### id253460403 Socrates and Pericles were not that impactful > Meanwhile the figures that have been idealised as perfect geniuses for thousands of years - figures like Perikles or Sokrates - are often only tenuously associated with concrete ideas. What good did it do anyone that Perikles was in charge of Athens for a few decades in the fifth century, when we struggle to identify a single reform he enacted? What good did it do anyone that Sokrates hung around Athenian public spaces asking questions, given that it is now impossible for us to tell whether he ever had any ideas of his own? At best, such figures were part of the environment that allowed others to develop their own ideas, but even the merit of those ideas can be questioned. Aristophanes' mockery of Sokrates and others like him as parasites and charlatans tells us a great deal about how much ordinary people cared or were affected by the supposedly great discoveries of Athenian philosophers. How many lives did these men actually affect while they were alive? - [View Highlight](https://reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/r2urd2/athens_a_small_city_of_250k_gave_rise_to_a?__readwiseLocation=0%2F5%2F0%2F4%2F3%2F1%2F0%2F0%2F0%2F1%2F0%2F0%2F0%2F5%2F1%2F0%2F1%2F0%2F0%2F0%2F5%2F1%2F0%2F3%3A0%2C0%2F5%2F0%2F4%2F3%2F1%2F0%2F0%2F0%2F1%2F0%2F0%2F0%2F5%2F1%2F0%2F1%2F0%2F0%2F0%2F5%2F1%2F0%2F3%3A969#:~:text=Meanwhile%20the%20figures%20that%20have%2Caffect%20while%20they%20were%20alive%3F) - [[how did the small city of Athens birth so much brilliance#id253460403 Socrates and Pericles were not that impactful|View in Vault]]