Xenophon's Apology of Socrates

E15698

Socratic dialogue ancient Greek literature philosophical work

Xenophon's Apology of Socrates is a Socratic dialogue in which the historian Xenophon presents an alternative account of Socrates' defense speech and character at his trial, distinct from Plato's more famous version.

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All labels observed (7)

Label	Occurrences
Xenophon's Apology of Socrates canonical	5
Apology of Socrates (Xenophon)	2
Apology of Socrates to the Jury	2
Apology of Socrates	1
Apology of Socrates to the Jury (Xenophon)	1
Memoirs of Socrates	1
Socrates' defense speech	1

How this entity was disambiguated

This entity first appeared as the object of triple T117691 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.

NED1 Entity disambiguation (via context triple) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: Xenophon's Apology of Socrates
Context triple: [Socrates, portrayedIn, Xenophon's Apology of Socrates]

A. Apology of Socrates
Apology of Socrates is a Platonic dialogue that presents Socrates’ defense speech at his trial in Athens, exploring themes of justice, wisdom, and the examined life.
B. La Mort de Socrate
La Mort de Socrate is the original French title of Jacques-Louis David’s famous 1787 Neoclassical painting depicting the philosopher Socrates calmly accepting his death by hemlock.
C. Crito
Crito is an ancient Athenian friend and devoted follower of Socrates, best known from Plato’s dialogues for urging Socrates to escape his death sentence.
D. Phaedo
Phaedo is a Platonic dialogue that recounts the final hours and philosophical discussions of Socrates before his execution.
E. Plato's Symposium
Plato's Symposium is a classical Greek philosophical dialogue that explores the nature of love (eros) through a series of speeches at a drinking party, culminating in Socrates’ account of Diotima’s ladder of love.
F. None of above. chosen
G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.

NED2 Entity disambiguation (via description) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: Xenophon's Apology of Socrates
Target entity description: Xenophon's Apology of Socrates is a Socratic dialogue in which the historian Xenophon presents an alternative account of Socrates' defense speech and character at his trial, distinct from Plato's more famous version.

A. Apology of Socrates
Apology of Socrates is a Platonic dialogue that presents Socrates’ defense speech at his trial in Athens, exploring themes of justice, wisdom, and the examined life.
B. La Mort de Socrate
La Mort de Socrate is the original French title of Jacques-Louis David’s famous 1787 Neoclassical painting depicting the philosopher Socrates calmly accepting his death by hemlock.
C. Crito
Crito is an ancient Athenian friend and devoted follower of Socrates, best known from Plato’s dialogues for urging Socrates to escape his death sentence.
D. Phaedo
Phaedo is a Platonic dialogue that recounts the final hours and philosophical discussions of Socrates before his execution.
E. Plato's Symposium
Plato's Symposium is a classical Greek philosophical dialogue that explores the nature of love (eros) through a series of speeches at a drinking party, culminating in Socrates’ account of Diotima’s ladder of love.
F. None of above. chosen

Statements (47)

Predicate	Object
instanceOf	Socratic dialogue ⓘ ancient Greek literature ⓘ philosophical work ⓘ
aimsTo	defend Socrates' reputation ⓘ justify Socrates' conduct at his trial ⓘ
author	Xenophon ⓘ
basedOn	historical Socrates ⓘ
circulation	manuscript tradition in antiquity ⓘ
comparedWith	Apology of Socrates ⓘ surface form: Plato's Apology
countryOfOrigin	Classical Greece ⓘ
describesEvent	Xenophon's Apology of Socrates self-linksurface differs ⓘ surface form: Socrates' defense speech Socrates' trial in Athens ⓘ
focusesOn	Socrates' character ⓘ Socrates' motives for accepting death ⓘ
genre	apology ⓘ philosophical dialogue ⓘ
givesAlternativeAccountOf	Socrates' defense compared to Plato ⓘ
hasForm	short dialogue ⓘ
hasPerspectiveOf	Xenophon ⓘ
historicalContext	aftermath of Peloponnesian War ⓘ
influencedBy	Socratic oral tradition ⓘ
language	Ancient Greek ⓘ
literaryPeriod	Classical period of ancient Greece ⓘ
mainCharacter	Socrates ⓘ
narrativeVoice	first-person commentary by Xenophon ⓘ
philosophicalDiscipline	ethics ⓘ philosophy of religion ⓘ
philosophicalTheme	death ⓘ divine mission ⓘ moral responsibility ⓘ piety ⓘ virtue ⓘ
philosophicalTradition	Socratic philosophy ⓘ
portrays	Socrates as morally exemplary ⓘ Socrates as obedient to divine will ⓘ Socrates as unconcerned with death ⓘ
relatedWorkByAuthor	Memorabilia ⓘ Xenophon’s Symposium ⓘ surface form: Symposium (Xenophon)
setting	trial of Socrates ⓘ
subject	Socrates' attitude toward death ⓘ Socrates' daimonion ⓘ Socrates' relations with his accusers ⓘ Socrates' service to the city ⓘ
timeOfComposition	4th century BC ⓘ
tradition	Socratic literature ⓘ
workInvolves	Athenian legal system ⓘ
workType	prose ⓘ

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (13)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Socrates → portrayedIn → Xenophon's Apology of Socrates ⓘ

Xenophon → notableWork → Xenophon's Apology of Socrates ⓘ

this entity surface form: Apology of Socrates to the Jury

Xenophon's Apology of Socrates → describesEvent → Xenophon's Apology of Socrates self-linksurface differs ⓘ

this entity surface form: Socrates' defense speech

trial of Socrates → hasPrimarySource → Xenophon's Apology of Socrates ⓘ

subject surface form: Trial of Socrates

trial of Socrates → hasRelatedWork → Xenophon's Apology of Socrates ⓘ

subject surface form: Trial of Socrates

Meletus → knownFromSource → Xenophon's Apology of Socrates ⓘ

Xenophon’s Symposium → relatedWorkByAuthor → Xenophon's Apology of Socrates ⓘ

this entity surface form: Apology of Socrates to the Jury

Memorabilia → relatedWork → Xenophon's Apology of Socrates ⓘ

this entity surface form: Apology of Socrates (Xenophon)

Memorabilia → alsoKnownAs → Xenophon's Apology of Socrates ⓘ

this entity surface form: Memoirs of Socrates

Oeconomicus → relatedWork → Xenophon's Apology of Socrates ⓘ

this entity surface form: Apology of Socrates to the Jury (Xenophon)

Xenophon's Memorabilia → relatedWork → Xenophon's Apology of Socrates ⓘ

Xenophon’s Socratic writings → workIncludes → Xenophon's Apology of Socrates ⓘ

this entity surface form: Apology of Socrates

Socrates and Critobulus → relatedWork → Xenophon's Apology of Socrates ⓘ