Socrates

Written by Francesco Barilli with art and cover by Alessandro Ranghiasci.
Translated from Italian by Lucy Lenzi
Lettering and layout by Giulia Gabrielli
Edited by Stefano A. Cresti
With an introduction by Journalist Stefano Cardini
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Socrates was not only one of the best known and most influential philosophers in the history of humanity–he was also the first martyr for his own ideas. His trial tells the tale of how the greatest democracy of all time could have sentenced one of its best citizens to death.

Athens, 399 BC. In what may be remembered as the first trial for crimes of opinion, Socrates is sentenced to death. Accused of corrupting youth with atheist doctrines, the philosopher’s defensive line is uncompromising and provocative. He is thus condemned to drink hemlock by an even larger majority of the jurors. Once in prison, awaiting execution, he refuses to flee in order not to violate those laws to which he has always been devoted.