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11 Ge bi (Fb)
Ancient Greece
Thomas R. Martin, An Overview of Classical Greek History from Mycenae to
Alexander
9.3. IX. The Policies of Pericles
The idea that democracy was best served by involving a cross-section of the
male citizenry received further backing in the 450s B.C. from the measures
proposed to the assembly by a wealthy aristocrat named Pericles (c. 495429 B.C.), whose mother had been the niece of the famous democratic
reformer Cleisthenes. Pericles successfully proposed that state revenues1 be
used to pay a daily stipend to men who served on juries, in the Council of the
Five Hundred, and in other public offices filled by lot. The stipend was
modest, in fact less than a skilled worker could have made on a good day.
Without the stipend, however, poorer men would have found it virtually
impossible to leave their regular work to serve in these positions, which
required much of a man's time. By contrast, the board of ten annually
elected generals--the most influential public officials, who had broad
responsibilities for the city-state's military, civil, and financial affairs--were to
receive no stipends despite the heavy demands of their post. Mainly rich
men like Pericles won elections as generals because they were supposed to
have been able to afford the education and training required to handle this
top job and to have the personal wealth to serve without financial
compensation. They were compensated by the prestige conferred by election
to their office. Like Cleisthenes before him, Pericles was an aristocrat who
became the most influential leader in the Athens of his era by devising
innovations to strengthen the egalitarian tendencies of Athenian democracy.
Pericles and others of his economic status had inherited enough wealth to
spend their time in politics without worrying about money, but remuneration2
for poorer men serving in public offices was an essential foundation of
Athenian democracy, if it was truly going to be open to the majority of men,
who, along with their wives and children, had to work to support themselves
and their families. [The measure by which the archonship was opened to the
third and (practically) to the fourth class of citizens (the Zeugitae and Thetes)
may also be due to Pericles; the date is now known to be 457.]
9.3.1. The Citizenship Law of Pericles
In 451 B.C. Pericles introduced one of most striking proposals with his
sponsorship of a law stating that henceforth citizenship would be conferred
only on children whose mother and father both were Athenians. Previously,
the offspring of Athenian men who married non-Athenian women were
granted citizenship. […] Pericles' new law enhanced the status of Athenian
1
2
income
payment
11 Ge bi (Fb)
Ancient Greece
mothers and made Athenian citizenship a more exclusive category,
definitively setting Athenians off from all others. Not long thereafter, a review
of the citizenship rolls was conducted to expel any who had claimed
citizenship fraudulently3. Together these actions served to limit the number
of citizens and thus limit dilution4 of the advantages which citizenship in
Athens' radical democracy conveyed on those included in the citizenry.
Those advantages included, for men, the freedom to participate in politics
and juries, to influence decisions that directly affected their lives, to have
equal protection under the law, and to own land and houses in Athenian
territory. […] Citizens clearly saw themselves as the elite residents of Athens.
(from: http://old.perseus.tufts.edu/cgibin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0009&query=toc)
Your tasks:
Add the changes that took place under Pericles to your
diagram illustrating the Cleisthenic Constitution.
 What was the function of …
a. the introduction of the stipend, paid for state duties?
b. the introduction of new rules for Athenian citizenship?
 Did the changes under Pericles turn Athens into a more
democratic state?

3
4
i.e. you cheated
getting weaker / watery