Download Summary – Pericles

Background of Pericles
The Beginning
In the fifth century BCE Athens was conquered by the mighty
Persians. In 480 BCE the Acropolis at Athens was destroyed and
burned by the Persian army. Still the Greeks did not surrender.
Rather they were determined to regain their territory and their
supremacy. Shortly thereafter the famed Athenian general
Themistocles fully realized the importance of a strong citadel and
subsequently ordered the restoration of the walls of the city and of
the Acropolis. As a reminder of the vandalism caused by the
Persians, he had the ruins of the Acropolis—the marble fragments
and pieces of columns—set into the walls.
The decisive Greek defeat of the Persian Empire in 480/479 BCE
brought new confidence to the Greeks, and, over the next 50 years,
Athens developed into the leading Greek city-state. This time period
is often referred to as a “Golden Age,” and the person who played a
major role in its ascent was the statesman Pericles.
Pericles was born into an aristocratic Athenian family around 490
BCE. His father, Xanthippus, served as one of the 10 generals
during the final defeat of the Persians. His mother, Agariste, was
the niece of Cleisthenes, who is considered the father of modern
democracy.
Among Pericles’ teachers were the respected philosophers Zeno of
Elea and Anaxagoras. From them, Pericles learned to evaluate the
world based on critical thinking and scientific principles. This
approach was in contrast to established Greek beliefs that said the
gods influenced and directed every aspect of the world. Attributing
events such as floods and earthquakes to science was regarded as
heresy, an act against the gods.
His Career
After years of opposing the conservative statesman Cimon and his
supporters, Pericles became the leading politician in Athens in 461
BCE. Surviving accounts praise his dignified, calm manner and his
public speaking skills.
Pericles was determined to improve Athens—economically,
democratically, and culturally. To achieve this goal, he introduced
many reforms. Among them was a law that required all who served
the state to be paid from the public treasury. He instituted the
same policy for jurors, thereby reducing the economic burden on
the poor who found it difficult to lose even a day’s work. Yet, despite
all these changes, women, foreign-born residents, and slaves were
still excluded from serving in any official capacity.
Security was another concern, so Pericles ordered the construction
of long walls to provide a secure corridor between Athens and its
harbor, Piraeus, for travelers and traders.
With democracy blossoming, the economy prospering, and the
treasury overflowing with tribute, Athens seemed to be at the
pinnacle of success. Pericles promoted the arts and literature; this
was a chief reason Athens holds the reputation of being the
educational and cultural centre of the ancient Greek world. But
Pericles was not finished. He still had a project—the beautification
of Athens. Pericles invited fellow Athenian Phidias, the foremost
sculptor of the time, to design a new complex atop the Acropolis.
The Greeks believed that this fortified outcropping of rock in the
center of Athens was especially sacred to Athena, the patron of
Athens and the goddess of wisdom and war.
Together with the architects Ictinus and Callicrates, Phidias created
a vision of the Acropolis as a religious and cultural center.
Thematically and visually, the buildings, altar, and statues all
honored various aspects of the goddess Athena, promoting her
might and the might of the Athenian Empire. The massive
undertaking to redesign the Acropolis made the city a magnet for
artists from around the entire Mediterranean world. When they
returned home or traveled to other areas, they took with them what
they had seen and learned in Athens. As a result, Greek culture
was everywhere, and what followed was imitation and adaptation.
The Acropolis project beautified the city, exhibited its glory, and
gave work to the people. Moreover, Pericles fostered Athenian
democracy to such an extent that critics called him a populist. Even
after he came under criticism from the some of the wealthy leaders
of Greece, Pericles continued to promote his ideas. He first proposed
a decree that permitted the poor to watch theatrical plays without
paying, with the state covering the cost of their admission. With
another decree he bestowed generous wages on all citizens who
served as jurymen in the Heliaia (the supreme court of Athens)
some time just after 454 BCE. His most controversial measure,
however, was a law of 451 BCE limiting Athenian citizenship to
those of Athenian parentage on both sides.
Many historians believe that Pericles sought the expansion and
stabilization of all democratic institutions. Hence, he enacted
legislation granting the lower classes access to the political system
and the public offices, from which they had previously been barred
on account of limited means or humble birth. Pericles believed that
it was necessary to raise the demos (the poor), in which he saw an
untapped source of Athenian power and the crucial element of
Athenian military dominance. The fleet, backbone of Athenian
power since the days of Themistocles, was manned almost entirely
by members of the lower classes.
In War
For more than 20 years Pericles led numerous expeditions, mainly
naval ones. Being always cautious, he never undertook of his own
accord a battle involving much uncertainty and peril. He based his
military policy on Themistocles' principle that Athens'
predominance depends on its superior naval power and believed
that the Spartans were near-invincible on land. Pericles tried also to
minimize the advantages of Sparta by rebuilding the walls of
Athens. The strategy of rebuilding the walls radically altered the use
of force in Greek international relations.
During the Peloponnesian War, Pericles initiated a defensive "grand
strategy" whose aim was the exhaustion of the enemy and the
preservation of Athens. According to Greek historians, Athens as
the strongest party did not have to beat Sparta in military terms.
His strategy is said to have been "inherently unpopular", but
Pericles managed to persuade the Athenian public to follow it. It
was only after the death of Pericles that his countrymen engaged in
several aggressive actions that led to the defeat of Athens.
In 429 BCE, plague broke out in Piraeus, sweeping into Athens and
killing one-third of the population. A few months later, Pericles
died, most likely a victim of the epidemic as well. In death, even
more than in life, he became a revered figure. His vision of creating
a better world for Athens and its population influenced succeeding
generations, and, today, the legacy of the “Golden Age” of Athens
endures throughout the world. Pericles himself recognized this.
According to the contemporary historian Thucydides, Pericles was
said to have remarked: “Future ages will wonder at us, as the
present age wonders at us now.”
Legacy
Pericles' most visible legacy can be found in the literary and artistic
works of his Golden Age, most of which survive to this day. The
Acropolis, though in ruins, still stands and is a symbol of modern
Athens. The Greek historian, Paparrigopoulos, wrote that these
masterpieces are "sufficient to render the name of Greece immortal
in our world." The freedom of expression fostered by Pericles is
regarded as the lasting legacy deriving from this period. Pericles is
lauded as "the ideal type of the perfect statesman in ancient Greece.
And still there remains the figure of Pericles himself. There is no
question that the democratic reforms of the Age of Pericles owe their
existence to the energy of this political figure. He was a man of
immense persuasiveness and an orator of great power. Although he
was eventually exiled by the Athenians (he later returned), he
dominated the democratic government of Athens with his
formidable capacity to speak and to persuade. He had two central
policies: democratic reform and the maintenance of the empire.