ne day in 399BC in the Athenian Agora, shortly before his trial for impiety, Socrates meet Euthyphro, another citizen involved in a religious suit and their subsequent conversation, whether fact or fiction or a mixture of the two is vividly portrayed by Plato in his short dialogue Socrates being prosecuted for his supposed failure to acknowledge the gods is shown to have more concern for religious matters than his somewhat naive friend; at the same time, however, Socrates' probing about the logical inconsistencies in Euthyphro's views about piety and the gods reveal him as a radical critic of Athenian social and moral values.

The simplicity of the style of Plato's Greek belies the dramatic richness of texture and subtle humour of the characterisation which makes this dialogue such a rewarding read for students with only a few years of Greek. A full vocabulary and grammatical notes on the text are matched by detailed discussion of social religious and philosophical content.