Aristophanes killed Socrates

When Socrates, the witty philosopher/teacher of Athens, was put on trial for poisoning the minds of the youth, he knew that his chances were nil. Five hundred jurors, common people of Athens, had never meet him but all have watched "him" teaching how cheat in a play of Aristophanes.

In those times, theater was the media. Aristophanes had painted him as a teacher of swindling and gaming the rules, and that image had more conviction than the truth. The jury condemned the image of Socrates to death by hemlock, and the real Socrates complied with the law.

It is amazing how modern were the Greeks 2500 years ago. Their civilization decayed and Athens became a miserable hamlet. Western civilization is following the same path.

Left: a vase representing his play "The Birds". Beautiful.