„Was gegen alle Philosophierenden geläufig ist.“ Von der Apologie des Sokrates bis in die Spätantike

The aim of this paper is to identify a common ‘official’ pattern of accusation against philosophers from Classical times down to Late Antiquity. Based on this pattern, philosophers are found guilty of going against the moral and religious values that hold a city or empire together, and become the object of intolerance and violence even in free Athens, which actually turns out to be a city full of prejudices and commonplaces. Through the Apology of Socrates I will show how the Platonic interpretation of Socrates’ trial can shed light on some episodes of religious intolerance that took place in Alexandria and Athens in the 4th-5th centuries AD.