Pericles

Pericles was the most influential statesman, military leader and orator of what is known as the Golden Age of Athens. Under Pericles' leadership, Athens reached its peak in art, literature, politics and philosophy; Athens became the most powerful and culturally influential city-state in the Greek world. The fact that his era is called the “Age of Pericles” is the greatest indication of the profound and lasting impact of his leadership.

YOUTH OF THE POLITICIAN

Pericles was born into one of the noble families of Athens, of the paternal tribe named Acamantis and of the demos known as Cholargus. His father Xanthippos was a commander who won victory over the Persians at the Battle of Mykale, and his mother Agariste was from the famous Alcmaeonid family, an extremely powerful dynasty in Athenian politics. Agariste was the great-granddaughter of Kleisthenes of Sicyon, the former tyrant of a city in Sicily, but also a niece of the more famous Kleisthenes who had expelled the tyrannical Pisistratid dynasty, established the Athenian Boule and organized the development of Athenian democracy.

Complex developments involving his other ancestors and relatives that would come to be (such as Alcibiades and the circle of tyrants that Alcibiades associated with) made hailing from this complicated family network both a boon to him and a hindrance. Belonging to this noble family gave Pericles a great advantage in his political career, yet the memory of his more tyrannical ancestors and the scandals of his younger relatives also marred perceptions about his own motives. Plutarch also claims this was not helped by Pericles’ incredible and eerie resemblance in both form and voice to the tyrant Pisistratus who was head of the rival Pisistratids within living memory of the elderly.

Roman copy of Greek original statue of Pericles

Although there are not many details about his youth, it is known that Pericles was a quiet, thoughtful and contemplative boy. He received a good education verging on the cutting edge of developments in Athens toward the philosophical schools that were flowering in the city. Building on the foundations of his education, which were not enough to sate him, Pericles sought the counsel of famous philosophers such as Protagoras, Xeno of Elea and Anaxagoras. Under the influence of these tutors, Pericles refined his worldview and increasingly wished to merge philosophical tenets with his participation in politics. He later developed close relationships with Socrates and other philosophers who are known to have communicated directly with him, yet later on many of these figures would harbor an ambivalent view of him as a leader.

With this education, Pericles reinforced his commitment to the democratic structure of Athens, while at the same time developing into a logical and strategic leader of some confidence and charisma. Partially due to the tutelage of Anaxagoras, imprinting the idea of an impersonal intelligence animating the universe, Pericles was strongly an advocate of allowing people to participate in shaping the character of a state and to allow people to follow the dictates of their own free will. Accordingly, he fundamentally disagreed with heavy-handed methods and violent interventions into individuals’ lives, a method that his ancestor in Sicily had deviously and disastrously engaged in.

It can be said that Pericles was invested with certain spiritual viewpoints concerning the holiness of free will that shaped his conception of politics. With time and patience, wise exercise of these viewpoints by his hand came to be a major element in the strengthening of Athenian power, yet Pericles’ obsession with democracy and free will also led to severe problems down the line. For this reason, his name has gone down into history as an individual gambling with fate and the will of the masses.

EPHIALTES

Although Pericles' entry into the Athenian political scene began at a young age, it was his reforms with Ephialtes, an advocate of democracy, that had the greatest impact on the beginning of his career. In 462 BC, Pericles, together with Ephialtes, initiated important reforms aimed at limiting the power of aristocrats and increasing the influence of other groups of people in politics.

One of Pericles’ enemies in politics was Cimon, who was a war hero of Athens and firmly an oligarch in orientation, as well as resolutely pro-Spartan in his tastes and a great benefactor of the poor. Certain historians therefore accuse Pericles of having less than pristine motivations as the popular reforms proposed by Pericles had the aim of ousting Cimon and his supporters from power. The most important of these reforms was to limit the powers of the Council of Areopagus. The Areopagus was a council dominated by the nobility with certain hieratic and legal functions: this move marked a turning point in the strengthening of Athenian democracy. Cimon met with personal disaster after an army under his command was rebuffed by the Spartans to help with dealing with a revolt of the helots, an idea already extremely unpopular with the Athenian masses. At the same time, the extreme tendencies of Ephialites in harassing oligarchs soon would alienate Pericles.

In the meantime, Pericles cultivated certain perceptions about himself as a learned and reserved man, though he extolled the benefits of luxury and beauty to the populace. To that end, he abolished certain privileges of the nobility and refused to engage in large scale drunken banquets, giving promises to the population to share in political power. The largesse he showed to the populace combined with the perception of him as a living example of virtue gave him a tremendous amount of power in Athens.

After Ephialtes was assassinated by one of the oligarchs, Pericles became the most powerful political figure in Athens. After Ephialtes' death, Pericles further developed the democratic structure and made arrangements that allowed the common people to take a more active role in politics. His personal commitment to democracy without the extremism of his predecessor gave him a wide appeal and led to unprecedented levels of popular participation. He strengthened the amount of privileges for the Boule and passed laws encouraging the people to participate directly in decision-making in the assembly (Ekklesia). Every male Athenian citizen who had completed the mandatory period of military service had a voice in the Ekklesia where important matters of state were debated and decided.

One of Pericles' most important reforms was the introduction of residual payment for public office in the Boule, an initiative that he considered an improvement over the restricted system of his great uncle. Whereas previously only the monied and wealthy could afford to hold public office, Pericles introduced a system where politicians of whichever origin were paid to represent the demos, enabling poorer citizens to engage in public service. For better or for worse, a large segment of society now had significant power to shape the character of the Athenian state, yet paradoxically this empowered Pericles who was known to all as the "First Citizen".

Pericles, Pietro Perugino, Uffizi Gallery

THE BLOSSOMING OF ATHENS

On the other hand, Pericles also sought to render Athenian privileges strictly for Athenians. A controversial law of his limited Athenian citizenship to those born to two Athenian parents, making someone born of only one citizen a metic (legal foreigner with restricted rights). Although this law was overwhelmingly aimed at other Greeks, this tendency has given Pericles a reputation in certain circles for being an ethno-centrist or harbinger of modern nationalism and populism.

Reconstructed watercolor of Athens, P. Connolly, from John M. Camp, The Archaeology of Athens, 2001

Under Pericles' leadership, Athens became not only a military and political power, but also a cultural center. Pericles undertook major projects to make Athens the intellectual and artistic capital of the Greek world as he believed that mousike (the arts) would elevate the spiritual lot of the population, entrenching their commitment to political and military efforts. Due to this, he even pushed forward a policy for the poor to be able to watch plays without needing to pay hefty admissions.

One of Pericles' greatest achievements were his massive construction projects on the Acropolis of Athens. The Parthenon is the largest and most famous of these projects. Built in the name of Athena Parthenos (Virgin Athena), this temple is considered one of the greatest works of architecture and art of the period that stands to this very day. The Parthenon symbolized the wealth, power and cultural superiority of Athens, an eternal testimony to the power of this state.

Pericles was known to have associated Athena as his patron deity. Beyond just being a patriotic gesture in paying dues to the city’s patron Goddess, he encouraged this visual association due to the theory of Nous (the cosmic mind setting things in its proper order) that Anaxagoras had formulated: Athena was associated with the concept of Nous. Pericles believed that shaping Athens into a culturally distinct realm via human ingenuity and the arts gave it an advantage as a rational and orderly entity.

With all these efforts under the leadership of Pheidias, Plutarch relates that Athena was greatly pleased by the construction of these buildings. A skilled artisan who had fallen from a great height and came close to death while working on the Pantheon was seen as a bad omen for the project and greatly troubled the Athenian leader, yet She appeared to Pericles in a dream and recommended a treatment regimen for successively curing his dire state, upon which Pericles built a golden statue to Athena Hygieia.

Phidias Showing the Frieze of the Parthenon to Pericles, Aspasia, Alcibiades and Friends,
by Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery

He also was keenly aware that conscripting the non-military elements of the city and keeping them occupied in productive matters was highly important. This was a secondary reason Pericles pursued these projects, yet it was important in quelling discontent between the military and civilian classes, forging a sense of civic unity that constituted the era of the so -called Pax Athenaica (Athenian peace).

These major construction projects transformed not only the appearance of Athens, but also the cultural identity of the Athenians. In a sense, under Pericles, Athens became not only a military power, but also a leading city in the arts, science and philosophy. Within the blossoming of this intellectual atmosphere, sculptors like Phidias, philosophers like Socrates and playwrights like Euripides and Sophocles came to the fore.

ORATORY

Oratory is an area where Pericles continues to maintain strong levels of fame. Scintillant speeches effused with verve and style relayed by Thucydides, such as the Funeral Oration, are a cornerstone of Western political theory and literature. Historians point out that the expressive powers of the Athenian leader were enough to vanquish his enemies and to quell numerous scandals. They also stand stylistically as some of the most masterful tracts of Attic Greek: Pericles indeed was known to wield language as a weapon and was known to invent new words on the spot that became part of the Attic lexicon. In this sense, he is comparable to Shakespeare’s stature in English.

As a leader, his speeches were few and far between and commonly given during crises for the ultimate dramatic effect, which led some historians to accuse him of being manipulative and demagogic. When engaging the public, he posed rational solutions to problems of the demos and sought to channel the frenzy of crowds into practical solutions for Athens through encouraging bravery and passion in the citizenry. In every speech, Pericles emphasizes the privilege of democracy and freedom of thought as a cornerstone of Athenian greatness that they must fight or die for.

It was from natural science, as the divine Plato says, that he “acquired his loftiness of thought and perfectness of execution, in addition to his natural gifts,” and by applying what he learned to the art of speaking, he far excelled all other speakers. It was thus, they say, that he got his surname; though some suppose it was from the structures with which he adorned the city, and others from his ability as a statesman and a general, that he was called Olympian. It is not at all unlikely that his reputation was the result of the blending in him of many high qualities. But the comic poets of that day, who let fly, both in earnest and in jest, many shafts of speech against him, make it plain that he got this surname chiefly because of his diction; they spoke of him as “thundering” and “lightening” when he harangued his audience, and as “wielding a dread thunderbolt in his tongue”.¹

Pericles made strategic moves to develop Athens' maritime power and expand the city-state's sphere of influence. He formed an alliance called the Delian League, which initially started as a defensive alliance against the Persian Empire, but over time it turned into a structure in which Athens established a hegemony. With the money collected from the members of the League, Athens' naval power was increased and the most powerful fleet in the Mediterranean was established. The commercial elements of Athenian life also expanded to grandiose levels.

However, this hegemonic attitude began to cause discomfort among other Greek city-states. Certain colonies and states chafed under the exorbitant amounts they were compelled to give to Athens merely for the glory of the city. Sparta was particularly uncomfortable with Athens becoming so powerful and taking other city-states under its control. As a result, relations between Athens and Sparta became strained, and this tension would lead to the outbreak of the Peloponnesian War towards the end of Pericles' reign.

THE END OF THE GOLDEN AGE

By his final years, the Peloponnesian War broke out between Athens and Sparta. This war would shake the Greek world for decades and mark the end of Pericles' career. When the war began, Pericles was the military leader of Athens and he guided strategic decisions. Knowing that Athens would never win a battle against the hardened Spartan forces on land, his war strategy was based on defense. He envisioned that the Athenians would stay within the city walls, while the navy would defeat the enemy at sea. Instead of engaging in direct combat against Sparta's extremely powerful land army, he planned a long-term defensive war based on Athenian naval supremacy.

Hence quickly Athenians were ordered to stay inside the city walls and resist Spartan attacks. However, as much of the Athenian population lived outside the walls, the amount of people in the inner city created unexpected and severe problems. A great plague broke out in Athens. The city's large population was trapped inside the city walls and the disease spread rapidly. It killed a large part of the Athenian population and negatively affected the course of the war.

Pericles was a victim of this plague. His death was a great loss for Athens. During his years as the leader of Athens, Pericles had won the trust of the people as a charismatic and strategic leader. After his death, Athens had a difficult time in the Peloponnesian War. Political instability increased in Athens after Pericles' leadership, and it was eventually defeated by Sparta.

After Pericles' death, Athens faced internal political conflicts and leadership problems. Without his strategic acumen and unifying leadership, Athens underwent a series of coups and disastrous failures. This defeat marked the end of the Golden Age of Athens and the temporary prominence of Sparta in the Greek world, which was then replaced in its hegemonic power by Thebes and the rising powers of the Kingdom of Macedon.

Pericles' legacy was not only limited to Athens' political and military power, but also left a deep mark in the cultural, artistic and intellectual spheres. Many of the developments that led to the golden age of Athens and laid the foundations of Western civilization were shaped under Pericles' leadership.

One of Pericles' greatest legacies is his contribution to democracy. Although Athenian democracy was not perfect, and large sections of the population, such as women and foreigners, could not vote, a system was created that allowed a large part of the population to have direct influence on politics. The democratic institutions developed under Pericles' leadership formed the cornerstones of Western democracy and were the source of many of today's democratic structures. In a sense, Pericles can be called the father of liberalism.

Socrates held a very ambivalent view of Pericles. While he praises him as a "good man" and "wise in the affairs of the city" in the Meno, he felt the artistic and commercial splendor of Athens did not translate to the Athenians gaining better souls. The largesse (paying off the public with reforms, gifts, benefits and large amounts of money) of Pericles is considered by Socrates to have made the Athenians lazy and spiteful on the public purse.

In the Gorgias dialogue, he also criticized the function of rhetorical speech as fundamentally being a non-career and claimed consequently that Pericles was misleading people into a lack of truthfulness via his speeches and drawing Athens into unnecessary wars. Above all, controversially, Socrates also continued to attack the democratic system as fundamentally unideal. In spite of this, Pericles fundamentally respected Socrates and did not censor him as later democrats such as Anytus did.

The Roman writers greatly admired Pericles for his political abilities and for creating the archetype of a great city-state that the city of Rome would be modelled on, yet also scrutinized his abilities to manipulate largesse, which was seen as a vulgar quality associated with tyrants propped up by plebeians in Roman culture.

Thucydides’ accounts of Pericles also continued to influence certain republican projects in particular as the Middle Ages reached their end. Officials and scholars of medieval Italian Republics such as Florence, Pisa and Venice referenced Periclean reforms and sought to emulate his moderate attitudes. By the Enlightenment, Voltaire proclaimed Pericles as the model of a benevolent ruler. Others, such as Machiavelli, used Pericles as an example of a cunning and sly politician.

John Adams and Alexander Hamilton referenced the bonuses and pitfalls of Pericles’ rule in the Federalist Papers and other research projects designed to delineate the character of the United States of America. Careful studies of legal tracts and other developments led to many facets of the laws and civic regulations of the greatest power on Earth.

Nietzsche, although extremely contemptuous of democracy, gave a positive valuation of the Golden Age of Athens, particularly artistically as the great age of mousike. He also attacked the traditional Socratic reading of the decline of Athens as being due to immorality as fundamentally bigoted and short sighted, stating that the Athenian willingness to create and destroy stood as an eternal example of life-affirmation.

His reforms inspired the development of democratic ideals not only in Athens but also in later European states and the modern world. The ability of the people to participate directly in governance and have a say in political processes was strengthened in Pericles' Athens and became a part of Western thought.