OK, we have understood that Athenians thought of Socrates as an atheist and unbeliever and they could not let him live in a time of political stress. But then why they arrested and condemned to death that poor fellow Asklepios? It happened that Socrates's last words were overheard by one of the jailers and it was that he had a debt of sacrifice to Asklepios, the god of poisons and medicine. The Athenian mob hated Socrates so blindly that next day they arrested an innocent family-man called Asklepios, who had no idea why Socrates had mentioned his name, and killed him. Athenians in real life must have been a raging mob of religious fanatics, not enlighted philosophers as we imagine.
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