A Laurel for Socrates
A Quiet Tribute in the Heart of Athens
Yesterday, in the bustling center of Athens, something quietly extraordinary occurred. Someone crowned the statue of Socrates on Panepistimiou Street with a laurel wreath.
No name was left and no claim to credit.
The scene was witnessed and photographed by my friend, writer and columnist Dimitrios Pappas, who happened upon it during a walk through the city. It was, as he noted with amazement, an image one rarely — if ever — encounters in modern Greece: a philosopher honored with a wreath. Not a sports hero, not a politician, but a man who taught through questions.
And this tribute wasn’t random. Attached to the wreath was a small piece of paper bearing Socrates’ immortal phrase:
“ὁ δὲ ἀνεξέταστος βίος οὐ βιωτὸς ἀνθρώπῳ”
“The unexamined life is not worth living”
The timing was uncanny. The act coincided almost precisely with the historical date of Socrates’ execution by hemlock. And yet, on that very day, in the midst of noise, haste, and forgetfulness, someone remembered.
In a country where (unfortunately) philosophy is too often buried beneath bureaucracy, and where statues of philosophers are almost nonexistent, this moment felt like a quiet miracle.
And that is perhaps the most hopeful sign of all — that someone, somewhere, still believes in the dignity of thought, and in the need to honor it, even in the most humble of ways.
Let us hope this was not a one-time gesture. After all, just a few steps away stands the statue of another giant of thought — Plato — waiting, perhaps, for his own wreath.
