The Athenian Jury Trial

I must commend the Greeks----those of the Golden Age of course------for their marvelous contributions to democracy. Both the right to vote for leaders and the right to have cases decided by juries of citizens have civilized many societies ever since 500 B.C.

Now the juries in Athens took a while to choose and administer, given the fact that a jury had to have 501 members.

And the juries sometimes got it wrong. The worst example of an Athenian jury going off the rails (forgive the prophetical reference to an industrial development that followed my death by 70 years) was its conviction of Socrates for "corrupting the young."

Those of you who know me and what I fought with great energy in my lifetime recognize that religious hypocrisy made me crazy. Well, Socrates was convicted for corrupting the young by teaching them that they did not have to worship or honor the Olympian gods.

Socrates' jury trial was a travesty. The Olympian gods were a pack of scoundrels, whose escapades made some memorable stories and myths to entertain people for thousands of years. But, as moral examples of conducting a good honorable life the Olympians were clueless.

Now that I think of it a bit. To worship and honor the Olympians would do more to harm the moral fiber of the Athenian youth than would have a good talk over coffee with Socrates.

Socrates taught the youth of Athens and anyone else that would listen to him for free, much to the chagrin and regret of his wife and children who had little to live on.

Too bad the Greeks did not have a brilliant constitution like the Americans came up with, in which the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution wisely protected a robust free speech, the freedom to exercise religion and kept the church and state at a respectable distance.

Of course the Americans had the benefit of 2200 years of recorded history to learn from and some brilliant founding fathers. The Americans saw the value in voting and jury trials, protecting both rights with great energy.

Wise folks, those ancient Greeks and modern Americans.

Voltaire