Ancient Greece

Today in Human Geography class we talked about Ancient Greece.  We defined some words Mr. Schick gave us that were a part of ancient Greece.  We had to define arete, polis, Socrates, the death of Socrates and others.  We were talking and going over each one.  Arete is a word meaning excellence in any kind.  Polis is a city in Greece, but also means citizenship.  Socrates is the topic that most of our class period was about.  Socrates was a classical Greek philosopher.  He always contributed help in debates by asking and answering questions.  Later people named they way he contributed the Socratic method.  The Socratic method is a form of debate between individuals with opposing viewpoints based on asking and answering questions.  We witnessed this method today because Mr. Schick used it on us and we didn't realize he was until he asked at least 20 questions.  Throughout the class we talked about the different democracies and how they relate with excellence and the Socratic method.  Mr. Schick was talking about the death of Socrates and how he was on trial to decide whether he was guilty or not of corrupting the youth and not acknowledging the gods.  Two hundred eighty people said he was guilty and two hundred twenty said he was not.  Therefore, he was given a drink of poison that would kill him immediately.  Many years after the death of Socrates a French painter painted his depiction of what happened the day Socrates had to drink the poison.  The painting shows Socrates about to be handed the poison and men all around him not bearing to look at him say his last words.  Socrates last words were "Crito, we owe a cock to Asclepius. Do pay it. Don't forget". No one truly understands what these words mean, but some people say they might even be a part of a riddle of some kind.