Pericles
Pericles or
Perikles (ca.
495 BC-
429 BC,
Greek: , meaning "surrounded by glory") was a prominent and influential statesman, orator and general of
Athens during the city's Golden Age (specifically, between the
Persian and
Peloponnesian wars). He was a descendant of the renowned
Alcmaeonidae family.
Pericles had such a profound influence on Athenian society that
Thucydides, his contemporary historian, acclaimed him as "the first citizen of Athens". Pericles turned the
Delian League into an Athenian empire and led his countrymen during the first two years of the Peloponnesian War. As a result of his efficient governance of Athens, the period from
461 BC to
429 BC is sometimes known as "
The Age of Pericles" (Though this terminology can extend to as late as
379 BC).
Pericles promoted arts and literature and his work contributed to Athens achieving its reputation as the educational and cultural centre of the
ancient Greek world. Eager to reinforce Athenian intellectual prowess, he prompted an ambitious building project that included most of the surviving structures on the
Acropolis (including the
Parthenon). Furthermore, Pericles fostered the blossoming of the
Athenian democracy, to such an extent that critics label him as a
populist.
[ S. Muhlberger, Periclean Athens and S. Ruden, Lysistrata, 80]Pericles was born in
495 BC in the
deme of
Cholargos just north of
Athens. He was the son of the politician
Xanthippus, under whose leadership Athens had won at the
Battle of Mycale in
479 BC, though he had been
ostracized only five years before. Pericles' mother,
Agariste, was the offspring of the noble though controversial family of the Alcmaeonidae. It was this dynastic marriage that boosted Xanthippus' political career. Agariste was the great-granddaughter of the tyrant of
Sicyon Cleisthenes and the niece of the Athenian reformer
Cleisthenes, also belonging to the Alcmaeonidae family.
According to
Herodotus[Herodotus, VI, 131] and
Plutarch,
[Plutarch, Pericles, III] a few days before Pericles' birth, Agariste dreamed she bore a lion, an ambivalent symbolism, alluding to the unusual size of Pericles' skull. In fact, the asymmetric dimensions of his head led the comedians of his era to taunt and ridicule him.
| "Our polity does not copy the laws of neighboring states; we are rather a pattern to others than imitators ourselves. It is called a democracy, because not the few but the many govern. If we look to the laws, they afford equal justice to all in their private differences; if to social standing, advancement in public life falls to reputation for capacity, class considerations not being allowed to interfere with merit; nor again does poverty bar the way, if a man is able to serve the state, he is not hindered by the obscurity of his condition." | | Pericles (''Funeral Oration, Thucydides, II, 37) |
Pericles belonged to the local
tribe of Acamantis () and his early years were quiet. Partly because of his intrinsic introversion, he avoided public appearances, preferring his studies instead.
His family's nobility and wealth allowed him to follow his natural inclination toward education. He learned music from the masters (
Damon[Plutarch, Pericles, IV] or Pythocleides
[Plato, Alciviades I, 118c]) and he is considered to be the first politician to attribute great importance to
philosophy.
He enjoyed the society of
Protagoras,
[M. Mendelson, Many Sides, 1] Zeno of Elea and
Anaxagoras, who became a close friend and influence on him.
Pericles' thinking and rhetorical charisma are due partly to the
philosopher's teaching of emotional calm in the face of trouble as well as scepticism about divine phenomena.
His proverbial calmness and self-control are also regarded as resulting from the Anaxagoras' influence.
[Plutarch, Pericles, VI and Plato, Phaedrus, 270a]Entering politics
If Plutarch's assertion that his political career lasted more than 40 years is true,
[Plutarch, Pericles XVI] Pericles must have entered politics about
469 BC. During all these years he endeavored to protect his privacy and to stand as a model for his compatriots. For example, he would often avoid banquets, trying to be frugal.
[Plutarch, Pericles, VII, but also Plutarch, Pericles, IX]In
463 BC Pericles was the leading prosecutor against
Cimon.
[ Aristotle, Constitution of Athens, 27.1] The head of the conservative party was accused of neglecting Athens' vital interests in
Macedonia. Although Cimon was acquitted, this confrontation proved that Pericles' major political opponent was vulnerable.
[Plutarch, Cimon, XV]Ostracizing Cimon
|
A modern statue of Pericles in modern Cholargos (Pericles' avenue). The name of the suburb dates to ancient Athens, but the ancient deme of Cholargos, which belonged to the tribe of Acamantis, was near modern Kamatero (or Peristeri). |
Around
462 BC-
461 BC the leadership of the democratic party considered it was time to take aim at
Areios Pagos, which was controlled by the Athenian aristocracy.
[Fornara-Samons, Athens from Cleisthenes to Pericles, 24-25] The leader of the party and mentor of Pericles,
Ephialtes, proposed the shrinking of Areios Pagos' powers.
Ecclesia adopted Ephialtes' proposal without strong opposition.
[Plutarch, Pericles, IX] This reform signalled the commencement of a new era of "radical democracy".
The democratic party gradually became dominant in Athenian politics and Pericles seemed willing to follow a populist policy in order to cajole the public. His stance can be explained by the fact that his main political opponent, Cimon, was rich and generous, having no problem donating large chunks of his fortune. In 461 BC, Pericles achieved the political elimination of this formidable opponent, using the weapon of
ostracism. The ostensible accusation was that Cimon betrayed his city, acting as a friend of
Sparta,
[Plutarch, Cimon, XVI] an accusation usually attached to the members of the conservative party.
Even after Cimon's ostracism, Pericles continued to espouse and promote a populist social policy.
He first proposed a decree, according to which the poor could watch theatrical plays without paying, as the state would reimburse the equivalent price. By other decrees he lowered the property requirement for the
archonship (
458 BC-
457 BC) and bestowed generous wages to all the citizens who were participating in the court of
Heliaia, a reform implemented just after
454 BC.
[Fornara-Samons, Athens from Cleisthenes to Pericles, 67-73] His most controversial measure, however, was a law of
451 BC confining Athenian citizenship to those of Athenian parentage on both sides.
[ R. Martin, An Overview of Classical Greek History]| "Rather, the admiration of the present and succeeding ages will be ours, since we have not left our power without witness, but have shown it by mighty proofs; and far from needing a Homer for our panegyrist, or other of his craft whose verses might charm for the moment only for the impression which they gave to melt at the touch of fact, we have forced every sea and land to be the highway of our daring, and everywhere, whether for evil or for good, have left imperishable monuments behind us." | | Pericles (''Funeral Oration, Thucydides, II, 41) |
No firsthand sources say why he decided to restrict citizenship,
but such measures impelled Pericles' critics to regard him as responsible for the gradual degeneration of the Athenian democracy.
K. Paparrigopoulos, a major modern Greek historian and one of Pericles' critics, thought that Pericles sought for the expansion and stabilization of all democratic institutions.
[K. Paparrigopoulos, History of the Greek Nation, Ab, 145] Hence, he enacted a legislation enforcing the accession of the lower taxes to the political system and to the public offices. Therefore, Pericles strove to motivate all these social classes, which were previously prohibited by the
status quo ante from being more active and from occupying public offices.
[Aristotle, Constitution of Athens, 24 and Politics, 1274a]On the other hand, Cimon's firm conviction was that no further free space for democratic evolution existed. He was definite that democracy had reached its peak and Pericles' reforms were leading to the stalemate of populism. According to Paparrigopoulos, history vindicated Cimon, since Athens, after Pericles' death, sunk in the abyss of political turmoil and demagogy. Paparrigopoulos maintains that an unprecedented regression descended upon the city, whose glory perished due to the anterior populist policies of Pericles.
According to another historian, J.D. King, radical democracy benefited people individually, but harmed the state.
[J.D. King, Athenian Democracy and Empire, 24-25]Leading Athens
Ephialtes' murder in 461 BC paved the way for Pericles to consolidate his authority. Lacking any robust opposition after the expulsion of his most menacing opponent, the unchallengeable leader of the democratic party became the unchallengeable ruler of Athens. He remained in power almost uninterruptedly until his death in 429 BC.
First Peloponnesian War
Pericles made his first military excursions during the First Peloponnesian War, which was caused in part by Athens' alliance with
Megara and
Argos and the subsequent reaction of Sparta. In
454 BC he attacked
Sicyon and
Acarnania.
[Thucydides, I, 111] He then unsuccessfully tried to take Oeniadea on the Corinthian gulf, before returning to Athens. In 451 BC, Cimon is said to have returned from exile and negotiated a five years' truce with Sparta after a proposal of Pericles, an event indicating a shift in his initial political philosophy. Pericles may have realized the importance of Cimon's contribution during the ongoing conflicts against the Peloponnesians and the
Persians. Plutarch underlines that Cimon struck a power-sharing deal with his opponents, according to which Pericles would carry through the interior affairs and Cimon would be the leader of the Athenian army, campaigning abroad.
[Plutarch, Pericles, X] If true, this deal constitutes a concession of Pericles that he was not a great strategist. Cimon defeated the Persians in the
Battle of Salamis, but died of disease in
449 BC.
In the spring of 449 BC, Pericles proposed the Congress Decree, which led to a meeting ("Congress") of all Greek states in order to consider the question of rebuilding the temples destroyed by the Persians. The Congress failed because of Sparta's stance,
[Plutarch, Pericles, XVII] but Pericles' real intentions remain unclear. Some historians think that he wanted to prompt some kind of confederation with the participation of all the Greek cities, others think he wanted to assert Athenian pre-eminence.
[Wade-Grey, The Question of Tribute in 449/8 B. C., 212-229] According to the historian T. Buckley the objective of the Congress Decree was a new mandate for the
Delian League and for the collection of "phoros" (taxes).
[T. Buckley, Aspects of Greek History 750-323 BC, 206]| "Remember, too, that if your country has the greatest name in all the world, it is because she never bent before disaster; because she has expended more life and effort in war than any other city, and has won for herself a power greater than any hitherto known, the memory of which will descend to the latest posterity." | | Pericles (''Third Oration, Thucydides, II, 64) |
During the
Second Sacred War Pericles led the Athenian army against
Delphi and reinstated
Phocis in its sovereign rights on the
oracle.
[Thucydides, I, 112 and Plutarch, Pericles, XXI] In
447 BC Pericles engaged in his most admired excursion,
the expulsion of barbarians from the Thracian peninsula of
Gallipoli,
[Plutarch, Pericles, XIX] in order to establish the Athenian population in new land. The major problems for Athens at that time were, however, the revolts of its allies (or of its subjects, to be more accurate). In
447 BC the oligarchs of
Thebes conspired against the democratic faction. The Athenians demanded their immediate surrender, but, after the
Battle of Coronea, Pericles introduced a more moderate stance.
In
446 BC, a more dangerous arousal erupted.
Euboea and
Megara revolted and Pericles crossed over to Euboea with his troops. He was forced however to return when the army of Sparta invaded
Attica. Through briberies and negotiations, Pericles repulsed the imminent threat.
[Thucydides, II, 21 and Aristophanes, The Acharnians, 832] When Pericles was later audited for the handling of public money, an expenditure of 10
talents was not sufficiently justified, since the official documents just referred that the money was spent for a "very serious purpose". Nonetheless, the "serious purpose" (namely the bribery) was so obvious to the auditors that they approved the expenditure without official meddling and without even investigating the mystery.
[Plutarch, Pericles, XXIII] Just after the deliverance of Athens from Sparta's threat, Pericles crossed back to Euboea cracking down any opposition. He then inflicted a stringent punishment on the landowners of
Chalcis, who lost their properties. The residents of
Istiaia, who had butchered the crew of an Athenian
trireme, were chastised more harshly, since they were uprooted and replaced by 2,000 Athenian settlers.
The arrangement between Sparta and Athens was ratified by the Thirty Years' Peace (winter of
446 BCâ€"
445 BC).
Final battle with the conservatives
In
444 BC, the conservative and the democratic faction confronted each other in a fierce strife. The new ambitious leader of the conservatives, who had the same name as the historian -
Thucydides, accused Pericles of profligacy, criticizing the way his political opponent spent the money for the ongoing building plan. Thucydides managed, initially, to incite the passions in
ecclesia in his favor, but, when the leader of the democrats took the floor, he put the conservatives in the shade. Pericles responded resolutely, proposing to reimburse the city for all the expenses from his private property, under the term that he would make the inscriptions of dedication in his own name.
[Plutarch, Pericles, XIV] His stance was greeted with applause and Thucydides suffered an unexpected defeat. In
442 BC, the Athenian public ostracized Thucydides for 10 years and Pericles remained once again the unchallenged
suzerain of the Athenian political arena.
Athens' rule over its alliance
Pericles wanted to stabilize Athens' dominance over its alliance and to enforce its pre-eminence in Greece. Through various measures, he turned the Delian League into an Athenian empire. In 454 BC, the treasury of the alliance was transferred from
Delos to Athens and around 447 BC Clearcus proposed the Coinage Decree, which imposed Athenian silver coinage, weights and measures on all of the allies.
According to one of the decree's most stringent provisions, surplus from a minting operation was to go into a special fund, and one proposing to do otherwise was subject to the death penalty.
[ S. Hornblower, The Greek World 479-323 BC, 120]It was from the alliance's treasury that Pericles drew the necessary funds, in order to materialize his ambitious building plan centered on the "Periclean Acropolis"; a plan that included the
Propylaea, the Parthenon and the golden statue of Athena, sculpted by Pericles' friend,
Phidias.
[J. M. Hurwit, The Acropolis in the Age of Pericles, 87 etc.] In 449 BC Pericles proposed a decree, allowing the use of 9,000 talents to finance the massive rebuilding program of Athenian temples.
Decrees like the ones mentioned reveal Athens' will to exert a more solid leadership over its allies. A. Vlachos, a Greek
Academician, points out that the utilization of the alliance's treasury, initiated and executed by Pericles, is one of the worst defalcations throughout human history; a defalcation that financed, however, some of the most marvellous artistic creations.
[A. Vlachos, Thucydides' Bias, 62-63]Samian War
The Samian War was the last historically significant military event before the Peloponnesian War. After Thucydides' ostracism, Pericles was being continuously re-elected to the generalship, the only office he ever officially occupied, although he constituted the absolute ruler of Athens. In
440 BC Samos was at war with
Miletus and the Athenians were asked to play the role of mediator. Nonetheless, the Samians did not display the adequate level of obedience and Pericles passed a decree for his expedition to Samos, "alleging against its people that, though they were ordered to break off their war against the Milesians, they were not complying". In a naval battle the Athenians led by Pericles and the other 9 generals defeated the forces of Samos and imposed on the island an administration pleasing to them.
[Plutarch, Pericles, XXV] When the Samians revolted against the Athenian rule, Pericles compelled the rebels to capitulate after a tough siege of 8 months, which resulted in huge discontent among the Athenian sailors.
[Plutarch, Pericles, XXVIII] Pericles also subdued
Byzantium and, when he returned to Athens, he delivered the funeral oration for the soldiers who died in the expedition.
Pericles led Athens' fleet against Byzantium once more in
438 BC in a demonstration of the city's imperial pre-eminence.
He then focused mostly on internal projects: the fortification of Athens (the building of the "middle wall" about 440 BC) and the creation of new
cleruchies, such as
Andros,
Naxos and
Thurii (
444 BC) as well as
Amphipolis.
[Plutarch, Pericles, XI and Plato, Gorgias, 455e]Personal attacks
|
Aspasia of Miletus (c.469 BCâ€"c.406 BC), Pericles' companion. |
Pericles and his friends were never immune from attack, because in ancient Athens predominance was not equivalent to absolute rule.
[Fornara-Samons, Athens from Cleisthenes to Pericles, 31] Nonetheless, just before the eruption of the war, Pericles and two of his closest associates, Phidias and the
hetaira Aspasia, confronted a series of orchestrated persecutions. Phidias was first accused of embezzling gold intended for the statue of
Athena and then of impiety, because, when he wrought the battle of the
Amazons on the shield of Athena, he carved out a figure that suggested himself as a bald old man lifting on high a stone with both hands, and also inserted a very fine likeness of Pericles fighting with an Amazon.
[Plutarch, Pericles, XXXI] Pericles' enemies also found a false witness against Phidias, named Menon.
Aspasia was accused of corrupting the women of Athens in order to satisfy Pericles' perversions. All these accusations were, probably, nothing more than unproven slanders, but the whole experience was very bitter for the Athenian politician. Although Aspasia was acquitted thanks to a rare emotional outburst of Pericles, his friend, Phidias, died in prison and another friend of his, Anaxagoras, was attacked by the
ecclesia for his religious beliefs.
Further to these initial prosecutions, the ecclesia took the liberty of personally attacking Pericles by asking him to justify the ostensible profligacy and maladministration of public money.
[Plutarch, Pericles, XXXII] According to Plutarch, Pericles was so afraid of the oncoming trial that he did not let the Athenians yield to the
Lacedaemonians and he "kindled into flame the threatening and smoldering war, hoping thereby to dissipate the charges made against him".
The fact is that, when the great war erupted, Pericles did not seem as powerful as he used to be and, consequently, Athens' imperial pre-eminence started to tremble.
Plutarch seems to predicate that Pericles and the Athenians incited the war, scrambling to implement their hawkish tactics "with a sort of arrogance and a love of strife". Thucydides hints at the same thing, although he admires and profoundly respects his compatriot, but the great historian has, at this point, been criticised for bias and sympathy for
Sparta.
Prelude of the war
|
Anaxagoras and Pericles by Augustin-Louis Belle (1757 â€" 1841). |
Pericles was convinced that the war against Sparta, which could not conceal its envy of Athens' pre-eminence, was inevitable if not welcomed. Therefore, he did not hesitate to send troops to
Corcyra to reinforce the Corcyraean fleet, which was fighting against
Corinth.
[Thucydides, I, 31-54] In
433 BC the enemy fleets confronted each other at the
Battle of Sybota and a year later the Athenians and Corinthians fought again at the
Battle of Potidaea; two military events resulting in Corinth's lasting hatred of Athens. At the same period, Pericles proposed the
Megarian Decree, which was something like a modern trade embargo. According to the provisions of the decree, the Megarian merchants were excluded from the market of Athens and the ports in its empire. This ban strangled the Megarian economy and strained the fragile peace between Athens and Sparta, which was allied with Megara. According to George Cawkwell, a
praelector in
ancient history, with this decree Pericles breached the Thirty Years Peace "but, perhaps, not without the semblance of an excuse".
[G. Cawkwell, Thucydides and the Peloponnesian War, 33] The Athenians' justification was that the Megarians had cultivated the sacred land consecrated to
Demeter and had given refuge to runaway slaves, a behavior deemed by the Athenians as very impious.
[T. Buckley, Aspects of Greek History 750-323 BC, 322]After consultations with its allies, Sparta sent a deputation to Athens demanding some concessions, such as the immediate expulsion of the Alcmaeonidae family including Pericles and the retraction of the Megarian Decree. The obvious purpose of these proposals was the instigation of a confrontation between Pericles and the people, something that later did happen.
[Thucydides, I, 127] At that time, however, the Athenians followed uncomplainingly Pericles' instructions. In the first legendary oration Thucydides puts in his mouth, Pericles advised the Athenians not to yield to their opponents' demands, since they were militarily stronger.
[Thucydides, I, 140-144] Pericles was not prepared to make unilateral concessions, believing that "if Athens conceded on that issue, then Sparta was sure to come up with further demands".
[A.G. Platias-C. Koliopoulos, Thucydides on Strategy, 100-103] Consequently, Pericles asked the Spartans to offer a
quid pro quo. In exchange for retracting the Megarian Decree, the Athenians demanded from Sparta to abandon their practice of periodic expulsion of foreigners from their territory (xenelasia) and to recognize the autonomy of its allied cities, a request implying that Sparta's hegemony was also ruthless.
[A. Vlachos, Thucydides' Bias, 20 ] The terms were rejected by the Spartans and thus the war became inevitable. According to A.G. Platias and C. Koliopoulos, professors of strategic studies and
international politics, "rather than to submit to coercive demands, Pericles chose war".
First year of the war (431 BC)
|
The Parthenon, a masterpiece prompted by Pericles, from the south. |
In
431 BC, while peace already was on the razor's edge,
Archidamus II, Sparta's king, sent a new delegation to Athens, demanding the Athenians' surrender. Nevertheless, the deputation was not allowed to enter Athens, because Pericles had already passed a resolution, according to which no Spartan deputation would be welcomed, if their opponents had previously initiated any hostile military actions. Since the army of Sparta was already gathered in Corinth, this manoeuvre was deemed a hostile action. Hence, Archidamus invaded
Attica, but no Athenians were found there, because Pericles had previously evacuated the rural residents.
No definite record exists on how exactly Pericles managed to convince the residents, to agree to move into the crowded urban areas. For most it would mean abandoning their land, their ancestral shrines and a whole change in lifestyle.
[J. Ober, The Athenian Revolution, 72-85] Thereby, though they agreed to leave, they were not all happy about it.
[Thucydides, II, 16] Pericles also reassured his compatriots that, if the enemy did not plunder his farms, he would offer his property to the city. He did that being afraid that Archidamus, who was a friend of him, might pass by his estate without ravaging it. This he might do, either from a personal wish to oblige him, or acting under instructions for the purpose of creating a prejudice against him.
[Thucydides, II, 13]| "For heroes have the whole earth for their tomb; and in lands far from their own, where the column with its epitaph declares it, there is enshrined in every breast a record unwritten with no tablet to preserve it, except that of the heart." | | Pericles (''Funeral Oration, Thucydides, II, 43) |
In any case, seeing the pillage of their farms, the Athenians were outraged and they started in some indirect ways to express their discontent towards their leader. In the eyes of many Athenians, Pericles drew them to war. Nonetheless, Pericles did not give in to the pressures for immediate action against the enemy and he did not revise his initial strategy. He also avoided convening the ecclesia, in an attempt to ease the tensions. At the same time, he sent a fleet of 100 ships to loot the coasts of the
Peloponnese and charged the cavalry to guard the ravaged farms close to the walls of the city.
[Thucydides, II, 18 and Xenophon(?),Constitution of Athens, 2] When the enemy retired and the pillage came to an end, Pericles proposed a decree, according to which the authorities of the city should put aside 1,000 talents and 100 ships, in case Athens was attacked by naval forces. According to the most stringent provision of the decree, even the simple proposition for a different utilization of the money or ships would entail the penalty of death. During the autumn of
431 BC, Pericles led the Athenian forces that invaded Megara and a few months later (winter of 431 BC-
430 BC) he delivered his monumental and emotional
Funeral Oration, honoring the Athenians who died for their city.
[Thucydides, II, 35-46]Last military operations and death
|
Portrait of Pericles - a copy of the bronze original by Cresilas (British Museum, No 549). |
In 430 BC, the army of Sparta looted Attica for a second time, but Pericles was not daunted and refused to revise his initial strategy. Unwilling to engage the Spartan army in battle, he preferred to lead himself a naval force of 100 ships, which plundered once again the coasts of Peloponnese. According to Plutarch, just before the sailing of the ships an
eclipse of the
moon frightened the crews, but Pericles used his astronomical knowledge, taught to him by Anaxagoras, to calm them down.
[Plutarch, Pericles, XXXIV] In the summer of the same year an epidemic broke out and decimated the Athenians.
[Thucydides, II, 48 etc. and 56] About the nature of the
disease nobody can be sure. In any case, the city's plight, caused by the epidemic, triggered a new wave of public uproar and Pericles took great pains to defend himself in his last emotional speech exposed by Thucydides.
[Thucydides, II, 60-64] This is considered to be a monumental oration, revealing Pericles' virtues but also his bitterness towards his compatriots' ingratitude.
Temporarily, he managed to tame the people's resentment and to ride out the storm, but his internal enemies' final bid to undermine him came off; they achieved to deprive him of the generalship and to fine him with an amount of money estimated between 15 and 50 talents.
[Plutarch, Pericles, XXXV] Ancient sources mention
Cleon, a rising and dynamic protagonist of the Athenian political scene during the war, as the public prosecutor in Pericles' trial.
Nevertheless, within just a year, in 429 BC, the Athenians not only forgave him but they also re-elected him as
strategos (general). He was reinstated in command of the Athenian army and led all its military operations during 429 BC,
having once again under his control the levers of power. However, the death of both his legitimate sons from his first wife,
Xanthippus and his beloved
Paralus, hit by the epidemic, was a huge blow for Pericles. With his morale undermined, he burst into tears and not even Aspasia's companionship could console him. He legitimised his third son, Pericles the younger (Athenians allowed a change in the law that made Pericles' half-Athenian son a citizen and legitimate heir), whose mother was Aspasia.
[Plutarch, Pericles, XXXVII] He died in the autumn of
429 BC after being affected by the disease.
Just before his death, Pericles' friends were concentrated around his bed, enumerating his virtues during peace and underscoring his nine war trophies. Pericles, though moribund, heard them and interrupted them, pointing out that they forgot to mention his fairest and greatest title to their admiration; "for", said he, "no living Athenian ever put on mourning because of me".
[Plutarch, Pericles, XXXVIII] Pericles lived during the first two and a half years of the Peloponnesian War and, according to Thucydides, his death constituted a disaster for Athens, since his successors were inferior to him; they preferred to incite all the bad habits of the rabble and they followed an unstable policy, endeavoring to be likeable rather than useful.
[Thucydides, II, 65] With these bitter comments, Thucydides not only laments the loss a man he admired, but he also heralds the flickering of Athens' unique glory and grandeur.
Pericles, following Athenian custom, was first married to one of his closest relatives and he had with his wife two sons, Xanthippus and Paralus. Nevertheless, his marriage was not a happy one. As a result, Pericles got divorced (c.
445 BC) and offered his wife to another husband with the agreement of her male relatives.
[K. Paparrigopoulos, Aa, 221] The name of his first wife is not known; the only information about her is that she was the wife of Hipponicus, before being married to Pericles, and the mother of Callius from this first marriage.
[Plutarch, Pericles, XXIV]| "For men can endure to hear others praised only so long as they can severally persuade themselves of their own ability to equal the actions recounted: when this point is passed, envy comes in and with it incredulity." | | Pericles (''Funeral Oration, Thucydides, II, 35) |
The woman he really adored was Aspasia, a
hetaera, whose intellectual powers astonished Pericles. She became his mistress and they began to live together as if they were married. This relationship aroused many reactions and even Pericles' own son, Xanthippus, who had political ambitions, did not hesitate to slander his father.
[Plutarch, Pericles, XXXVI] Nonetheless, these persecutions did not undermine Pericles' morale, although he had to burst into tears in order to protect his beloved Aspasia when she was accused of corrupting Athenian society. His greatest personal tragedy was the death of his sister and of both his legitimate sons, Xanthippus and Paralus, all affected by the epidemic, a calamity he never managed to overcome.
Pericles marked a whole era and inspired conflicting judgments about his various and significant decisions, which is something normal for a political personality of his magnitude. The fact that he constituted at the same time a vigorous statesman, general and orator makes more difficult and complex the objective and comprehensive assessment of his actions.
Political leadership
Some contemporary scholars, for example Sarah Ruden, call Pericles a populist, a demagogue and a hawk;
[Sarah Ruden, Lysistrata , 80] while other scholars admire his charismatic leadership. According to Plutarch, after assuming the leadership of Athens, "he was no longer the same man as before, nor alike submissive to the people and ready to yield and give in to the desires of the multitude as a steersman to the breezes".
[Plutarch, Pericles, XV] It is told that, when his political opponent, Thucydides, was asked by Sparta's king, Archidamus, if he or Pericles was a better fighter, Thucydides answered without any hesitation that Pericles was a better fighter, because, even when he is defeated, he achieves to convince the audience that he won.
In matters of character, Pericles was above reproach in the eyes of the ancient historians, since "he kept himself untainted by corruption, although he was not altogether indifferent to money-making".
Thucydides, an admirer of Pericles, maintains that Athens was "in name a democracy but, in fact, governed by its first citizen".
Through this comment, the historian illustrates what he perceives as Pericles' charisma to lead, convince and, sometimes, manipulate. Although Thucydides mentions the fining of Pericles,
he does not mention the accusations against the politician but instead focuses on Pericles' integrity. On the other hand, in one of his dialogues,
Plato rejects the glorification of Pericles and quotes
Socrates as saying: "As far as I know, Pericles made the Athenians slothful, garrulous and avaricious, by starting the system of public fees".
[Plato, Gorgias, 515e] Plutarch mentions other criticism of Pericles' leadership: "many others say that the people was first led on by him into allotments of public lands, festival-grants, and distributions of fees for public services, thereby falling into bad habits, and becoming luxurious and wanton under the influence of his public measures, instead of frugal and self-sufficing".
Thucydides predicates that Pericles "was not carried away by the people, but he was the one guiding the people"
. His judgement is not unquestioned - some 20th century critics, such as M.F. McGregor and J.S. Morrison, proposed that he may have been a charismatic public face acting as an advocate on the proposals of advisors, or the people themselves.
[M.F. McGregor, Government in Athens, 122-123][J.S. Morrison-A. W. Gomme, Pericles Monarchos, 76-77] According to J.D. King, by increasing the power of the people, the Athenians left themselves with no authoritative leader. During the Peloponnesian War even Pericles' lack of executive power was obvious.
Military achievements
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 and he did not accede to the "vain impulses of the citizens".
[Plutarch, Pericles, XVIII] He based his military policy on
Themistocles' principle that Athens' predominance depends on its superior naval power and believed that the Peloponnesians were near-invincible on land.
[ A.G. Platias-C. Koliopoulos, Thucydides on Strategy, 105] Pericles tried also to minimize the advantages of Sparta by rebuilding the walls of Athens. According to J. Ober, professor of classics in
Princeton University, the strategy of rebuilding the walls radically altered the use of force in Greek international relations.
[ J. Ober, National Ideology and Strategic Defence of the Population, 254]| "These glories may incur the censure of the slow and unambitious; but in the breast of energy they will awake emulation, and in those who must remain without them an envious regret. Hatred and unpopularity at the moment have fallen to the lot of all who have aspired to rule others." | | Pericles (''Third Oration, Thucydides, II, 64) |
During the Peloponnesian War, Pericles initiated a defensive "grand strategy" whose aim was the exhaustion of the enemy and the preservation of the
status quo.
[ A.G. Platias-C. Koliopoulos, Thucydides on Strategy, 98-99] According to A.G. Platias and C. Koliopoulos, Athens as the strongest party did not have to beat Sparta in military terms and "chose to foil the Spartan plan for victory".
The two basic principles of the "Periclean Grand Strategy" were the rejection of appeasement (thereby he urged the Athenians not to revoke the Megarian Decree) and the avoidance of overextension. Although his strategy is said to have been "inherently unpopular", Pericles managed to persuade the Athenian public.
[ A.G. Platias-C. Koliopoulos, Thucydides on Strategy, 119-120] It is for that reason that
Hans Delbrück called Pericles one of the greatest statesmen and military leaders in history.
[ H. Delbrück, History of the Art of War, I, 137] Even after fining him, the Athenians remained true to the Periclean strategy and did not depart from it until long after his death.
[ For his part, B. X. de Wet concludes his strategy would have succeeded had he lived longer][B. X. de Wet, This So-Called Defensive Policy of Pericles, 103-119]
Nonetheless, there are also many criticisms on the effectiveness of his strategy. A common criticism against him is that he always was a better politician and orator than strategist.[K. Paparrigopoulos, Aa, 241-242] Donald Kagan called the Periclean strategy "a form of wishful thinking that failed",[D. Kagan, Athenian Strategy in the Peloponnesial War, 54] whilst S.Strauss and J. Ober have stated that "as strategist he was a failure and deserves a share of the blame for Athens' great defeat".[S. Strauss-J. Ober, The Anatomy of Error, 47]. Kagan criticizes the Periclean strategy on four counts: first that by rejecting minor concessions it brought about war; second, that it was unforseen by the enemy and hence lacked credibility; third that it was too feeble to exploit any opportunities; fourth, it depended on Pericles for its execution and this was bound to be anandoned after his death.[D. Kagan, The Archidamian War, 28,41] Kagan estimates Pericles' expenditure on his military strategy in the Peloponnesian War to be about 2000 talents annually, and that he would only have enough money to keep the war going for 3 years. He asserts that since Pericles must have known about these limitations he probably planned for a much shorter war.[D. Kagan, The Peloponnesian War, 61-62] Others, such as D. W. Knight, conclude that the strategy was too defensive and would not succeed.[D. Knight, Thucydides and the War Strategy of Pericles, 150-160]
On the other hand, A.G. Platias and C. Koliopoulos reject these criticisms and underscore that "the Athenians lost the war only when they dramatically reversed the Periclean grand strategy that explicitely disdained further conquests".[ A.G. Platias-C. Koliopoulos, Thucydides on Strategy, 138] It is a popular conclusion that those succeeding him lacked his abilities and character.[L.J. Samons, What's Wrong with Democracy?, 131-132] The most charismatic of his successors, Alcibiades, would have a completely different plan in mind and what may be called a dubious agenda. [Thucydides, The Peloponnesian War, VI, 15]Skill of oratory
|
Painting of Hector Leroux (1682 - 1740), which portrays Pericles and Aspasia, admiring the gigantic Athena's statue in Phidias' studio. |
Thucydides' modern commentators are still trying to unriddle the puzzle of Pericles' orations and to figure out if the wording belongs to the Athenian statesman or if it is merely a creation of the historian. Since Pericles never wrote down or distributed his orations, no historians are able answer this with certainty; Thucydides recreated three of them from memory and, thereby, it cannot be ascertained that he did not add his own notions and thoughts. Although Pericles was a main source of his inspiration, some historians have noted that the passionate and idealistic literary style of the speeches Thucydides attributes to Pericles is completely at odds with Thucydides' own cold and analytical writing style. This might be however the result of the incorporation of the genre of rhetoric into the genre of historiography. That is to say, Thucydides could simply have used two different writing styles for two different purposes.
D. Kagan describes that Pericles adopted "an elevated mode of speech, free from the vulgar and knavish tricks of mob-orators"[D. Kagan, The Peloponnesian War] and, according to Diodorus Siculus, he "excelled all his fellow citizens in skill of oratory".[Diodorus, XII, 39] According to Plutarch, he avoided any gimmicks while orating, contrary to the passionate Demosthenes, and imposed himself with his tranquil manner of speaking,[Plutarch, Pericles, V] though Plutarch also points out that the poet Ion described Pericle's manner of speech as: "a presumptuous and somewhat arrogant manner of address, and that into his haughtiness there entered a good deal of disdain and contempt for others".[Plato, Gorgias, 455d] In Menexenus Socrates asperses however Pericles' rhetorical fame, claiming ironically that, since the Athenian statesman has been educated by Aspasia, he would be superior in rhetoric to someone educated by Antiphon.[Plato, Menexenus, 236a] He also attributes authorship of the Funeral Oration to Aspasia.[S. Monoson, Plato's Democratic Entanglements, 186]
The ancient Greek writers call him "Olympian" and they vaunt him, underlining that "he was thundering and lightening and exciting Greece" and he was carrying the weapons of Zeus when orating.[Aristophanes, Acharnians, 528-531 and Diodorus, XII, 40] According to Quintilian, Pericles would always prepare assiduously for his orations and, before going on the rostrum, he would always pray to the Gods, so as not to utter any improper word.[Quintilian, Institutiones, XII, 9][Plutarch, Pericles, VIII] Sir Richard C. Jebb concludes that "unique as an Athenian statesman, Pericles must have been in two respects unique also as an Athenian orator; first, because he occupied such a position of personal ascendancy as no man before or after him attained; secondly, because his thoughts and his moral force won him such renown for eloquence as no one else ever got from Athenians".[Sir Richard C. Jebb, The Attic Orators]Legacy
Pericles' main legacy are the literally and artistic works of his Golden Age, most of which can be still found this day. The Acropolis, though in ruins, still stands and is a symbol of modern Athens. K. Paparrigopoulos wrote that these masterpieces are "sufficient to render the name of Greece immortal in our world".
In terms of politics, V. L. Ehrenberg argues that a basic element of Pericles' legacy is the imperialism, which denies the principles of democracy and freedom.[V. L. Ehrenberg, From Solon to Socrates, 332] Nonetheless, other analysts underscore an Athenian humanism illustrated in the Golden Age.[E.J. Power, A Legacy of Learning, 52] Pericles is lauded as "the ideal type of the perfect statesman in ancient Greece"[K. Mattson, Creating a Democratic Public, 32]*Art in Ancient Greece
*Culture of Greece
*Sculpture of Ancient Greece
*Timeline of Ancient Greece
α. Estimations about Pericles' date of birth are contradictory. C.W. Fornara and L.J. Samons II maintain that the lower terminus of his date of birth is 492/1 BC, although he may have been born by c. 500 BC or earlier.
According to Plutarch, Agariste was Cleisthenes' granddaughter,
but she was his niece, rather.
γ. According to Aristotle, Aristodicus of Tanagra killed Ephialtes,
[Aristotle, Constitution of Athens, 25.4] though Idomeneus accuses Pericles of the murder. However, Plutarch does not put trust in him.
According to Plutarch, it was thought that Pericles proceeded against the Samians to gratify Aspasia of Miletus.
[Plutarch, Pericles, XXIV]ε. Plutarch exposes these allegations without espousing them.
Thucydides insists, however, that the Athenian politician was still powerful.
[Thucydides, I, 139] A.W. Gomme
[A.W. Gomme, An Historical Commentary on Thucydides, I, 452] and A. Vlachos
[A. Vlachos, Comments on Thucydides, 141] support Thucydides' view.
στ. A. Vlachos maintains that Thucydides' narration gives the impression that Athens' alliance had become an authoritarian and oppressive empire, while the historian makes no comment for Sparta's equally harsh rule. A. Vlachos underlines, however, that Athens' crushing could entail a much more ruthless Spartan empire, something that indeed happened. Hence, the historian's hinted assertion that the Greek public opinion espoused Sparta's pledges of liberating Greece almost uncomplainingly seems tendentious.
[ A. Vlachos, Thucydides' bias, 60 etc] Ste Croix, for his part, argues that Athens' imperium was welcomed and valuable for the stability of democracy all over Greece.
[ St. Croix, The Character of the Athenian Empire, 1-41] According to Fornara-Samons, "any view proposing that popularity or its opposite can be inferred simply from narrow ideological considerations is superficial".
[ Fornara-Samons, Athens from Cleisthenes to Pericles, 77]ζ. Taking into consideration its symptoms, most researchers and scientists now believe that it was
typhus or
typhoid fever and not
cholera,
plague or
measles.
[A.W. Gomme, An Historical Commentary on Thucydides, II, 145-162][A. Vlachos, Remarks on Thucydides, 177] η. Pericles held the generalship from
444 BC till
430 BC without interruption.
A. Vlachos criticizes the historian for this omission and maintains that Thucydides' admiration for the Athenian statesman makes him ignore not only the well-grounded accusations against him but also the mere gossips, namely the allegation that Pericles had corrupted the volatile rabble, so that to assert himself.
[A. Vlachos, Thucydides' bias, 62]ι. According to A.G. Platias-C. Koliopoulos, the "policy mix" of Pericles was guided by five principles:a) Balance the power of the enemy, b) Exploit competitive advantages and negate those of the enemy, c) Deter the enemy by the denial of his success and by the skillful use of retaliation, d) Erode the international poiwer base of the enemy, e) Shape the domestic environment of the adversary to your own benefit.
[ A.G. Platias-C. Koliopoulos, Thucydides on Strategy, 104 etc.]ια. According to A. Vlachos, Thucydides must have been about 30 years old, when Pericles delivered his Funeral Oration and he was probably among the audience.
[A. Vlachos, Remarks on Thucydides, 170]ιβ. A. Vlachos points out that he does not know who wrote the oration, but "these were the words, which should have been told at the end of 431 BC".
According to R.C. Jebb, the Thucydidean speeches of Pericles give the general ideas of Pericles with essential fidelity; it is possible, further, that they may contain recorded sayings of his "but it is certain that they cannot be taken as giving the form of the statesman's oratory".
J.F. Dobson believes that "though the language is that of the historian, some of the thoughts may be those of the statesman".
[J.F. Dobson, The Greek Orators] C.M.J. Sicking argues that "we are hearing the voice of real Pericles",
[C.M.J. Sicking, Distant Companions, 133] while I. Kakridis predicates that the Funeral Oration is an almost exclusive creation of Thucydides, since "the real audience does not consist of the Athenians of the beginning of the war, but of the generation of
400 BC, which suffers under the repercussions of the defeat".
[I. Kakridis, Interpretative comments on the Funeral Oration, 6] A.W. Gomme disagrees with Kakridis, insisting on his belief to the reliability of Thucydides.
That is what Plutarch predicates.
Nonetheless, according to the 10th century encyclopaedia
Suda,
[Suda, article Pericles] Pericles constituted the first orator who systematically wrote down his orations.
Cicero speaks about Pericles' writings,
[Cicero, De Oratote, II, 93] but his remarks are not regarded as credible. Most probably, other writers used his name.
[Quintilian, Institutiones, III, 1]ιδ. I. Kalitsounakis argues that "no reader can overlook the sumptuous rythme of the Funeral Oration as a whole and the singular correlation between the impetuous emotion and the marvellous style, attributes of speech that Thucydides ascribes to no other orator but Pericles".
According to H. Ynis, Thucydides created the Pericles' indistinct rhetorical legacy, creating the account of Periclean rhetoric that has dominated ever since.
[H. Yunis, Taming Democracy, 63]
Timeline of Pericles' life (c.495 BC-429 BC)
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id:lightsteelblue value:rgb(0.418, 0.609, 0.800)
Define $dx = 20 # shift text to right side of bar
PlotData = bar:event width:20 color:gray shift:($dx,-4)
from:start till:end color:lightsteelblue
mark:(line,white)
at:495 text:495 BC - Born in Athens
at:470 text:470 BC - Entering politics
at:463 text:463 BC - Prosecuting Cimon
at:461 text:461 BC - Leading the Democratic Party - Cimon's ostracism
at:454 text:454 BC - Leading first military expedition in Sicyon and Acarnania
at:448 text:448 BC - Leading the Athenian forces in the battle of Delphi
at:447 text:447 BC - Expelling the barbarians from Gallipoli
at:445 text:445 BC - Prompting the ratification of the Thirty Years' Treaty
at:444 text:442 BC - Propelling the ostracism of Thucydides
from:444 till:430 text:Being the unchallengable ruler of Athens (444BC-430BC)
at:440 text:440 BC - Leading the Athenian navy in the Samian War
at:438 text:438 BC - Besieging Byzantium
at:432 text:432 BC - Persecuted along with Aspasia, Phidias and Anaxagoras
at:431 text:431 BC - Invading Megara (beginning of the Peloponnesian War)
at:430 text:430 BC - Not reelected general after Attica's pillage
at:429 text:429 BC - Reelected general - Dies after his sons' death
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Primary sources (Greeks and Romans)*
Aristophanes,
The Acharnians. See original text in
Perseus program.
*
Aristotle,
Constitution of Athens. See original text in
Perseus program.
* Aristotle,
Politika (Politics). See original text in
Perseus program.
* Cicero,
De Oratore. See original text in
Perseus program.
* Diodorus Siculus,
Library, 12th Book. See original text in
Perseus program.
*
Herodotus,
The Histories, VI. See original text in
Perseus program.
* Plato,
Alciviades I. See original text in
in Perseus program.
* Plato,
Gorgias. See original text in
Perseus program.
* Plato,
Menexenus. See original text in
Perseus program.
* Plato,
Phaedrus, See original text in
Perseus program* Plutarch,
Cimon. See original text in
Perseus program.
* Plutarch,
Pericles. See original text in
Perseus program.
* Quintilian,
Institutiones. See original text in
The Latin Library.
* Thucydides,
History of the Peloponnesian War,I-III, translated in Modern Greek by Angelos Vlachos (Editions: Papadima, 1998) and
Eleftherios Venizelos (Editions: Georgiadis, 2001). See original text in
Perseus program.
*
Xenophon (?),
Constitution of Athens. See original text in
Perseus program.
Secondary sources* Delbrück, Hans (1920):
History of the Art of War, University of Nebraska Press; Reprint edition, 1990. Translated by Walter, J. Renfroe. Volume 1.
* Encyclopaedic Dictionary
The Helios.
Volume VIII. article:
The Funeral Speech over the Fallen.
Volume XV. article:
Pericles (in Greek).
* Kakridis, Ioannis Th. (1993).
Interpretative Comments on the Pericles' Funeral Oration. Estia (in Greek).
* King, J.D. (2005).
Athenian Democracy and Empire.
* Paparrigopoulos, Konstantinos (-Pavlos Karolidis)(1925),
History of the Hellenic Nation (Volume Ab). Eleftheroudakis (in Greek).
* Vlachos, Angelos (1992).
Remarks on Thucydides' History of the Peloponnesian War (Α΄-Î"΄). Volume I. Estia (in Greek).
* Vlachos, Angelos (1974).
Thucydides' bias. Estia (in Greek).
*
*
*
