Socrates Timeline

Socrates Timeline in Chronological Order
c. 470 BCE Socrates is born in Athens, Greece, to Sophroniscus, a stonemason, and Phaenarete, a midwife.
   
c. 432 BCE Socrates serves as a hoplite (heavy infantryman) in the Peloponnesian War, participating in the Battle of Potidaea, the Battle of Delium, and the Battle of Amphipolis.
   
c. 410 BCE Socrates begins to question Athenians about their beliefs and values, developing his unique style of philosophical inquiry known as the Socratic method.
   
c. 407-406 BCE Plato becomes a student of Socrates, and the two form a close philosophical relationship.
   
c. 404 BCE Socrates refuses to arrest Leon of Salamis on unjust charges during the reign of the Thirty Tyrants, a group of pro-Spartan oligarchs who briefly ruled Athens.
   
399 BCE

Socrates is brought to trial on charges of impiety and corrupting the youth of Athens. He is found guilty by a jury of 500 Athenians.

May. Socrates is sentenced to death by drinking a cup of poison hemlock. He accepts his sentence with calmness and dies in the presence of his friends, including Plato.
   
After 399 BCE Plato and other students of Socrates write dialogues featuring their teacher as the central character, preserving his philosophical ideas and methods for future generations.