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Paragraph 1; Socrates’ last words have to do with a religious offering to Aesclepius, the god of healing (Plato 198). Socrates was not just another man for Plato. What was he?
It is possible that Socrates never lived in reality and he was just the character of Plato. However, he was so important for the latest that nowadays people think about him as about a real person. Socrates was the teacher for Plato. The dialogues of Socrates by Plato are the corner stone in the Western philosophical tradition. Thus, the dialogue Phaedo includes the discussion of the concept of life and death and the immortality of soul. It is known that Plato often contradicted Socrates in his ideas, but Socrates created the starting points for many philosophic and theological discussions that are topical even for now.
The ideas of Socrates were closely connected with the philosophy and religion of ancient Greece. The last words of Socrates were about the religious offering to Aesclepius, the god of healing (Plato 198). The ritual scarifications played the important role on the life on ancient Greece, and were closely related to all aspects of life and death in the ancient Greece. In one sense Socrates was sacrificed too.

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Paragraph 2; Socrates was executed by the state for impiety and corrupting the youth. Jesus was executed for sedition, but with religious involvement also. Compare the death of Socrates and the death of Jesus. Is there a link between the state itself and homicide? Religion and killing? (Recall ancient sacrifices of animals and people).

The humanistic philosophy in the times of Socrates claimed that human sacrifice was the barbaric practice. However, the stories about human sacrifices can be found in the Greek myths. Actually, all cultures practiced human sacrifices at the certain stage of development. The ritual of sacrifice always includes the element of religion. Thus, it is the perfect evidence of the close relation between the state (in the meaning of the power) and the religion. The power allows killing and the religion claim it is for common good. This is the common place in the deaths of Socrates and Jesus: both were killed by existing power for their crimes against the Gods. Both of them disputed the official religious doctrine and were killed for that.

Plato. The Last Days of Socrates. trans.Hugh Tredennick, and Harrold Tarrant. Penguin books, London, 1969.