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The execution of Socrates by the Athenian state in 399BCE is a dramatic event in the history of political philosophy. It has often been discussed from philosophical and historical viewpoints 1 - 6 and almost as often by physicians trying to decide what poison was used to kill him. 7 - 9
The common suggestion has been that he died after drinking an extract of hemlock (common hemlock; Conium maculatum L ; sometimes mistakenly called Fools' Parsley, Æthusa cynapium L -see, for example Ober 8 and Bloch 1 ), but just as the reasons for his trial and execution are disputed, doubt still remains about the true nature of the poison employed. The matter still deserves consideration because the accuracy of the account of his death bears directly on the greater controversy about the nature and quality of the reasons given for putting him to death.
It is proposed here that the fatal draught included more than hemlock based on evaluation of the pharmacology and toxicology of hemlock alkaloids and reassessment of the clinical feature of his terminal condition, including a somewhat neglected physical sign.
DEATH OF SOCRATES
The fullest near contemporary account is in Plato's dialogue "Phaedo", probably written a few months after the execution. Plato, a close pupil and the academic successor of Socrates, was not present at his death, but he recounts details given by another pupil Phaedo, who was present, to a mutual friend Crito. 10
Xenophon, who was not present at the execution, also discusses the trial and death of Socrates but gives no additional information. 11 His account was written several years after the event and its sources are not given.
The closing paragraphs in the Phaedo, where the effects of the poison on Socrates are described, have often been translated into English, with similar wording being used on every occasion. There are some problems in translating the Greek text, 12 but they do not affect the more important features of the key paragraphs. A modern standard version, as used here, was published by Grube 13 and is close in important details to a classical version by Jowett. 14
The important text is:
... the man (gaoler) who was to administer the poison carrying it ready made in a...