14.1 The Headliner

In the month of Elaphebolion, in the year that Isarchus was eponymous archon [March-April, 423 BC], Socrates became a celebrity. It didn’t happen in the way you might expect. The forty-six-year-old philosopher didn’t make a brilliant speech in the Assembly that changed public policy. He didn’t win a battle by his clever strategy, or save the day by his courageous defense of the battle line. He didn’t pay for the construction of a navy ship out of his own pocket. And he didn’t win a footrace at Olympia. In fact, the kind of attention he got no one would seek. He had already become a public figure with the endorsement, and the riddle, of the oracle. He had become an increasingly common sight in the streets of Athens, talking with individuals, often important individuals, pursuing his quest that was now a mission. People knew him. People talked about him. People wondered about him. Yet for all that, Athens was a large city of more than a hundred thousand inhabitants. Few people had actually encountered Socrates face to face. <a href="https://medium.com/the-first-philosophers/14-1-the-headliner-d68d78abfb0e">Read More</a>