Part I: Athens, Pages 9 through 47 Summary and Analysis

Athens

Athens is the crown of the ancient world. It is famous for its beauty and its wise and talented residents like sculptor Phidias, the philosophers Socrates and Aristotle, playwrights Sophocles and Euripides and historian Thucydides, among many others. Socrates is a teacher and has a future philosopher, Plato, as a student. Ancient Athens is the first democracy in history—a true democracy where everything is decided by vote (but women and slaves are not allowed to vote). The liberal society, however, is kind to its slaves. Like many third-world countries today, women lead sheltered lives and stay at home to raise their children. Some of the forward thinking men of ancient Athens do advocate more rights for women. Although Socrates is sentenced to death for some trumped up crime, the courts...