This volume has the uniqueness of: it aims to provide a comprehensive picture of the most famous philosopher of antiquity, perhaps even up to our time, the Athenian Socrates.

As is well known, some great mystics (religious leaders, philosophers, politicians) taught but left no written work; they were “authors of the spoken word.” And it fell upon those who were direct or indirect students of theirs the not easy task of presenting the teachings of the master, describing the particulars of his life, and interpreting in their own way what, in their opinion, was the authentic image of the common figure, differently interpreted by others.

To avoid mentioning more cases, let us limit ourselves to the established four gospels of the New Testament and the numerically more numerous apocryphal gospels.

In the case of Socrates, who certainly wrote nothing but taught for many years whenever an opportunity arose, there were many, as is evidenced by relevant testimonies, who self-proclaimed successors established after his death their “Socratic” schools, wrote about Socrates, and undoubtedly with some self-satisfaction claimed they were the spiritual heirs of the great philosopher.

Their works on Socrates have not survived. Thankfully for us, among the works of two prolific Athenians, Plato and Xenophon, some works (more by the former, fewer by the latter) have survived in which the words of Socrates take center stage.

[...](from the preface of the book)