Trial and Death of Socrates

Socrates, a stonemason's son who spent his life asking uncomfortable questions in the Athenian marketplace, is charged with impiety and corrupting young minds. A jury of 501 citizens convicts him by a narrow margin. Rather than flee (his friends arrange an escape), he drinks hemlock poison, arguing that a philosopher must obey the laws of his city even when they're unjust. His student Plato records the event in dialogues that have been read continuously for over 2,400 years.