Socrates the Martyr?

Socrates was a man who possessed an unquestionable conviction to stay strong in what he believed.  It’s almost as if he had an innate sense of duty to dissect the minds of others in order to persuade them to follow his thinking and challenge their own.  Now, before reading The Apology and The Crito, I could imagine nothing less than Socrates sacrificing his life ultimately for his fervent preaching of his beliefs and ideas.  Now, these thoughts in conjunction seem to be the necessary preconditions required of a martyr, but what exactly is a martyr?  This is a very debatable and absorbing question when examining the actions of Socrates.

            Some definitions would identify a martyr as someone who embellishes their suffering to gain sympathy, but I struggle with defining the word martyr so simply as I believe it to be a multifaceted term.  I see Socrates as a very real illustration of this in the way he challenges such a simple definition.  With the definition of a martyr being one to extract sympathy from exaggerating pain comes the preconceived notion that a martyr possesses selfish motives that dictate his or her sacrificial actions.  When I look at the actions and ways of Socrates, I don’t see someone who is driven by such selfish intentions and motives.  I see Socrates as representing the facet of martyrdom that would sacrifice everything to spread their beliefs and ideas.  Although, I’m obviously not going to claim to know the concrete motives of Socrates’ actions, but I cannot see him as someone suffering pain to pursue his own personal glory.  However, I still would give Socrates the title of a martyr for other reasons.  He definitely was a man willing to die for his beliefs and philosophical ideas, but I would argue that the difference lies in his purpose of doing so.  When reading The Euthyphro, it leads me to believe that Socrates will not plead guilty and submit to the state purely for the reason of publicizing his ideas and convincing others to believe his trial represented injustice.  I am reluctant to believe he was willing to suffer through the trial process simply for the purpose of self-gratification and sympathy.  So, this brings me back to my original point, how would you define a martyr?  I believe that while there are martyrs that die for their beliefs or suffer for other reasons in order to fulfill their insecure desire for sympathy, there are also martyrs that suffer for the development and advancement of their beliefs.  I see Socrates as a suitable illustration of the latter.  Whether or not this is a correct supposition or not, I think Socrates can genuinely challenge our thinking in how we view a martyr and how their motives can greatly alter our view of the definition.  Martyrs can be defined in several different ways giving everyone different interpretations, but in the case of Socrates especially, I feel it’s very important to recognize the goals behind the sacrifice.