After the preliminary hearing with Meletus and Socrates, the king archon posted the date of the inquiry and the names of the litigants on a bulletin board near the statues of the eponymous heroes in the marketplace. On the day of the preliminary examination (anakrisis), Meletus and Socrates met again. The formal charges were read and Socrates entered a plea of not guilty. The inquiry allowed the archons to ask questions of both parties, and the litigants to question each other, about, among other things, what evidence and witnesses they would produce to make their respective cases. Affidavits from witnesses were filed.[27] At this point, at least in cases involving financial responsibilities, a court-appointed arbitrator attempted to work out a settlement and made a judgment. If the parties were not satisfied with the judgment (or if arbitration was not called for), the court documents were sealed in a ceramic box to be kept until the trial, and a trial date was set. In the accusation against Socrates, neither side was willing to budge, and the case proceeded to trial.[28]
But who was Socrates’ official accuser? And why was this young man going after the seventy-year-old philosopher now, in the twilight of the latter’s life? Socrates says of his accuser, “I hardly know the man . . . He seems to be young and unknown. He is called Meletus, I believe. He is from the deme of Pitthus, if you know anyone of that name, with straight hair, a scraggly beard, and a hooked nose.”[29] This tells us that Meletus is not a victim of Socrates’ refutations. So what does he have against Socrates? There is a man named Meletus who helped in the prosecution of another “religious” trial, and who was one of the citizens sent to arrest Leon of Salamis, at the time when Socrates refused to collaborate.[30] Is this the same man (see below, ch. 25*)?[31]
Meletus named two spokesmen or advocates (sunēgoroi), Anytus of Euonymon and Lycon of Thoricus, who, though not formal accusers, would give speeches at the trial in support of Meletus’ accusation, as allowed by Athenian law. Lycon a prominent democrat whose son Autolycus had been put to death by the Thirty, and Anytus was one of the leaders of the restored democracy, who seems to have been hostile to new educational ideas.[32] While Meletus was a relative nobody, he was backed up by two political players, both with grudges against anyone associated with the oligarchy.
One scholar of Athenian law remarks, “It is tempting to assert that Athenian religious trials were all about politics: a surprisingly high proportion of known impiety trials reveal, on examination, a surprisingly strong political agenda.”[33] Was Meletus just the point man for two men with a score to settle? Was Socrates’ trial in reality a political attack disguised as a defense of religion? As one of the leading politicians of the day and one of the movers of the restored democracy, Anytus is discernible as the man with the real power and a not-too-hidden agenda. He, if anyone, was the individual pulling the strings, seeking to rid Athens of its political undesirables (see ch. 26*), to make the city safe for democracy.
And what was Socrates’ stance concerning religion after all? What is piety really, according to Socrates, and was Socrates pious? Did he uphold religion, or was he, as Aristophanes had portrayed him (ch. 14.3-14.4*), a subversive, bent on replacing Zeus and the Olympian gods with a new naturalistic or philosophical pantheon? Would the trial expose his secret heterodoxy or atheism and a conspiracy to overthrow religion?
[27]. Thür 2005: 154-157.
[28].Aristotle Constitution of Athens 53; Harrison 1969-1971, 2: 94-105}; MacDowell 1978: 240-242; Todd 1993: 126-129. For a summary of the procedures of the trial, see Nails 2009.
[29]. Plato Euthyphro 2b.
[30]. Andocides 1.94.
[31]. This remains a highly controversial question. There are several individuals named Meletus who appear in historical records. See Burnet 1924: 9-11, 137; MacDowell 1962: 208-210; Dover 1968: 78-80; Blumenthal 1973; McCoy 1975: 197; Nails 2002: 199-202.
[32]. Plato Meno 89e-94e on Anytus, and Nails 2002: 37-38 for ancient references. On Lycon and Autolycus, see Xenophon Symposium 1.3, 3.12-13 and Nails 2002: 188-189.
[33]. Todd 1993: 308.