After Sparta defeated Athens in the war, the rich Athenians took control of their city-state, got rid of democracy, and created an oligarchy.. 3 Many of the Thirty Tyrants came from ri
Trang 1Athens and Sparta, two city-states in ancient Greece, fought a war
against each other that lasted 27 years Before the war, Athens was a
democracy ; the citizens chose their leaders During the war, a group of
Athenians wanted Athens to be an oligarchy, or a government led by a few
rich men After Sparta defeated Athens in the war, the rich Athenians took
control of their city-state, got rid of democracy, and created an oligarchy
1 Socrates showed great courage as a soldier in his city’s long
battle with Sparta, but his courage in the face of injustice was
even greater It is never easy to talk about uncomfortable or
unpopular topics, or to point out the wrong actions of people
in power But Socrates did so every day His loyalty to truth
and justice sometimes made him unpopular It is also one of the
reasons we still talk about Socrates
city-states cities that are run like countries
defeated won a victory over someone
power control
Justice First
by R Anthony Kugler
Paraphrase Explain in your own words what the author means by Socrates’ “courage in the face of injustice.”
Reading Strategy
Content
Social Studies
Reading Check ✓
1 Recall details
Which two cities were fighting a war?
2 Identify proposition
What idea about Socrates does the author propose?
3 Make an inference Why
would loyalty to truth and justice make someone unpopular?
Reading 1
0 50
0 50 100 miles
100 km
Aegean Sea
Mediterranean
Sea
Ionian
Sea
GREECE
Sparta Athens
N
S
Trang 2Build Your
Knowledge
A root is the part of a word
that gives the word its basic
meaning The word
democracy comes from two
Greek roots Use the
meaning of the roots to
figure out the meaning of
democracy in this passage.
2 Socrates had many powerful enemies His most dangerous enemies were called the Thirty Tyrants They were Athenians who saw their city’s final defeat by Sparta
in 404 B.C as a chance to destroy something they hated:
democracy The word “democracy” comes from the Greek
word demos (“people”) and kratos (“power”) They believed
that power should not be held by the people but by a few rich individuals The Tyrants thought that they should be the leaders of Athens With the help of the Spartan general
Leonidas, the Thirty Tyrants quickly took charge of the city.
3 Many of the Thirty Tyrants came from rich and powerful families in Athens The sons of these wealthy families were also the most interested in Socrates’ ideas A man named Critias, a loyal student of Socrates, was a powerful member
of the Thirty Tyrants Critias tried to get the people of Athens
to accept the rule of the Tyrants Then he got an idea: If Socrates supported the Tyrants or looked like he supported them, other Athenians would too Socrates was well known,
and the people of Athens greatly admired him So, Critias looked for a way to use his teacher’s popularity to help
the Tyrants
destroy ruin, put an end to took charge of began to lead popularity acceptance by many people
Paraphrase Use your
own words to explain
Critias’s idea
Reading
Strategy
In School of
Athens, the artist
Raphael painted many Greek scholars together
Socrates (above)
is shown talking
to students.
Trang 34 Critias knew that his old teacher tried to stay away from
acts that went against his beliefs of what was right He
also knew that Socrates was a loyal and patriotic citizen
What would Socrates do if the Tyrants ordered him to do
something unjust and illegal? Critias believed that if Socrates
had to choose between his personal beliefs and his public
duty as a citizen, he would have to follow his duty Socrates
did not like the rule of the Tyrants But Critias and his friends
hoped that if people saw the respected teacher following
their orders, they would start to support the Tyrants’ rule
5 The Tyrants ordered Socrates to arrest an innocent person
named Leon of Salamis, but the old man simply ignored
them The incident made people respect Socrates and
oppose the Tyrants even more Soon the Tyrants’ rule was
overthrown Unfortunately, the democracy that took over
was opposed to Socrates too Because many of the Tyrants
had been followers
of Socrates, many
people thought he
was as guilty as they
were Even though
Socrates had refused
to obey the Tyrants’
orders, the idea
went around that he
taught them to be
against democracy
patriotic loyal to and proud of one’s country
illegal against the law
rule leadership; authority
innocent not guilty of a crime
ignored paid no attention to
incident event
overthrown removed from power by force
Socrates with
two students
Paraphrase Read how Critias describes Socrates Paraphrase
this description in your own words
Reading Strategy
Reading Check ✓
1 Recall details
What was the goal of the Thirty Tyrants?
2 Form an opinion
Should Socrates have followed his
duty as a citizen?
Explain
3 Identify support for proposition
What support does the author provide for his proposition that Socrates’
“courage in the face of injustice was even greater”?
Trang 46 The democrats had another reason to dislike Socrates
In 406 b.c., Socrates publicly ignored the will of the crowd For this, many democrats could not forgive him It happened after Athens defeated Sparta in the great naval battle of Arginusae The ships could not rescue many of the wounded sailors, and they drowned In their grief, the citizens of Athens blamed the 10 admirals who were in charge at the time
7 The admirals were called before the Athenian boule, the
legislative council The angry crowd wanted them to be executed After a careful reading of the law, however, there
was no doubt that the motion in favor of execution was
illegal One of the council members was Socrates, and he refused to allow the illegal motion to go forward The crowd
got even angrier, but Socrates followed his conscience and
refused to change his decision
democrats people who support democracy legislative council group that makes laws executed put to death
motion formal request to vote on something
Paraphrase Why
did the democrats
dislike Socrates?
Paraphrase the
author’s explanation
Reading
Strategy
Ruins of the Athenian Agora,
where the admirals likely stood
before the boule
Trang 58 As it turned out, the admirals were executed anyway,
but Socrates had made his point The council’s actions were
shameful, and the old teacher made sure they knew it As
one character in Plato’s Symposium says, “Socrates is the
only person in the world who can make me feel ashamed.”
Many of those in the hall that day never forgave him for it
9 But Socrates was not concerned with popularity, wealth,
or power What mattered most to him was to know right
from wrong and justice from injustice That is how he lived
his life By those standards, his life can only be considered a
triumph.
shameful very bad
Plato another Greek thinker
Symposium title of one of Plato’s writings
ashamed very sorry
triumph great success
Paraphrase What does the character in
Plato’s Symposium
mean by this statement? Explain the statement in your own words
Reading Strategy
Reading Check ✓
1 Recall details
Whom did the Athenians blame when the wounded sailors drowned?
2 Summarize What
happened to the people who were blamed?
Statue of Socrates in front
of The Academy in Athens