Rick Riordan and Socrates Part 4

The head of the Greek god Pan at the British Museum

After reading Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson novels about the Greek and Roman gods, as well as Plato's stories Apology, Crito, and Phaedo, I wondered if Socrates' teachings might actually have been radical for his time. At one point, he talks in Phaedo about the world being round, not flat. While Pythagorus, an earlier Greek philosopher, argued that the Earth was spherical, most philosophers before Socrates still held that the world was flat. So when Plato writes about Socrates believing in a spherical Earth, that could be every bit as radical as Galileo claiming the solar system didn't revolve around the Earth. And we all know what happened to Galileo, don't we?

Furthermore, while Socrates regularly mentions demigods and gods, he usually refers to God in the singular. One time, he even invoked Jupiter, the Roman version of Zeus. Did Socrates sees the Roman depiction of the gods as superior to that of his traditional Greeks? Or was he teaching that the ultimate form of religion should be monotheistic? 

Interestingly, the word monotheism is itself derived from Greek, and Socrates appears to have held beliefs similar to modern monotheists. Socrates seems to equate God with goodness, thus a believer should cultivate goodness in his or her character. Even if he didn't believe in one God like the Jews and later Christians, did he buy into the whole Greek pantheon, make sacrifices at their temples, and worship all the gods for their individual qualities.

As Pan was the god of theatrical criticism, did Socrates invoke Pan when he discussed a play he had attended? As Dionysus was the god of wine, did he honor Dionysus by pouring a little wine onto an altar, like Percy and the demigods give a portion of each meal to their divine parents? People are always watching you, and with someone like Socrates, who spent his days with his thoughts, perhaps he didn't pay respect to the gods in all the little ways everyone else did.

People are always concerned when philosophers and religious teachers preach a different message from everyone else. People want their children to hold the same values and ideals that they prize. Someone who teaches a radically different message, or even appears to, could be labeled a danger to society.

A drinking cup devoted to Dionysus, the god of wine, in the British Museum.

In any case, whether the leaders of Athens saw him as a bothersome old man, or a dangerous radical, why the need to kill him? Couldn't they just send him away? That was an option they extended to Socrates. But the philosopher rarely if ever left his beloved Athens. While he might praise aspects of other Greek city-states, moving to another town would be like moving to another country today. Suppose someone was kind enough to take him in, give him free room and board, attend his physical needs, and pay for his doctors' visits. The city's style of government would be different. Its cultural and religious festivals would clash with what he was used to. The cultural lens--formed by that city's unique history, government, and religious beliefs--would be completely different from the one through which he saw the world. 

Most old people want to die where they feel like they belong: in their homes. Socrates wouldn't want to be exiled to a foreign city-state. So whether his teachings were really subversive, or his physical needs and/or societal views just got on people's nerves, he opted to take the poison and die surrounded by his followers and friends. What old person, faced with the choice of dying in their own home, or being sent off to a sanatorium (or nursing home) wouldn't make the same choice?

In Rick Riordan's novels, the demigods live in cabins dedicated to their parents. As a child of Poseidon, Percy finds himself bunking alone at Camp Half-Blood. He can visit the cabin dedicated to another god, but he couldn't spend the night in one. Regardless of how lonely he felt, he just wouldn't belong in a cabin dedicated to another god. While modern readers might feel this is unfair, if Rick Riordan had written these stories in Socrates' time, I suspect people would have seen this treatment as right and proper.

Of course, they probably would have seen Rick Riordan's stories as disrespectful in any number of other ways. They might not have liked that Grover, a satyr who dreams of finding the lost god Pan, eats aluminum cans. Or they might objected to seeing the god Dionysus, who runs the camp, as disconsolate because Zeus always prevents him from drinking wine. People always find reasons to brand something they dislike as wrong, regardless of what age they inhabit, or whom they hurt as a result.

Dragon Dave

Rick Riordan and Socrates: Part 3

A Caryatid from the Acropolis in Athens, now in the British Museum

Even though he wasn't present during Socrates' final days, Plato makes no mention of physical or mental disability. So perhaps it's unfair to suggest Socrates was in any way unfit. But the question remains: if the Athenians had put up with his preaching for the majority of his life, why condemn him to exile or death when he's seventy years old?

Even if Socrates functioned well physically and mentally, all societies change with time. Each generation places its own stamp upon society. Socrates' views of right and wrong would have been formed by the society of his youth. It's one thing to tolerate someone's antisocial behavior if that person holds no important position. But if an esteemed member of society continually finds fault with aspects of a community's new direction, or the inevitable modifications to the religious and civil events that knit the fabric of their society together, the leadership would notice. 

Might Socrates have been less a radical than a throwback to an earlier time, or to a societal direction not taken? He certainly fought against societal trends he thought would damage his beloved city in the long term. Given how much Socrates influenced later philosophers, it's only logical that leaders struggling to put forward their agendas would wish to sweep the unamenable old man out of sight, rather than risk him and his followers scuttling their plans for Athens. 

A marble votive relief of Athena from Athens, now in the British Museum

In Rick Riordan's novels, Luke Castellan befriends Annabeth Chase, and helps her reach Camp Half-Blood. Luke is the son of the god Hermes, and Annabeth the daughter of Athena. When Luke turns against the gods, his agenda becomes more important to him than his friend Annabeth, and anyone else who disagrees with his grand vision to build a better future for his fellow demigods, as well as the rest of humanity.

Annabeth's mother, the goddess Athena, was the patron saint of Athens. The citizens there worshiped her for her skills in strategy and warfare, as well as her wisdom. Whether the goddess would approve of the leaders' decision to steer the city toward a better future by killing off opponents such as Socrates is open to debate. 

As for Annabeth, she never gives up on Luke. No matter how many people he hurts or kills in order to achieve his objective, she always hopes he will give up his quest to destroy the gods, and resume his place as a productive, encouraging leader at Camp Half-Blood. It's an idealistic belief, and totally unrealistic, given his decisions and actions. But that's why she's a hero, and why readers love her.

Just like Socrates' followers saw him as a hero, and sought to immortalize him.

Dragon Dave

 

Rick Riordan and Socrates Part 2

A man is handed a Persian-style drinking horn in the Cella frieze at the British Museum.

After reading Rick Riordan's novels about Percy Jackson and his fellow demigods, I took the time to read some of Plato's works: Apology, Crito, and Phaedo. Instead of looking forward, and propounding his own views on life, the Greek philosopher devoted these stories to the death of his mentor Socrates. In sum, they demonstrate what Socrates believed, and when public sentiment in Athens turned against him, why he felt the need to die by drinking poison, rather than opt for exile, or escape the city with the help of his friends.

As I mentioned in the previous post, Socrates was seventy years old when he died. I couldn't help wonder why the Athenians, usually described as the most open-minded and rational of the ancient Greeks, would decide to put this old man to death after accepting his teachings and community involvement for so long. While Plato portrays his mentor as a  man with all his wits, he wasn't present when Socrates drank the hemlock. And it's a fact of life that often, despite our best efforts, we lose mental, as well as physical function, as we age.

The ancient Greeks viewed stages of life such as birth and death, as well as certain illnesses and types of sexual activity, as influences that could corrupt or pollute their society. Plato clearly wanted to memorialize Socrates, and preserve his philosophy, by portraying him at his most rational. But what if Socrates had trouble remembering things? What if he started to rant, began to repeat a handful of arguments, or stopped physically taking care of himself.

Lapses in memory and mental function could have worried ancient Athenian doctors, as well as the priests in the temples of their gods. Had the gods cursed Socrates? Had they afflicted him with madness? In an era when people believed the gods protected them from all sorts of potential dangers, allowing madness to pollute the purity of the citizenry would put everyone in the city at risk. 

The Nereid Monument in the British Museum

Offhand, I don't remember if Percy Jackson and his friends ever meet Astraea, the Greek goddess of Purity, in Rick Riordan's novels. They meet a large number of gods, demigods, and supernatural beings over the two five-book series. As they pursue their quests, Percy and his friends discover that some of the minor gods have grown bitter with the pantheon on Olympus. With nothing to lose, these divine beings who formerly embraced good and preserved the status quo ally themselves in revolts led by the titan Hades and the Earth Mother Gaea. The young demigods attempt to address this imbalance, and win the favor of these forgotten gods, by pledging to honor them, and building temples to them at Camp Half-Blood.

Plato makes no mention of medical or priestly condemnation of Socrates. Still, the suggestion of divine disapproval, whispered in the right ears, could have prompted legal proceedings against any citizen, even someone as esteemed as Socrates. After all, if the philosopher's thought processes were corrupted, isn't it only logical that he would corrupt the young?

Dragon Dave

Rick Riordan and Socrates Part 1

The classic Greek architecture of the British Museum,
a center of learning, and where artifacts from
the Parthenon of Athens are stored.

As you can see by perusing my reading list for 2019, I've finished the ten novels that make up Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson and the Olympians series and The Heroes of Olympus series. I've always yearned to understand how the ancient Greeks regarded their gods, and Rick Riordan's lighthearted take on the subject made the subject more real to me.

This may sound crazy, as Rick Riordan's fantasy novels rival J. K. Rowlings Harry Potter books with regard to character adventures and fireworks. Still, the way he focuses on demigods like Percy and Annabeth, portrays their divine parents, and how the teens utilize their powers to either benefit themselves or protect others, tells me a lot about how the ancient Greeks related to their world. As a bonus, the second series brings in characters from a Roman camp, and demonstrates how the Romans viewed the gods differently.

After reading Riordan's novels, something spurred me to read a few of Plato's writings. His stories--Apology, Crito, and Phaedo--illustrate how his mentor Socrates viewed the world, as well as his place in it. As I read Plato's stories, cast as a series of conversations and arguments, I couldn't help think about Socrates, and why his fellow citizens might put him to death. To follow are some of my reactions and thoughts. They are in no way educated assertions, but merely reflections based on my own outlook and experience.

Socrates was seventy years old when he was condemned to death. The charge seems to revolve around his teachings, and corrupting the youth. But Socrates had lived in Athens, and been a philosopher there all his life. If his fellow citizens have tolerated his teachings up to now, why did his teachings suddenly become too dangerous to tolerate?

The ancient Greeks had far less medical knowledge and capabilities than today. Socrates would have suffered the ordinary accidents of life that maybe doctors back then couldn't set right. In an age without Flu shots, inoculations, and antibiotics, who knows what aftereffects of diseases like Tuberculosis or Scarlet Fever he might have suffered from. Additionally, as a soldier in the Peloponnesian War, he would have suffered injuries and wounds that left scars in more ways than one. 

Anyone who has suffered from a malady the doctors had trouble diagnosing knows the long term implications of infection. Even poorly maintained teeth can lead to a heart condition. It's safe to say the palliatives and ointments the ancients used to treat wounds and illnesses weren't as effective as today's more targeted cures. 

Might Socrates have needed a steadying hand to help him get around? Did he suffer from defective hearing or eyesight? Might he have lung or heart damage? Did the doctors attend him regularly to manage his ailments? In a society in which doctors regularly practiced assisted suicide and euthanasia, maybe the government weighed his physical needs against the community's available time and resources, and manufactured a reason why this long-time philosopher's teachings were suddenly a corrupting influence.

Clarissa, the daughter of Ares, the Greek god of War, in Rick Riordan's novels, might well approve of such a decision. Personally, I suspect that Percy Jackson, the son of Poseidon, the Greek god of the seas, would find a more caring way of dealing with the aged philosopher. 

Dragon Dave