Like the trial of Jesus, the proceedings against Socrates represented more than the prosecution of one man. This was a classic show trial: staged events that serve to dramatise moral and political uncertainties faced by a community. Show trials provide an opportunity for those who initiate criminal proceedings to make a statement about what values ought to be affirmed by society, and offer the accused the opportunity to confess, recant or at least apologise. Socrates made no attempt to play the game. ‘Do not be angry with me for speaking the truth’, he told the jurors, before stating his awareness that ‘No man will survive who genuinely opposes you or any other crowd’. Through his denunciation of the intolerance of the gathering, Socrates sought to affirm that it was he, and not his persecutors, who occupied the moral high ground.

Socrates's trial, in a packed court and before a jury of 501 Athenian citizens in 399 BC, was the outcome of a protracted period of social anxiety and unrest. The Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta had ended just four years previously, having lasted for almost three decades and resulted in the catastrophic defeat of Athens and the demise of her powerful navy and empire. The surrender of Athens was followed by the forced dismantling of her powerful fortifications, and conflict was unleashed within the walls of the city. Many citizens blamed the city's open-air democratic institutions for allowing demagogues to manipulate people's emotions and create a feverish atmosphere hospitable to military adventurism. They claimed that leading public figures lacked integrity and were devoid of attributes associated with responsible leadership. These partisans of the oligarchy blamed Athenian democracy for her military defeat, and attempted to establish a more elitist hierarchical government in the immediate aftermath of the war. On one point, democratic politicians were in agreement with their oligarchic foes: Athens's predicament was caused by the enemy within. But from their standpoint, a significant factor contributing to Athens's defeat was the betrayal of the city by sections of the oligarchy. Although these charges of betrayal were unspecific, it was widely claimed that members of the Athenian oligarchy had frequently expressed sympathy for the more hierarchical and conservative constitution of Sparta.