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[[image:Dav soc.jpg|thumb|left|400px|The masterwork.]] '''Death of Socrates''' is a [[masterpiece]] by [[Jacques Louis-David]], a famous [[painter]]. The painting portrays [[Socrates]], the famous teacher of [[philosophy]], just before he carried out the sentence of the [[Athens|Athenian]] government, and committed [[suicide]] by drinking hemlock. This punishment was forced upon Socrates by Athens, which convicted him of "denying the gods," and corrupting the youth of Athens. In this famous scene, Socrates teaches his despondent disciples not to fear death.

Although Socrates himself did not commit any of his thoughts to writing, his disciple [[Plato]] codified his beliefs in text, especially in the famous work [[The Republic]], a text which suggests why Socrates was condemned to die. ''The Republic'' teaches that the polytheistic [[Pantheon]] of Greece, by engaging in petty human squabbles, betraying surfeit of emotion, and otherwise not leading model lives, had proved themselves to not be ''Good'', and to therefore have therefore forfeited any claim to divinity. This conclusion emerges, since Socrates and Plato both argued that [[God ]] is the "form of the Good," and all that is perfect in nature(''ergo'' that which is not Good, is not divine).

The painting hangs in the [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]], in [[New York]].

[[categoryCategory:Art]][[Category:Painting]]