his son, Alexander
the Great, began his legendary thirteen-year campaign, conquering Persia and Egypt, and parts of
present day Afghanistan and India.
Greece was liberated from Macedonian rule by the Romans in 197BC, and became a Roman
province fifty years later. The Apostle Paul preached Christianity in Greece around 49AD, writing his
famous correspondences to the Greek cities of Corinth, Thessaloniki and Ephesus. The Roman
emperor Constantine, who converted to Christianity, made a new capital, Constantinople, in 323AD
in present day Turkey. The Roman Empire, once the worst persecutor of Christians, became a
Christian theocracy, with the emperor Gods vicar on Earth. This split the Roman Empire into
eastern and western halves, both ostensibly Christian. The eastern half, which contained Greece,
became known as the Byzantine Empire.
The first major conflicts between Christians and Muslims occurred in the 11 th century. The Turks
destroyed a Byzantine army and captured the Holy Land, the birthplace of Christianity. This
prompted Western Christendom, the Latin half of the former Roman Empire, to launch their
Crusades to free the Holy Places from Islam.
In 1204, the 4th Crusade stopped short of its
purported objective in favor of besieging Constantinople, the only city from antiquity that had never
been sacked. The Latin Christians burned the Eastern Christian city to the ground, and the ancient
treasures (gold, art, manuscripts, etc.) were either destroyed or carried off.
The city was
recaptured from the Latins by Byzantine Greeks in 1261, but the Byzantine Empire never fully
recovered.
The 15th century saw the rise of the Ottoman Turks, who gained control over mainland Greece by
1450. In 1453, after the Latins ignored their pleas for aid, 8000 defenders at Constantinople died
to the last defender against 200,000 Turkish attackers. In 1456 the Ottomans captured Athens.
Greece remained part of the Ottoman Empire for four centuries. In 1821, the Greek war of
independence began, finally resulting in the Great Western Powers establishing a protectorate
over Greece in 1832 when King Otto from Bavaria was installed as the new Greek king.
Greece
extended its borders in 1912-3 during the Balkan Wars, and gained territories in Asia Minor in 1920
after World War I. In 1922, after the Greeks launched a disastrous offensive, they were summarily
wiped off the face of Asia Minor by the Turks.
In 1940, the Greek army successfully drove Mussolinis forces from Greece, only to be overrun by
the Germans the next year. Nearly half a million Greeks died in the winter of 1941-2 when all
available food was requisitioned to feed the occupying armies. It was during this period of

resistance that the Communists gained a foothold in the Greek government. After the Germans
retreated in 1944, civil war broke out between the new American backed government and the
communists.
American implementation of the Truman doctrine and reconstruction efforts
proceeded rapidly until 1967, when a military junta forced the Greek monarch into exile. Civilian
rule returned in 1975. Greece is now an established democracy, and it became a member of the
European Union in 2000.

Excerpts from:
Boatswain, T and Nicolson, C.
2004.

A Travelers History of Greece.

Interlink, Northampton, MA. 5th ed,

Owens, Greg. BACKGROUND: PLATO, Apology, CLS Handout. Fall 2005.