Each generation must, out of relative obscurity, discover its mission, fulfil it, or betray it: Frantz Fanon

In 399 BC Athens was a fragile, traumatised place. It had just restored democracy as its governing system, after having overcome the 30-year Peloponnesian War and a military coup imposed by Sparta on Athens. Despite returning to democracy, the system that it developed, Athens found it a place that was hyper vigilante, with citizens distrustful of fellow citizens and of the State. Athenians found themselves overly protective of their newly reinstated democracy and a vigilante like mob mentality formed in the city state at the time.

It was in this politically and socially charged and insecure Athens that the son of a sculptor and midwife, named Socrates, became a household name. Socrates was already a well-known philosopher at the time and became even more recognisable with his questioning of the restored governance system. He challenged young Athenians, many of whom were his students, as to why they failed to question their rulers and critiqued them for their blind faith in the system. In doing so he attempted to expose them as foolish and ill-informed of their ruling elite.

For this Socrates was tried in Athens by a jury of his peers on two counts: not believing in the ruling gods and corrupting the youth of Athens. During the trial Socrates compared Athens to a large, powerful horse that had become overconfident and apathetic, while he thought of himself as a small stinging insect that keeps biting the horse to keep it awake. He gained the reputation of being an irritant to........

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