Podcasts · Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle: The Thinkers Who Changed History — Fexingo History

Socrates' Trial Jury Size and the Quota of 501

14 Aug 2026 · 11 min · S4 E199

In this episode, Lucas and Luna look closely at the trial of Socrates that has fascinated people for 2,400 years — but from a side nobody's really looked at: the jury itself. We dig into how many jurors actually voted to convict him, and how the size of the jury, the way it was selected, and the city's own legal rules shaped the outcome. We'll talk about the allotment machine the kleroterion, the 501-juror quota that required a quorum of dikasts, and what it meant that Socrates faced exactly 501 judges. We also walk through the two votes — the conviction vote and the penalty vote — and how narrow the margin actually was, with 220 jurors voting to acquit. And we hear about the different penalties Socrates could have proposed instead of the one we know, and why his so-called counter-proposal was so outrageous. By the end, you'll have a concrete feel for how an ancient Athenian public trial really worked, and a new respect for the numbers behind one of history's most consequential verdicts.

#Socrates #TrialOfSocrates #AncientAthens #Kleroterion #Dikasts #JurySize #501Jurors #Voting #GreekLaw #Plato #Apology #AthenianDemocracy #Hoplite #SocraticMethod #ClassicalGreece #History #FexingoHistory #Philosophy

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