Pericles (c. 495 BC – 429 BC)
Quick Summary
Pericles (c. 495 BC – 429 BC) was a strategos and major figure in history. Born in Athens, Attica, Ancient Greece, Pericles left a lasting impact through Turned the Delian League into an Athenian empire.
Birth
496 BC Athens, Attica, Ancient Greece
Death
430 BC Athens, Attica, Ancient Greece
Nationality
Athenian
Occupations
Complete Biography
Origins And Childhood
Pericles was born in the deme of Cholargos to Xanthippus, the general who fought at Mycale, and Agariste, a member of the Alcmaeonid clan. Ancient authors emphasize his rigorous education: music with Damon, natural philosophy with Zeno of Elea and later Anaxagoras, who offered a rational interpretation of cosmic phenomena. Observing statesmen such as Themistocles and Cimon, the young Pericles cultivated a measured, almost austere demeanor that earned him the sobriquet 'the Olympian.' His aristocratic background did not prevent him from embracing the democratic reforms inaugurated by Cleisthenes. The presence of Aspasia of Miletus in his intellectual circle from the 450s illustrates his openness to Ionian culture, blending poetry, philosophy, and rhetoric. This multifaceted formation prepared a leader capable of balancing tradition and innovation. Family experience shaped his political outlook. Xanthippus had been ostracized for opposing pro-Spartan aristocrats, then recalled in 480 to command the fleet against Persia. Exile and return convinced Pericles that broad civic participation was essential to prevent factional dominance. Modern historians argue that this trajectory transformed him into an aristocrat committed to democratic principles while maintaining a demanding conception of leadership.
Historical Context
In the early fifth century BC, Athens emerged victorious from the Persian Wars yet still faced the Persian threat and Spartan rivalry. The Delian League, founded in 478 under Athenian leadership, secured Aegean sea routes through tributes collected from allied cities. The alliance gradually tilted toward Athenian hegemony, with defections suppressed at Naxos and Thasos. The political system rested on the Assembly, the Council of Five Hundred, and popular courts. Ephialtes' reforms, followed by his assassination in 461, shifted judicial authority from the Areopagus to juries chosen by lot, enhancing the power of elected strategoi. Within this framework, Pericles became the chief orchestrator of civic life. His era also witnessed social tensions, economic transformation tied to maritime empire, and a public eager for dramatic competitions, explaining his investment in festivals and the patronage of artists. Modern scholars note that Pericles' age coincided with the rise of rational political thought, the flowering of Athenian tragedy (Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides), and the influence of the sophists. Athens served as a civic laboratory where isegoria and isonomia were proclaimed yet not fully extended to metics and women. Pericles navigated between these ideals and imperial constraints, trying to reconcile broad participation with coherent direction.
Public Ministry
Pericles' public career truly began after the fall of his aristocratic rival Cimon and the assassination of Ephialtes. Elected strategos almost continuously from 443 to 429, he guided the Assembly toward policies favoring modest citizens: pay for jurors (misthos), stipends for attending religious festivals, and allotments of confiscated land to colonists in rebellious territories. Funded by Delian League tributes, these measures aimed to stabilize direct democracy by enabling poorer citizens to participate. He reinforced civic infrastructure by building the Long Walls linking Athens to Piraeus, maintaining a powerful trireme fleet, and establishing cleruchies on strategic islands. Diplomatically, he negotiated the Thirty Years' Peace with Sparta (446/445), ensuring a fragile respite between the leading Greek powers. Thucydides attests to his ability to guide the Assembly without being swayed by its passions. His measured rhetoric and personal authority allowed him to impose long-term strategies even when challenged by emerging demagogues such as Cleon.
Teachings And Message
Pericles' speeches, especially the funeral oration recorded by Thucydides, outline a civic program. He extolled Athenian democracy as a model combining political freedom with collective responsibility. His praise of civic virtues—courage, moderation, respect for law—was coupled with an invitation to enjoy cultural benefits without succumbing to idleness. Pericles argued that Athens' greatness rested on the voluntary engagement of its citizens, generosity toward loyal allies, and willingness to fund art and religion on a grand scale. He also stressed the importance of memory: honoring the dead to inspire the living. Through festivals, dramatic contests, and public ceremonies, he fostered a shared identity. Though not a philosopher, Pericles absorbed Anaxagoras' rationalism, which downplayed omens and offended conservative audiences. He promoted civic education, urging citizens to learn through political practice rather than inherited privilege. This orientation shaped the Athenian democratic ideal, even as comic playwrights caricatured him as a populist exploiting federal revenues.
Activity In Galilee
In Pericles' case, activity centered on Attica and the maritime empire. His major accomplishments unfolded in Athens, Piraeus, the Acropolis, and the Aegean islands. He oversaw the building of the Parthenon (447–432), the Propylaea, the Temple of Athena Nike, and Phidias' chryselephantine statue of Athena Parthenos. He promoted cleruchies in Euboea, Samos after the 440–439 revolt, and the Thracian Chersonese, securing grain routes from the Black Sea. Militarily, he led naval expeditions against recalcitrant allies while avoiding pitched land battles with Sparta. His activity extended to cultural hegemony: subsidizing tragedians, expanding the Theatre of Dionysus, and welcoming figures such as Phidias, Sophocles, Herodotus, and Hippodamus of Miletus. His partnership with Aspasia reinforced Athens' reputation as a cosmopolitan center, despite the 451 citizenship law limiting political rights to children of two Athenian parents.
Journey To Jerusalem
The parallel episode for Pericles is his confrontation with Sparta and its allies, culminating in the outbreak of the Peloponnesian War in 431. Despite the Thirty Years' Peace, tensions with Corinth, Megara, and Potidaea escalated. Pericles backed the Megarian Decree, an economic embargo that angered Sparta. When war became unavoidable, he advised retreating behind the Long Walls, relying on naval superiority and avoiding land battles. The policy angered Attic farmers forced to abandon their fields for an overcrowded city. The plague of 430–429, likely typhus or typhoid fever, devastated the dense population and weakened Pericles' authority. Temporarily deposed and fined, he was soon recalled for his strategic expertise. His final speeches, reported by Plutarch, depict a leader convinced he had chosen the least perilous path. His death in 429 left Athens divided and opened the door to more impulsive leaders, exacerbating later military setbacks.
Sources And Attestations
Primary evidence comes from Thucydides' History of the Peloponnesian War and Plutarch's Life of Pericles. Aristophanes' comedies supply satirical commentary, while Diodorus Siculus and inscriptions (decrees, building accounts) broaden the record. Modern historians such as Donald Kagan, Vincent Azoulay, and Loren Samons combine literary testimony with archaeological data from the Acropolis projects. Studies of Phidias' statue, Pentelic marble quarries, and surviving financial accounts highlight the administrative sophistication of Periclean Athens. Inscriptions documenting cleruchies and alliances trace the empire's structure. Papyri and lexica help reconstruct decrees attributed to Pericles, including the 451/450 citizenship law.
Historical Interpretations
Since the nineteenth century, interpretations have swung between celebrating Pericles as an enlightened democrat and denouncing him as a proto-imperialist. George Grote hailed him as the champion of reasoned democracy, whereas critics like Eduard Meyer emphasized tensions between egalitarian rhetoric and domination of allies. Recent scholarship stresses the plurality of his motives: securing an empire to finance democracy, forging durable civic culture, and defending Athenian interests against external threats. Vincent Azoulay argues that Pericles used civic festival culture to absorb social tensions, turning citizens into active spectators of Athenian grandeur. Loren Samons highlights his strategic pragmatism, sometimes faulted for neglecting land campaigns. Contemporary debates also examine Aspasia's role, occasionally idealized as the inspiration for his foreign policy. Pericles thus remains both exemplary and paradoxical, embodying the ambiguities of democratic empire.
Legacy
Pericles' legacy endures in the later reputation of Athenian democracy, the architecture of the Acropolis, and the civic ideal transmitted across centuries. His funeral oration, preserved in political anthologies, inspires modern speeches on freedom and sacrifice. The Parthenon continues to symbolize classical civilization. Financial and legal institutions developed under his guidance informed modern political thinkers from Montesquieu to Jefferson. In contemporary education, Pericles exemplifies a city's capacity to mobilize resources for cultural ambition. Debates on imperialism and democracy use his career to probe the limits of majority power. His figure pervades ancient history courses, analyses of military strategy, and studies of political communication.
Achievements and Legacy
Major Achievements
- Turned the Delian League into an Athenian empire
- Oversaw the Acropolis building program including the Parthenon
- Instituted jury pay and broadened civic participation
- Implemented the Long Walls strategy and maintained naval supremacy
Historical Legacy
Pericles embodies Athens' Golden Age, fusing democratic practice, maritime power, and cultural magnificence into a legacy that shaped Western political and artistic ideals.
Detailed Timeline
Major Events
Birth
Born in the deme of Cholargos near Athens
Political rise
After Ephialtes' assassination, emerges as leader of the democratic faction
Transfer of the Delian treasury
Moves the league treasury to Athens and launches civic stipends
Acropolis program
Begins construction of the Parthenon under Phidias and Ictinus
Peloponnesian War
Delivers the funeral oration and implements the defensive naval strategy
Death
Dies in Athens during the plague
Geographic Timeline
Famous Quotes
"The whole earth is the tomb of famous men."
"We are lovers of the beautiful, yet simple in our tastes."
"Freedom is the sure possession of those alone who have the courage to defend it."
External Links
Frequently Asked Questions
When did Pericles live?
He was born around 495 BC and died in 429 BC during the second year of the Peloponnesian War.
What offices did Pericles hold in Athens?
He served as strategos almost continuously for over fifteen years, directing the city's domestic, foreign, and cultural policies.
Which building projects are linked to Pericles?
He sponsored the rebuilding of the Acropolis, including the Parthenon, the Propylaea, and the Temple of Athena Nike, as well as theaters and stoas.
How were Pericles' public works financed?
Tribute from the Delian League, transferred to Athens, along with taxes on maritime trade, funded the construction programs and civic stipends.
Why is Pericles controversial?
Ancient admirers praised his eloquence, while critics denounced Athenian domination over allies and the concentration of wealth in the metropolis.
Sources and Bibliography
Primary Sources
- Thucydide — Histoire de la guerre du Péloponnèse
- Plutarque — Vie de Périclès
- Inscriptions athéniennes — Comptes de l'Acropole (IG I³ 436-451)
Secondary Sources
- Donald Kagan — The Peloponnesian War ISBN: 9780142004371
- Vincent Azoulay — Périclès : La démocratie athénienne à l'épreuve ISBN: 9782081278589
- Loren J. Samons — What's Wrong with Democracy? From Athenian Practice to American Worship ISBN: 9780521525246
- Sarah B. Pomeroy et al. — Ancient Greece: A Political, Social, and Cultural History ISBN: 9780199846047
External References
See Also
Specialized Sites
Batailles de France
Discover battles related to this figure
Dynasties Legacy
Coming soonExplore royal and noble lineages
Timeline France
Coming soonVisualize events on the chronological timeline