After the second Persian invasion of Greece in , Athens and its allies throughout the Aegean formed the Delian League, a military alliance focused on the Persian threat. Three years later, a coinage decree imposed Athenian weights and measures throughout the league. By the time Pericles was elected strategos, the league was well on its way to becoming an Athenian empire. He worked to democratize the fine arts by subsidizing theater admission for poorer citizens and enabled civic participation by offering pay for jury duty and other civil service.
Pericles maintained close friendships with the leading intellects of his time. The playwright Sophocles and the sculptor Phidias were among his friends. Pericles himself was a master orator. His speeches and elegies as recorded and possibly interpreted by Thucydides celebrate the greatness of a democratic Athens at its peak. As Athens grew in power under Pericles, Sparta felt more and more threatened and began to demand concessions from the Athenians.
Pericles refused, and in B. When the Spartans arrived at Attica, they found it empty. A few months later, Pericles himself succumbed. His death was, according to Thucydides, disastrous for Athens. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! Subscribe for fascinating stories connecting the past to the present.
The two most powerful city-states in ancient Greece, Athens and Sparta, went to war with each other from to B. The Peloponnesian War marked a significant power shift in ancient Greece, favoring Sparta, and also ushered in a period of regional decline that signaled the The Athenian philosopher Plato c. After Ephialtes was assassinated in B.
Previously, only the wealthy could afford the time to participate in politics. Pericles approved payment for jury duty and for soldiers, sailors, and administrators. That development transformed the character of Athenian democracy and society; lower-class Athenians called thetes could now participate as fully as citizens with property.
The Delian League effectively became an Athenian empire. Around B. Work began in B. More than 20, tons of marble were used, producing the iconic Parthenon and the imposing colonnade of the Propylaea, the entrance gateway.
But the peace of Athens was not to last. Unfortunately, the year-long Peloponnesian War resulted in great losses for Athens. When a plague broke out, an estimated 20, people died—including Pericles and his two legitimate sons.
Athens was one of the most important and powerful cities in the ancient world. The bustling main thoroughfare was the Panathenaic Way. For the annual summer birthday celebration of Athena the Greek goddess of wisdom for whom the city is named , a procession started at the Dipylon Gate—the largest of 15 gates in the city—and marched more than a mile to the Altar of Athena on the Acropolis. Men gathered frequently at three public gymnasia to prepare for the naked athletic competitions in the Panathenaic Stadium.
But the heart of daily life was the agora, or marketplace, a sprawling complex of more than , square feet that featured trade in everyday items but also sported brothels, bars, and bathhouses.
Bequeathed, too, was his innovative approach of conducting an orderly, thorough examination of the past to explain the causes—and outcomes—of past events. All rights reserved. Culture Reference. Who was Pericles? Pericles left and Pheidias consult about creation of statue of Athena in this painting. Pericles was suspended from the office of strategos , found guilty of theft and fined 50 talents.
Because Athens still needed him, Pericles was then reinstated. About a year after he lost his own two sons in the plague, Pericles died in the fall of , two and a half years after the Peloponnesian War began.
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Ancient History and Latin Expert. Gill is a Latinist, writer, and teacher of ancient history and Latin. Updated January 04, Featured Video. Cite this Article Format. Gill, N. Biography of Pericles, Leader of Athens. Pericles' Funeral Oration - Thucydides' Version. Political Aspects of the Classical Age of Greece. The Peloponnesian War: Causes of the Conflict. Modern Science and the Plague of Athens.
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