Prison - ASCSA.net Search

Southwest Area - Industry and Houses Leaving the area of the boundary stone, one can head southwest up a valley leading toward the Pnyx, meeting place of the Athenian assembly. Here are the complex remains ... The Poros Building at the top (north) has been tentatively identified as the State Prison. The other walls and wells represent private houses dating from the 5th century B.C. to the Byzantine period. ... It has been suggested that this might be the State Prison (desmoterion), where Sokrates and others convicted of political crimes were executed. ... The Poros Building, possibly the State Prison, seen from the north, 5th century B.C.

[Agora Webpage] Birth of Democracy: Sokrates

http://agathe.gr/democracy/sokrates.html

Sokrates The philosopher Sokrates was one of many Athenians critical of the people and their control over affairs of state. His probing public debates with fellow citizens led to his trial for impiety ... Sokrates' confinement and execution in the state prison of Athens are described in some detail by Plato, and his description corresponds in several respects to a large building lying southwest of the Agora square. ... This set of thirteen, found in the annex to the state prison, may have been used to hold the hemlock that was measured out in the exact dose necessary to cause death. ... This small statuette found in the state prison may have been a memento recalling the Lysippan bronze.