Greece - Censorship in Athens

 


"You have not converted a man because you have silenced him." John Morley

People of Greece

Socrates - Died instead of allowing government to censor his teachings. First to express concisely a philosophy of intellectual privilege.

Plato - First to give form to a philosophy for intellectual, religious and artistic censorship.

Anaxagoras - Punished for saying that the sun was a hot stone and the moon made of earth since it went against religion. Exiled to Ionia.

 

Conclusion

These examples of restraint and oppression in Athens were not typical of Greek democracy, for they usually had freedom to speak openly in private or in the assembly.