Socrates - Teacher of Plato

Socrates, a leading Greek philosopher, was the teacher of Plato (who was the teacher of Aristotle).  Alexander the Great, who studied under Aristotle, was thus in a unique position to learn what had been deduced by three of Greece's greatest thinkers.

Today, Socrates is still studied through the works of Plato.  He is equally known, however, for a trial which condemned him to death when he was nearly seventy years old.

That trial, and execution, took place in Athens in 399 BC.  The events still puzzle historians.  In a society which enjoyed more democracy (and resulting freedom) than any the world had seen to that time, an elderly man was put to death for what he taught his students.  Today we wonder ... How could such a thing be?

Adding to the conundrum is this fact:  Socrates had taught students his entire adult life - and no one had stopped him before.  Yet ... a jury of 500 Athenians condemned him not long before he would have died a natural death.