What was going on: This is the formal charge that brought Socrates to trial in Athens, as Diogenes Laertius records it centuries later, citing Favorinus. He names three accusers: Anytus, Lycon and Meletus. A jury went on to condemn Socrates to death.
Why it matters: On these charges most of the jurors convicted Socrates and then voted for death by hemlock. In 2012 an international panel of ten judges held a mock retrial on the charges brought by Meletus, Anytus and Lycon.
Socrates is charged with not accepting the city's gods, bringing in new ones, and corrupting the young. The penalty asked: death.
This indictment and affidavit is sworn by Meletus, the son of Meletus of Pitthos, against Socrates, the son of Sophroniscus of Alopece: Socrates is guilty of refusing to recognize the gods recognized by the state, and of introducing other new divinities. He is also guilty of corrupting the youth. The penalty demanded is death.
Answered by Socrates, set in 399 BCEAnswered by Xenophon, c. 371–354 BCE