I'm still musing on Socrates' steadfast principle not to do harm or evil to anyone purposely. For that time a new point of vieuw, where one was supposed to repay evil with evil.
Actually it wasn't
entirely a new point of view in the ancient world, though it may have been new in the Greek city states. Although the idea of doing evil for evil was very prevalent among polytheistic societies, perhaps because that's the example set by their gods, it was not the prevailing Semitic/Jewish idea, at least in their religious literature, though no doubt it was true at a popular level. The Old Testament book of Proverbs, written between 1000BC and about 450-500BC, certainly before Socrates, anyway, says "If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat; if he is thirsty, give him water to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head, and the LORD will reward you." (Prov 25:21-22) That sentiment goes even further than Socrates, not just saying don't do evil to anyone, but do good to everyone, even your enemy. There are also examples of people in the Old Testament who are commended for loving their enemies and sparing their lives, etc. However, since the Law of Moses provided things like cities of haven for those who were fleeing from avenging relatives of someone killed accidentally, it's obvious that the average Israelite was just as likely as the average Greek to want to get even and repay evil with evil.
It wouldn't surprise me if there were also similar expressions to that of Socrates in Eastern religious writings also, but I'm no expert on that.
