1	The Ancient Greeks: Through the Eyes of Socrates L.D. Alford Author of The Second Mission www.lionelalford.com
2	My Novels 18 written, 6 published, 1 on contract The Second Mission – historical fiction Centurion – historical fiction Aegypt – historical fiction/suspense The End of Honor - SiFi The Fox’s Honor - SiFi A Season of Honor - SiFi The Goddess of Light – on contract The Goddess of Darkness – in consideration The Ghost Ship Chronicles – in consideration
3	The Second Mission Historical fiction novel with a SiFi driver Idea 1994, start 1996, finished 1994 Published by Xulon in Aug 2003 Follows Alan Fisher and Sophia Time: October 400 BC to October 399 BC Location: Athens Greece Available here from me and Watermark Books
4	Class Syllabus 1. Novel, characters, history, politics 2. Ancient Greece in time and place – 400 BC 3. Paganism and the musterium – 400 BC 4. Greek life – 400 BC 5. Socrates 6. The Socratic Dialogs 7. The Death of Socrates 8. Conclusion
5	My Question When I write a book, I always ask a question The question that propelled The Second Mission is: What would happen if a modern person was accidentally pulled back into a time mission? You can see there are cascading effects that result from this question
6	"Time stopped." Time stopped. For a single drawn-out heartbeat, nothing moved, and in the whole world there was no sound. Like thin paint running out of an open bucket, all the color drained from the earth. Only a black and white landscape and the silence remained. Then, all at once, the world vibrated, exploded, screamed, blazed—and turned upside down.
7	"Clouds sifted slowly in the..." Clouds sifted slowly in the powder-blue sky. The clouds touched the mountains and frosted them with a fine white covering of snow. Trees: pine and laurel and European oak marched like towering gods up the rocky slopes. They formed tongues of verdant fire filled with chirping songbirds. The world swam. It gave a solid lurch, and with a sickening thud, Alan came to rest amid the trees. He lay sick and dazed for a moment. Then, unconsciously, he reached up and grabbed his head. The movement nauseated him, and pain shot through his skull. For a while, he couldn’t think clearly. He lay still again, and allowed his mind a chance to catch up with his whirling thoughts.
8	Overview Novel is historical—2+ years of research Mainly primary sources in history Language, religion, and cultural details Suspense driven by historical data My question: What would happen if a modern person was accidentally pulled back into a time mission? Cascading questions: What is the most important event in history that future societies would want to confirm or observe? How would they go about it?
9	"“What do you mean..." “What do you mean no one will be traveling for at least a year? Aren’t you going back?” Sophia’s face took on a guarded expression. “You will take me back?” he said forcefully. “I... I can’t.” “What do you mean, you can’t?” “Please, please keep your voice down,” Sophia appeared close to tears, “A man isn’t supposed to be in this house.” “All right, I’m lowering my voice. What do you mean, you can’t?”
10	"She spoke in a rush" She spoke in a rush, “We prepared for this mission for ten years. It’s mission number two. I trained for that entire time. I was handpicked for this mission. The groundwork was put together, the location prepared. No contact has been made with these people. We worked ten years to put this mission together, and I am here for one year,” Sophia’s voice died away to a whisper. “What did you say?” She spoke a little louder, “This is a one-year trip. I cannot return until this time, one year from today. No one can return for one year,” she put her hands over her eyes and tears dropped between her fingers.
11	"“If you expected this" “If you expected this, then why are you crying?” She put down her hands. Tears streaked her face. Sophia stared at him with incredulity, “This is the mission, my mission. You have no part to play in this. You are a dependent, forced upon me. None of my training took anything like this into account.” She crossed her arms, “If you don’t believe me, if you don’t trust me and obey me, you and I will likely die here. I will have failed completely. Ten years of planning and training will go for nothing.” “What’s the danger? Why are you so afraid?”
12	"“This is not the..." “This is not the modern world, Mr. Fisher. This is a dangerous time. There is little rule of law. In this time, might largely determines right. Because of that, people are more suspicious and dangerous than you can imagine. People here rarely travel from their own city-state. They kill strangers indiscriminately. If you cannot speak the language, and if you do not know their customs, they will likely kill you outright. If we infringe law or custom, we could both be put to death. I am already suspect because I supposedly returned from another city.”
13	The Second Mission A time travel mission (the second one) to Oct 400 BC for one year – until the death of Socrates in Oct 399 BC I wanted to show Greek society and culture I wanted to make the dialogs of Socrates available to everyone
14	The Second Mission Caliban wasn’t listening to her. His mind was still wrapped around the revelation of the truth of his situation. He spoke around a bite of the dry bread, “The mission depends on this money. Everything you have done today supports the mission. Just what exactly is this mission?” Her eyes got large and she smiled, “The mission is to validate the words of Socrates and to observe his death.” “This is the most critical question to answer in history?”
15	"“No,” she said..." “No,” she said with gravity, “this is the second most important question.” “I didn’t really mean to sound sarcastic. Why this question?”
16	"Only her lips were visible..." Only her lips were visible in the firelight, “Socrates is the beginning point for philosophy in Western civilization. We base the validity of science, literature, and philosophy on his methods and ideas. He was the first person we know in history who was martyred for his ideas. His death foretold and began the decline of the Greek city-state. If we understand the truth of Socrates’ ideas, we define Western civilization. If we validate Plato’s records of Socrates’ dialogues, we validate ancient Western literature.”
17	The Mission Why this question?
18	Historical and Literary Question Prior to the Age of Reason Historical-Legal method assumed to prove veracity of documents in antiquity Age of Reason (circa. 1600 to 1700) All knowledge could be gained by reason alone <or> All knowledge has to come through the senses Application of scientific method and reason to many fields where they had not before Philosophical and political movement in thought Rationalism and empiricism were rallying calls Assumed by many to simply be early enlightenment
19	Age of Enlightenment Roger Chartier - "This movement [from the intellectual to the cultural/social] implies casting doubt on two ideas: first, that practices can be deduced from the discourses that authorize or justify them; second, that it is possible to translate the terms of an explicit ideology the latent meaning of social mechanisms.” First: questioning of information passed down as authoritative Second: questioning if the information passed down should be used to govern social and cultural mores
20	Historical and Literary Question Prior to the Age of Enlightenment Historical-Legal method assumed to prove veracity of documents in antiquity Age of Enlightenment (circa. 1700 to 1800) Invention of the Novel Extended intentionally fictional narrative that appears to be truth Many in the East: The Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikibu (11^th century) Revolution in the West Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe (1719)
21	Age of Enlightenment Implicit assumption that everything passed down and that passed Historical-Legal tests was truth Question AoE wanted to answer What was fiction and what not fiction Novel brought this to the forefront Ascent of science – scientific method Ascent of of archeology – nascent science What was reason - logic
22	The Question The great question from antiquity is… Are ancient dialogs the actual words of the speakers or are they polite fictions used to propel a philosophical proof or narrative Answer has incredible historical ramifications If actual words—historical documents represent the actual vocabulary and thoughts from the past If polite fictions or something in between—literary documents with historical ramifications, but not historical truth Answer radically affects knowledge and view of history
23	Question Literally, the second most important question in history Answer affects our entire view of the past Therefore: The Second Mission
24	The Second Mission The postulate of the Novel Second mission in time is to determine if the Socratic dialogs recorded by Plato were the actual words of Socrates or fictions by Plato Main character Alan Fisher is accidentally drawn into the mission Allows me to show the reader Greek times and events from the viewpoint of a modern man
25	The Other Question Obvious question… What was the first mission? Answered in the book I’ll make you wait a while before I answer
26	"In the gray morning light" In the gray morning light, the room looked bleaker and less protective than it had in the close firelight of the night before. Caliban reached for a fresh piece of firewood and with it began to gently prod the coals. Behind him, he heard the curtain move, and Sophia abruptly cautioned him, “Be careful! Don’t put out the coals.” She crossed the short distance in a rush and went down on one knee before the hearth. In Greek, she spoke a singsong prayer and sprinkled ashes across the stones. She formed a symbol, the Greek letter “A”, on the hearth, then with a gentle sweep; she cleared the old ash onto a cloth.
27	"Sophia took the piece of..." Sophia took the piece of fresh wood from Caliban and gently pushed it into the pile of ash and coals she banked the night before. She gently blew on the wood and fanned a quick flame that she fed slowly and carefully, “You must learn to do this exactly as I have. The fire cannot go out.” “Why not? Can’t you just start it again yourself?” “To light a home’s hearth fire from anything except a fire lit from the temple flame would be a sacrilege.” “To them but not to us.”
28	"She pounced on his words" She pounced on his words, “You still don’t understand. We are ‘them.’ You must begin to think like they do, or you will have no hope of survival. You must begin to think like a person from this time and culture. Your actions must become as automatic as breathing. If you take shortcuts in one thing, those shortcuts will be evident in everything. You cannot gradually become. You cannot almost be. You must be a man of this time and culture. You must immerse yourself, and your mind must be dedicated to this goal alone. Both our lives depend on your success.” Caliban mumbled something unintelligible, then he said, “I’ll try.”
29	"“Very good,” Sophia..." “Very good,” Sophia replied. The fire already burned, a clean small blaze. “During the night, I thought about your new identity, and I’ve just about finalized my ideas.” Sophia turned to face him, “First of all, you will be a mute, but you are not quite deaf. You may feign that you can hear a bit but not a lot. You cannot speak. Your infirmity will be part lack of wits and part deafness. If you keep this in mind, you will be able to realize some gain from the appearance of stupidity combined with hearing loss. Because you are a slave, most Greeks will think your lack of speech, and perhaps your
30	"deafness," deafness, is a duplicity. This will protect you if you make a mistake. But, it is imperative that at all cost, you keep up your act; Greeks are intrigued with good acting and with some duplicity, but they never want to be reminded they have been fooled or lied to. You will be safe so long as they are not sure if your muteness is really an act. If you forget your character for one moment, that may be your last.” “I understand.” “Caliban, you come from the mountains to the north. As a youth, you were captured while fighting during the Peloponnesian War in the battle of Amphipolis. You have been a slave ever since.
31	"“In the fighting," “In the fighting, you were struck on the head and left for dead. From that moment, you have been unable to speak or hear well. Your original master was Dyisthenes of Piraievs. He sold you to me. You did not live in my son’s house.” “What if someone knows my old master Dyisthenes?” “That won’t matter. He died last year. He owned many slaves—most of them captured during war. This is all the past you need. If anyone is curious about your sudden appearance, I will say that you were waiting in Piraievs to bring my share of some trading profits. That will also help explain our retrieval today,” she said the last almost to herself.
32	The Second Mission Alan becomes a slave to Sophia He is to act mute Allows him latitude that freemen did not have She loans him to Socrates to act as his slave Allows direct interaction that Sophia could not have on her own She has special tools that allow the recording of everything that is happening Alan carries these recording devices That’s the story driver!
33	The Dialogs What this allows us is a human eye view of the five Socratic dialogs that took place in the last year of Socrates’ life: Euthyphro Cratylus Crito Phaedo The Apology of Socrates The Second Mission includes retranslations of these works
34	The Dialogs We will look at the dialogs a little In The Second Mission they are Placed in context in history Retranslated into modern English Turned into conversations Made as understandable as possible Terms and ideas placed into a more coherent context – they are explained within the text
35	The Greek Likewise, we see the Greeks as they lived in 400 BC Inside their homes Their entertainment Pastimes Symposia Cooking The Market The Lyceum The Agora We get to see into their minds and culture
36	Summary The great question from antiquity is… Are ancient dialogs the actual words of the speakers or are they polite fictions used to propel a philosophical proof or narrative Main character Alan Fisher is accidentally drawn into the second mission into time Through this we will see Greek times and events from the viewpoint of a modern man and the death and five dialogs of Socrates
37	Next Time 2. Ancient Greece in time and place – 400 BC