Pericles was the leading Athenian statesman of the mid to late 4th century BC in the city of Athens, a period now known as the Athenian Golden Age¹. Athens was one of the most powerful of the Greek city states, and as her leader, Pericles was heavily involved in all the major events of the time, such as the Peloponnesian War². It was he who presided over the transformation of the Delian League (an Athenian-led organisation dedicated to protecting its members from the Persians) into a genuine Athenian Empire.

Most of our information on Pericles comes from contemporary historian Thucydides, and the Roman biographer Plutarch.

Background and Personal Life

Pericles was born into the powerful aristocratic Athenian family, the Alcmaeonids in about the year 495 BC. His father was Xanthippos, a respected Athenian commander; and his mother, Agariste³ was the niece of Cleisthenes, a famous Athenian who had conducted reforms to the democracy of Athens. Pericles married and had children, but after divorcing his wife, he became the lover of a woman named Aspasia⁴, an educated courtesan who ran a brothel. They had children together.

He also had some famous and influential friends, including Anaxagoras, a philosopher and scientist, and Pheidias, the sculptor who created the great golden statue of Athena at the Parthenon.

Pericles the General

Pericles was elected year after year to serve as a strategos or general - at one stage, he was elected every year for fourteen years. Although he was one of ten generals, he was considered to be the unofficial overall leader, as his colleagues had great respect for him, based partly on his military success. He led the armies of Athens into the field on several occasions:

• In 446 BC he led the army to deal with the revolt of the nearby island of Euboeia, which was attempting to leave the Delian League. While he was en route, the Spartans and their allies invaded Attica, the land of Athens. Pericles turned the army around and faced the Spartans. However, they did not fight, and both contemporaries and modern historians suspect that Pericles bribed the Spartan king to return home without giving battle. This gave Athens more time to prepare for the Peloponnesian War, which many considered inevitable. He then returned to Euboeia and defeated the rebels.

• Pericles also successfully led the Athenian forces from 440 - 439 BC to put down the revolt of the island of Samos, once a powerful ally, now a dangerous enemy.

• In about 436 BC, Pericles led Athens' almost unparalleled navy to the Black Sea. This was a visit to the corn suppliers of Athens. The Athenian population was too large to be supported by home-grown corn, so they imported it from the Black Sea area. The security of this supply was a very important consideration in all matters of Athenian foreign policy. The trip was to show locals the power of Athens, so that they would not be tempted to interfere in the all-important grain supply.

• It was also Pericles who came up with the Athenian strategy for fighting the Peloponnesian War. He knew that the Spartan-led Peloponnesians were much stronger on land than the Athenians and their allies, while Athens was virtually unbeatable at sea. Therefore, he adopted a defensive strategy, ensuring that as many citizens as possible stayed within Athens’ city walls and guarded the city. He would not be drawn to fight an infantry battle Athens would surely lose, even when the Peloponnesians were burning the crops and homes of Athenians who lived in the countryside and he was being urged to lead the army out against them. While the Peloponnesians were on Athenian land, the Athenians launched reprisal naval raids against their territory. Pericles led at least one of these personally.

Pericles the Orator

Pericles’ political power did not come only from his influence and successes as a general. He was also a great public speaker, capable of persuading the Ecclesia (a meeting which all citizens were entitled to attend, at which major decisions were made) to follow him. His skill as an orator is shown by the fact that he was chosen to give the first funeral speech of the Peloponnesian War of the Peloponnesian War. Funeral speeches were an Athenian tradition. The bones of all those soldiers who had died for Athens that year were collected together and carried in a funeral procession, at which point a leading Athenian made a speech praising their valour. It was a very important and solemn occasion.

Pericles the Politician

Pericles realised that to be truly powerful, he would have to introduce policies which would benefit the majority of Athenians - the ordinary people. This was in stark contrast to most previous politicians, who, like Pericles, were of wealthy and aristocratic but were mostly concerned with benefiting their own class, the minority, rather than the ordinary people. For example, Pericles proposed the motion to recall his political rival Cimon from exile once he understood that this was what the people wanted.

Pericles also spent a great deal of civic money on entertainments for the public such as plays, which made him even more popular. His policies were mostly successful because they provided benefit to the majority, not the minority, and because he was such a persuasive speaker. They included:

• Providing pay for most Athenian officials: Previously, such positions had been unpaid, meaning that only the rich could really fill them. This helped to open Athenian democracy to more people. However, some positions - including generals - were not included.

• Pay for jurors: The jury courts were a hugely important part of the Athenian state, and paying the men who served as jurors allowed more people to serve. The pay was very low, hardly enough to live on, but it was better than nothing and could act as a sort of pension for retired men.

• The so-called ‘Periclean Building Programme’: Pericles is thought to have been responsible for proposing the building of the Parthenon and several other wonderful buildings. This brought a great deal of employment, as well as glory, to Athens.

• The formation of the Athenian Empire: as mentioned above, it was Pericles who persuaded the people that they should not reduce their grip on their Delian League allies, even after the Persian threat had faded, and it was this that led the League to become, over time, an Athenian Empire. This brought money (in the form of tribute from Athens’ ‘allies’, and from the need for Athenian officials to oversee foreign states) and influence to the city.

• The citizenship law: Pericles proposed a law which said that both parents had to be Athenian citizens in order for their children to be citizens. The effect of this new law was to reduce the number of marriages between Athenians and non-Athenians, to make it easier to find husbands for Athenian women, and to keep wealth within the city. After the deaths of his legitimate sons (those born to his wife, not to his later lover, Aspasia), Pericles asked for and was granted an exception for his son with Aspasia, as otherwise he had no heirs.

Pericles was so powerful and influential that after some time, he could contradict the people, and do as he thought best rather than what they wanted. However, he was not always successful. For example, when Athens set out to colonise a place called Thourioi in Italy, Pericles proposed that it should be open only to Athenian settlers. Others wanted it to be pan-Hellenic, and this was what happened. His enemies also used Pericles' friends as a way of indirectly getting at Pericles. The sculptor Pheidias was tried for stealing some of the gold intended for the statue of Athena and was jailed despite his innocence. Aspasia was indicted for disrespect to the gods, but was not convicted. Such attacks also implicated Pericles.

There were also other influential politicians in Athens. These included Cimon and later Thucydides⁵, both of whom made policies which favoured the aristocrats. These rivals meant that Pericles didn't have things all his own way all the time. However, both of these rivals were eventually ostracised⁶, so Pericles had no real opponents left.

According to Thucydides the historian, Pericles was respected as incorruptible, wise, patriotic, and forward-looking. He was nicknamed 'the Olympian' because of this and the majesty of his bearing.

Fall in Popularity

Towards the end of his life, Pericles was used as something of a scapegoat for Athenian losses in the war. Athens had also suffered greatly during a plague which hit the city in the early years of the war. This was the time when Athens was full of people, due to Pericles’ strategy to abandon the countryside and strengthen the guard of the city. As a result, the plague spread quickly. The people were angry and Pericles was fined, but they seem to have forgiven him, probably because they felt sorry for him - he had lost his sister, his sons by his first wife, and other relatives and friends in the plague. Accordingly, he was re-elected general the following year.

However, this did not last long as Pericles died of the plague in the autumn of 429 BC, the third year of the Peloponnesian War, to the great sorrow and detriment of Athens. For a fitting tribute to this great statesman, we will leave the last word to the historian, Thucydides:

Pericles indeed, by his rank, ability, and known integrity, was enabled to exercise an independent control over the multitude - in short, to lead them instead of being led by them; for as he never sought power by improper means, he was never compelled to flatter them, but, on the contrary, enjoyed so high an estimation that he could afford to anger them by contradiction... In short, what was nominally a democracy became in his hands government by the
first citizen.

More Information

For futher information on the Pericles and the Peloponnesian War, the reader is advised to consult Thucydides's work, The History of the Peloponnesian War.