bust of Sokrates the ancient Greek philosopher

Thought to be the son of a stone-mason, this famous Athenian philosopher believed in teaching through encouraging and challenging others to question their beliefs, preconceptions and prejudices.

Sokrates (also Socrates) wrote nothing himself: it is mainly through his pupil Plato's early dialogues and Xenophon's memoirs that we know about his teaching methods and personality. He condemned the often glib, ready-made rules for success as offered by the Sophists, and regarded it as his duty to shake people out of ill-founded complacency.

He chose death over silencing his beliefs, becoming philosophy’s 'secular martyr'. He was condemned to death in Athens in 399BCE, aged 70, and forced to drink hemlock.

Socrates’ ultimate legacy is turning philosophy from a study of the cosmos into the interrogation of the human soul. He invented the Socratic Method—a system of cooperative argumentative dialogue using targeted questions to expose underlying beliefs and contradictions. By claiming he only knew that he knew nothing, he redefined wisdom as intellectual humility.

His legacy is a revolutionary way of thinking that forces humanity to constantly question authority, assumptions, and itself.

The material is keramin, a heavy, durable plaster polymer compound, with a light ochre finish applied by hand. There may, therefore, be a slight variation in colour from piece to piece. Bases are made of solid dark grey or black marble.

Made in Greece in the workshop of the Semitekolo family with whom It's All Greek is proud to have been working since 1999, and who produce It's All Greek's bedrock bronze collection.