Download Pericles

Pericles
pp. 256- 257
Essential Question: What are the characteristics of a leader?
Ancient Athens
During the Persian War, Athens was burned.
• Herodotus, The Struggle for Greece. Translated by Kenneth Cavander. Fawcett Premier, 1962, page 115.
“They found an empty city. A few Athenians, beggars and stewards of the temple, had barricaded
themselves into the Acropolis behind wooden doors, but they could provide only feeble resistance. They
had been too poor to go to Salamis, and believed they had solved the puzzle of the Delphic oracle when it
talked about the ‘wooden walls’ never being taken. They thought a wooden barricade was meant, not
ships, and staked everything on their wooden doors. But the Persians occupied the hill opposite the
Acropolis and began a siege. Winding strips of tar round their arrows and setting them alight, they fired
into the stockade. Although this defense proved worthless the besieged Athenians refused to surrender;
their situation was desperate, but they refused to listen to the offer of the Persians to negotiate a truce….
[The Persians] plundered the temple, destroyed everything in sight and burnt the whole of the Acropolis.”
 Pericles is best known
for being a leader in
Athens during the
time period between
the Persian War and
the next war, the
Peloponnesian War.
 The Golden Age
 Athens was rebuilt
after the war ended,
and under the
leadership of Pericles.
 Athens experienced a
golden age – a time
period of wealth,
prosperity, cultural
achievement, and
democracy.
Pericles
All surviving statues and images of Pericles show him
wearing a helmet—his rightful symbol as an
Athenian general. The armor also covered up his one
known physical flaw—his ong and narrow head.
Contemporary poets nicknamed him
Schinocephalos, "sea onion-head," after a bulbed
plant found on the Mediterranean coast.
Biography: What are the characteristics of a leader?
 Took on the powerful council of leaders called the Areopagus
and stripped them of their power.
 Worked to reform (change) to direct democracy.
 Became a successful general called a “strategos,” of the Athenian
army.
 Introduced new laws
 Sponsored the playwright Aeschylus and his play The Persians.
 Started important building projects to establish Athens as a
leader of the Greek world




Built Parthenon – temple to Athena
Built the acropolis – represent glory
Rebuilt temples destroyed by Persians
Built Long Walls from Athens to the port city of Piraeus to protect the
city in case of siege
Biography
 Highlight as you read
What are the characteristics of a leader?
Classwork:
 Read pp. 256 – 257
 Complete front and back of Pericles Onesheet
 Onesheet due Monday
 Brainpop is due Thursday, March 3 – Test Day!