Pericles
This article is about
the Greek statesman. For other uses, see Pericles
(disambiguation). For other persons named Perikles, see Perikles (given name).
Pericles
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 Bust of Pericles bearing the inscription "Pericles, son of Xanthippus, Athenian". Marble, Roman copy after a Greek original from ca. 430 BC |
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Born
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ca. 495 BC
Athens |
Died
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429 BC
Athens |
Allegiance
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Rank
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Battles/wars
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Battle in Sicyon and Acarnania (454 BC)
Second Sacred War (448 BC) Expulsion of barbarians from Gallipoli(447 BC) Samian War (440 BC) Siege of Byzantium (438 BC) Peloponnesian War (431–429 BC) |
Pericles (Greek: Περικλῆς, Periklēs,
"surrounded by glory"; c. 495 – 429 BC) was the most prominent and
influential Greek statesmen, orator, and general of Athens during the city's Golden Age—specifically, the time between the Persian and Peloponnesian wars. He was descended,
through his mother, from the powerful and historically influential Alcmaeonid family.
Pericles had such a
profound influence on Athenian society that Thucydides, his contemporary historian,
acclaimed him as "the first citizen of Athens".[1] Pericles turned the Delian League into an Athenian empire and
led his countrymen during the first two years of the Peloponnesian War. The
period during which he led Athens, roughly from 461 to 429 BC, is
sometimes known as the "Age of Pericles", though the period thus
denoted can include times as early as the Persian Wars, or as late as the next century.
Pericles promoted the
arts and literature; it is principally through his efforts that Athens holds
the reputation of being the educational and cultural center of the ancient Greek world. He started an ambitious
project that generated most of the surviving structures on the Acropolis (including
theParthenon). This project beautified the city,
exhibited its glory, and gave work to the people.[2]Pericles also fostered Athenian democracy to
such an extent that critics call him a populist.[3][4]
[edit]Early years
Pericles was born c.
495 BC, in the deme of Cholargos just north of Athens.α[›] He was the son of the
politician Xanthippus, who,
although ostracized in 485–484 BC, returned to
Athens to command the Athenian contingent in the Greek victory at Mycale just five years later. Pericles'
mother, Agariste, a scion of the powerful and controversial noble family of the Alcmaeonidae, and her familial connections
played a crucial role in starting Xanthippus' political career. Agariste was
the great-granddaughter of the tyrant of Sicyon, Cleisthenes,
and the niece of the supreme Athenian reformer Cleisthenes, another Alcmaeonid.β[›][5]
According to Herodotus and Plutarch, Agariste dreamed, a few nights
before Pericles' birth, that she had borne a lion.[6][7] One interpretation of the
anecdote treats the lion as a traditional symbol of greatness, but the story
may also allude to the unusual size of Pericles' skull, which became a popular
target of contemporary comedians (who called him "Squill-head", after
the Squill or Sea-Onion).[7][8] (Although Plutarch claims that
this deformity was the reason that Pericles was always depicted wearing a
helmet, this is not the case; the helmet was actually the symbol of his
official rank as strategos (general).[9]
"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."
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Pericles belonged to
the local tribe of Acamantis (Ἀκαμαντὶς φυλή).
His early years were quiet; the introverted young Pericles took to avoiding
public appearances, instead preferring to devote his time to his studies.[10]
His family's nobility
and wealth allowed him to fully pursue his inclination toward education. He
learned music from the masters of the time (Damon or
Pythocleides could have been his teacher)[11][12] and he is considered to have
been the first politician to attribute great importance to philosophy.[10] He enjoyed the company of the philosophers Protagoras, Zeno of Elea, and Anaxagoras. Anaxagoras, in particular, became
a close friend and influenced him greatly.[11][13]
Pericles' manner of
thought and rhetorical charisma may have been in part products of Anaxagoras'
emphasis on emotional calm in the face of trouble and skepticism about divine
phenomena.[5] His proverbial calmness and
self-control are also regarded as products of Anaxagoras' influence.[14]
[edit]Political career
until 431 BC
[edit]Entering politics
In the spring of 472
BC, Pericles presented The Persians of Aeschylus at the Greater Dionysia as a liturgy,
demonstrating that he was one of the wealthier men of Athens.[5] Simon Hornblower has argued
that Pericles' selection of this play, which presents a nostalgic picture of Themistocles' famous victory atSalamis, shows that the young politician was
supporting Themistocles against his political opponent Cimon,
whose faction succeeded in having Themistocles ostracized shortly afterwards.[15]
Plutarch says that
Pericles stood first among the Athenians for forty years.[16] If this was so, Pericles must
have taken up a position of leadership by the early 460s BC- in his early or
mid-thirties. Throughout these years he endeavored to protect his privacy and
tried to present himself as a model for his fellow citizens. For example, he
would often avoid banquets, trying to be frugal.[17][18]
In 463 BC, Pericles
was the leading prosecutor of Cimon, the leader of the conservative faction who
was accused of neglecting Athens' vital interests inMacedon.[19] Although Cimon was acquitted,
this confrontation proved that Pericles' major political opponent was
vulnerable.[20]
[edit]Ostracizing Cimon
Around 461 BC, the
leadership of the democratic party decided it was time to take aim at the Areopagus, a traditional council controlled by
the Athenian aristocracy, which had once been the most powerful body in the
state.[21] The leader of the party and
mentor of Pericles, Ephialtes,
proposed a sharp reduction of the Areopagus' powers. The Ecclesia (the
Athenian Assembly) adopted Ephialtes' proposal without strong opposition.[18] This reform signalled the
commencement of a new era of "radical democracy".[21]
The democratic party
gradually became dominant in Athenian politics and Pericles seemed willing to
follow a populist policy in order to cajole the public. According to Aristotle, Pericles' stance can be explained
by the fact that his principal political opponent, Cimon,
was rich and generous, and was able to secure public favor by lavishly
bestowing his sizable personal fortune.[19] The historian Loren J. Samons
II argues, however, that Pericles had enough resources to make a political mark
by private means, had he so chosen.[22]
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 by acting as a friend of Sparta.[23]
Even after Cimon's
ostracism, Pericles continued to espouse and promote a populist social policy.[18] He first proposed a decree
that permitted the poor to watch theatrical plays without paying, with the
state covering the cost of their admission. With other decrees he lowered the
property requirement for thearchonship in 458–457
BC and bestowed generous wages on all citizens who served as jurymen in the Heliaia (the supreme court of Athens)
some time just after 454 BC.[24] His most controversial
measure, however, was a law of 451 BC limiting Athenian citizenship to those of
Athenian parentage on both sides.[25]
"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."
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Such measures
impelled Pericles' critics to regard him as responsible for the gradual
degeneration of the Athenian democracy. Constantine
Paparrigopoulos, a major modern Greek historian, argues that
Pericles sought for the expansion and stabilization of all democratic
institutions.[26] Hence, he enacted legislation
granting the lower classes access to the political system and the public
offices, from which they had previously been barred on account of limited means
or humble birth.[27]
According to Samons,
Pericles believed that it was necessary to raise the demos, in which he saw an
untapped source of Athenian power and the crucial element of Athenian military
dominance.[28] (The fleet, backbone of
Athenian power since the days of Themistocles, was manned almost entirely by
members of the lower classes.[29])
Cimon, on the other
hand, apparently believed that no further free space for democratic evolution
existed. He was certain that democracy had reached its peak and Pericles'
reforms were leading to the stalemate of populism. According to
Paparrigopoulos, history vindicated Cimon, because Athens, after Pericles'
death, sank into the abyss of political turmoil and demagogy. Paparrigopoulos
maintains that an unprecedented regression descended upon the city, whose glory
perished as a result of Pericles' populist policies.[26]
According to another
historian, Justin Daniel King, radical democracy benefited people individually,
but harmed the state.[30] On the other hand, Donald Kaganasserts that the democratic
measures Pericles put into effect provided the basis for an unassailable
political strength.[31] After all, Cimon finally
accepted the new democracy and did not oppose the citizenship law, after he
returned from exile in 451 BC.[32]
[edit]Leading Athens
Ephialtes' murder in
461 BC paved the way for Pericles to consolidate his authority.δ[›] Lacking any robust opposition
after the expulsion of Cimon, 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.
[edit]First Peloponnesian
War
Main article: First Peloponnesian
War
"Phidias
Showing the Frieze of the Parthenon to Pericles, Aspasia, Alcibiades and
friends", by Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema,
1868, Birmingham
Museum & Art Gallery
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 Sicyonand Acarnania.[33] He then unsuccessfully tried
to take Oeniadea on the Corinthian gulf, before returning to Athens.[34] 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 which indicates a shift in Pericles' political
strategy.[35] Pericles may have realized the
importance of Cimon's contribution during the ongoing conflicts against the
Peloponnesians and the Persians. Anthony J. Podlecki argues, however,
that Pericles' alleged change of position was invented by ancient writers to
support "a tendentious view of Pericles' shiftiness".[36]
Plutarch states 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.[37] If it was actually made, this
bargain would constitute a concession on Pericles' part that he was not a great
strategist. Kagan believes that Cimon adapted himself to the new conditions and
promoted a political marriage between Periclean liberals and Cimonian
conservatives.[32]
In the mid-450s the Athenians
launched an unsuccessful attempt to aid an Egyptian revolt against Persia,
which led to a prolonged siege of a Persian fortress in the Nile Delta.
The campaign culminated in a disaster on a very large scale; the besieging
force was defeated and destroyed.[38] In 451–450 BC the Athenians
sent troops to Cyprus. Cimon defeated the Persians in the Battle of
Salamis-in-Cyprus, but died of disease in 449 BC. Pericles is
said to have initiated both expeditions in Egypt and Cyprus,[39] although some researchers,
such as Karl Julius Beloch,
argue that the dispatch of such a great fleet conforms with the spirit of
Cimon's policy.[40]
Complicating the
account of this complex period is the issue of the Peace of Callias, which allegedly ended
hostilities between the Greeks and the Persians. The very existence of the
treaty is hotly disputed, and its particulars and negotiation are equally
ambiguous.[41] Ernst Badian believes that a
peace between Athens and Persia was first ratified in 463 BC (making the
Athenian interventions in Egypt and Cyprus violations of the peace), and
renegotiated at the conclusion of the campaign in Cyprus, taking force again by
449–448 BC.[42]
John Fine, on the
other hand, suggests that the first peace between Athens and Persia was
concluded in 450–449 BC, as a result of Pericles' strategic calculation that
ongoing conflict with Persia was undermining Athens' ability to spread its
influence in Greece and the Aegean.[41] Kagan believes that Pericles
used Callias, a brother-in-law of Cimon, as a
symbol of unity and employed him several times to negotiate important
agreements.[43]
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, but Pericles' real intentions remain unclear.[44] 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.[45] According to the historian
Terry Buckley the objective of the Congress Decree was a new mandate for the Delian League and for the collection of
"phoros" (taxes).[46]
"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."
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During the Second Sacred War Pericles led the
Athenian army against Delphi and reinstatedPhocis in its sovereign rights on the oracle.[47] In 447 BC Pericles engaged in
his most admired excursion, the expulsion of barbarians from the Thracian
peninsula of Gallipoli, in order to
establish Athenian colonists in the region.[5][48] At this time, however, Athens
was seriously challenged by a number of revolts among its allies (or, to be
more accurate, its subjects). 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 was forced to concede the loss of Boeotia in order
to recover the prisoners taken in that battle.[10] With Boeotia in hostile hands,
Phocis and Locris became untenable and quickly fell under the control of
hostile oligarchs.[49]
In 446 BC, a more
dangerous uprising erupted. Euboea and Megara revolted. Pericles crossed over to Euboea with
his troops, but was forced to return when the Spartan army invaded Attica. Through bribery and negotiations, Pericles defused
the imminent threat, and the Spartans returned home.[50] 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.[51]
After the Spartan
threat had been removed, Pericles crossed back to Euboea to crush the revolt
there. He then inflicted a stringent punishment on the landowners of Chalcis, who lost their properties. The
residents of Istiaia, meanwhile, who had butchered the crew
of an Athenian trireme, were uprooted and
replaced by 2,000 Athenian settlers.[51] The crisis was brought to an
official end by the Thirty Years' Peace (winter
of 446–445 BC), in which Athens relinquished most of the possessions and
interests on the Greek mainland which it had acquired since 460 BC, and
both Athens and Sparta agreed not to attempt to win over the other state's
allies.[49]
[edit]Final battle with the conservatives
In 444 BC, the
conservative and the democratic factions confronted each other in a fierce
struggle. The ambitious new leader of the conservatives, Thucydides(not
to be confused with the historian of the same name), accused Pericles of
profligacy, criticizing the way he spent the money for the ongoing building
plan. Thucydides managed, initially, to incite the passions of the ecclesia in
his favor, but, when Pericles, 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.[52]
His stance was
greeted with applause, and Thucydides suffered an unexpected defeat. In
442 BC, the Athenian public voted to ostracize Thucydides from the city for 10
years and Pericles was once again the unchallenged suzerain of the Athenian political arena.[52]
[edit]Athens' rule over its
alliance
Bust of Pericles
after Kresilas,Altes Museum, Berlin
Pericles wanted to
stabilize Athens' dominance over its alliance and to enforce its pre-eminence
in Greece. The process by which the Delian League transformed into an Athenian
empire is generally considered to have begun well before Pericles' time,[53] as various allies in the
league chose to pay tribute to Athens instead of manning ships for the league's
fleet, but the transformation was speeded and brought to its conclusion by
measures implemented by Pericles.[54]
The final steps in
the shift to empire may have been triggered by Athens' defeat in Egypt, which
challenged the city's dominance in the Aegean and led to the revolt of several
allies, such as Miletus and Erythrae.[55] Either because of a genuine
fear for its safety after the defeat in Egypt and the revolts of the allies, or
as a pretext to gain control of the League's finances, Athens transferred the
treasury of the alliance from Delos to Athens in
454–453 BC.[56]
By 450–449 BC the
revolts in Miletus and Erythrae were quelled and Athens restored its rule over
its allies.[57] Around 447 BC Clearchus
proposed the Coinage Decree, which imposed Athenian silver coinage, weights and
measures on all of the allies.[46] According to one of the
decree's most stringent provisions, surplus from a minting operation was to go
into a special fund, and anyone proposing to use it otherwise was subject to
the death penalty.[58]
It was from the
alliance's treasury that Pericles drew the funds necessary to enable his
ambitious building plan, centered on the "Periclean Acropolis", which
included the Propylaea, the Parthenon
and the golden statue of Athena, sculpted by Pericles' friend, Phidias.[59] In 449 BC Pericles proposed a
decree allowing the use of 9,000 talents to finance the major rebuilding
program of Athenian temples.[46] Angelos Vlachos, a Greek Academician, points out that the utilization
of the alliance's treasury, initiated and executed by Pericles, is one of the
largest embezzlements in human history; this misappropriation financed,
however, some of the most marvellous artistic creations of the ancient world.[60]
[edit]Samian War
Main article: Samian War
The Samian War was
one of the last significant military events before the Peloponnesian War. After
Thucydides' ostracism, Pericles was re-elected yearly to the generalship, the
only office he ever officially occupied, although his influence was so great as
to make him the de facto ruler of the state. In 440 BCSamos was
at war with Miletus over control of Priene, an ancient city of Ionia on
the foot-hills of Mycale. Worsted in the war,
the Milesians came to Athens to plead their case against the Samians.[61]
When the Athenians
ordered the two sides to stop fighting and submit the case to arbitration at
Athens, the Samians refused.[62] In response, Pericles passed a
decree dispatching an expedition to Samos, "alleging against its people
that, although they were ordered to break off their war against the Milesians,
they were not complying".ε[›]
In a naval battle the
Athenians led by Pericles and the other nine generals defeated the forces of
Samos and imposed on the island an administration pleasing to them.[62] When the Samians revolted against
Athenian rule, Pericles compelled the rebels to capitulate after a tough siege
of eight months, which resulted in substantial discontent among the Athenian
sailors.[63] Pericles then quelled a revolt
in Byzantium and, when he returned to
Athens, gave a funeral oration to honor the soldiers who died in the
expedition.[64]
Between 438-436 BC
Pericles led Athens' fleet in Pontus and established
friendly relations with the Greek cities of the region.[65] Pericles focused also on
internal projects, such as the fortification of Athens (the building of the
"middle wall" about 440 BC), and on the creation of new cleruchies, such as Andros,Naxos and Thurii (444 BC) as well as Amphipolis (437–436 BC).[66]
[edit]Personal attacks
Aspasia of Miletus (c. 469 BC – c.
406 BC), Pericles' companion.
Pericles and his
friends were never immune from attack, as preeminence in democratic Athens was
not equivalent to absolute rule.[67] Just before the eruption of
the Peloponnesian War, Pericles and two of his closest associates, Phidias and
his companion, Aspasia, faced a series of
personal and judicial attacks.
Phidias, who had been
in charge of all building projects, was first accused of embezzling gold
intended for the statue ofAthena 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, and also inserted
a very fine likeness of Pericles fighting with an Amazon.[68] Pericles' enemies also found a
false witness against Phidias, named Menon.[citation needed]
Aspasia, who was
noted for her ability as a conversationalist and adviser, was accused of
corrupting the women of Athens in order to satisfy Pericles' perversions.[69][70][71][72] The accusations against her
were probably nothing more than unproven slanders, but the whole experience was
very bitter for Pericles. 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 ecclesiafor
his religious beliefs.[68]
Beyond these initial
prosecutions, the ecclesia attacked Pericles himself by asking him to justify
his ostensible profligacy with, and maladministration of, public money.[70] According to Plutarch,
Pericles was so afraid of the oncoming trial that he did not let the Athenians
yield to the Lacedaemonians.[70] Beloch also believes that
Pericles deliberately brought on the war to protect his political position at
home.[73] Thus, at the start of the
Peloponnesian War, Athens found itself in the awkward position of entrusting
its future to a leader whose pre-eminence had just been seriously shaken for
the first time in over a decade.[10]
[edit]Peloponnesian War
Main article: Peloponnesian War
The causes of the
Peloponnesian War have been much debated, but many ancient historians lay the
blame on Pericles and Athens. Plutarch seems to believe that Pericles and the
Athenians incited the war, scrambling to implement their belligerent tactics
"with a sort of arrogance and a love of strife".στ[›]Thucydides hints at the same thing,
believing the reason for the war was Sparta's fear of Athenian power and
growth. However, as he is generally regarded as an admirer of Pericles,
Thucydides has been criticized for bias towards Sparta.ζ[›]
[edit]Prelude to the war
Anaxagoras and
Pericles by Augustin-Louis Belle (1757–1841)
Pericles was
convinced that the war against Sparta, which could not conceal its envy of
Athens' pre-eminence, was inevitable if not to be welcomed.[74] Therefore he did not hesitate
to send troops to Corcyra to reinforce
the Corcyraean fleet, which was fighting against Corinth.[75] In 433 BC the enemy fleets
confronted each other at theBattle of Sybota and a year later the
Athenians fought Corinthian colonists at the Battle of Potidaea;
these two events contributed greatly to Corinth's lasting hatred of Athens. During
the same period, Pericles proposed theMegarian Decree, which resembled a modern
trade embargo. According to the provisions of the decree, 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 toGeorge Cawkwell, a praelector in ancient history, with this decree Pericles
breached the Thirty Years' Peace "but,
perhaps, not without the semblance of an excuse".[76] The Athenians' justification
was that the Megarians had cultivated the sacred land consecrated to Demeter and had given refuge to runaway
slaves, a behavior which the Athenians considered to be impious.[77]
After consultations
with its allies, Sparta sent a deputation to Athens demanding certain
concessions, such as the immediate expulsion of the Alcmaeonidae family
including Pericles and the retraction of the Megarian Decree, threatening war
if the demands were not met. The obvious purpose of these proposals was the
instigation of a confrontation between Pericles and the people; this event,
indeed, would come about a few years later.[78] At that time, the Athenians
unhesitatingly followed 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.[79] 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".[80] 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.[81] The terms were rejected by the
Spartans, and, with neither side willing to back down, the two sides prepared
for war. According to Athanasios G. Platias and Constantinos Koliopoulos,
professors of strategic studies and international
politics, "rather than to submit to coercive demands, Pericles
chose war".[80] Another consideration that may
well have influenced Pericles' stance was the concern that revolts in the
empire might spread if Athens showed herself weak.[82]
[edit]First year of the war
(431 BC)
The Parthenon, a masterpiece prompted by Pericles,
from the south
In 431 BC, while
peace already was precarious, Archidamus II, Sparta's king, sent a new
delegation to Athens, demanding that the Athenians submit to Sparta's demands.
This deputation was not allowed to enter Athens, as Pericles had already passed
a resolution according to which no Spartan deputation would be welcomed if the
Spartans had previously initiated any hostile military actions. The Spartan
army was at this time gathered at Corinth, and, citing this as a hostile
action, the Athenians refused to admit their emissaries.[83] With his last attempt at
negotiation thus declined, Archidamus invadedAttica, but found no Athenians there; Pericles, aware that
Sparta's strategy would be to invade and ravage Athenian territory, had
previously arranged to evacuate the entire population of the region to within
the walls of Athens.[84]
No definite record
exists of how exactly Pericles managed to convince the residents of Attica to
agree to move into the crowded urban areas. For most, the move meant abandoning
their land and ancestral shrines and completely changing their lifestyle.[85] Therefore, although they
agreed to leave, many rural residents were far from happy with Pericles'
decision.[86]Pericles also gave his compatriots
some advice on their present affairs and reassured them that, if the enemy did
not plunder his farms, he would offer his property to the city. This promise
was prompted by his concern that Archidamus, who was a friend of his, might
pass by his estate without ravaging it, either as a gesture of friendship or as
a calculated political move aimed to alienate Pericles from his constituents.[87]
"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."
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In any case, seeing
the pillage of their farms, the Athenians were outraged, and they soon began to
indirectly express their discontent towards their leader, who many of them
considered to have drawn them into the war. Even when in the face of mounting pressure,
Pericles did not give in to the demands for immediate action against the enemy
or revise his initial strategy. He also avoided convening the ecclesia, fearing
that the populace, outraged by the unopposed ravaging of their farms, might
rashly decide to challenge the vaunted Spartan army in the field.[88] As meetings of the assembly
were called at the discretion of its rotating presidents, the
"prytanies", Pericles had no formal control over their scheduling;
rather, the respect in which Pericles was held by the prytanies was apparently
sufficient to persuade them to do as he wished.[89] While the Spartan army
remained in Attica, Pericles 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.[90] When the enemy retired and the
pillaging 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 proposing a different use 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 431–430
BC) he delivered his monumental and emotional Funeral Oration,
honoring the Athenians who died for their city.[91]
[edit]Last military operations and death
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.[92] Unwilling to engage the
Spartan army in battle, he again led a naval expedition to plunder the coasts
of the Peloponnese, this time taking 100 Athenian ships with him.[93]According to Plutarch, just before
the sailing of the ships an eclipse of the sun frightened
the crews, but Pericles used the astronomical knowledge he had acquired from
Anaxagoras to calm them.[94] In the summer of the same year
an epidemic broke out and devastated the Athenians.[95] The exact identity of the disease is uncertain, and has been the
source of much debate.η[›] In any case, the city's
plight, caused by the epidemic, triggered a new wave of public uproar, and
Pericles was forced to defend himself in an emotional final speech, a rendition
of which is presented by Thucydides.[96] This is considered to be a
monumental oration, revealing Pericles' virtues but also his bitterness towards
his compatriots' ingratitude.[10] 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 managed to deprive him of
the generalship and to fine him at an amount estimated between 15 and 50
talents.[94] Ancient sources mention Cleon,
a rising and dynamic protagonist of the Athenian political scene during the
war, as the public prosecutor in Pericles' trial.[94]
Nevertheless, within
just a year, in 429 BC, the Athenians not only forgave Pericles but also
re-elected him as strategos.θ[›] 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.[10] In that year, however,
Pericles witnessed the death of both his legitimate sons from his first wife, Paralus and
Xanthippus, in the epidemic. His morale undermined, he burst into
tears and not even Aspasia's companionship could console him. He himself died
of the plague in the autumn of 429 BC.
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".[97] Pericles lived during the
first two and a half years of the Peloponnesian War and, according to
Thucydides, his death was a disaster for Athens, since his successors were
inferior to him; they preferred to incite all the bad habits of the rabble and
followed an unstable policy, endeavoring to be popular rather than useful.[1] With these bitter comments,
Thucydides not only laments the loss of a man he admired, but he also heralds
the flickering of Athens' unique glory and grandeur.
[edit]Personal life
Pericles, following
Athenian custom, was first married to one of his closest relatives, with whom
he had two sons, Paralus and
Xanthippus, but around 445 BC, Pericles divorced his wife. He
offered her to another husband, with the agreement of her male relatives.[98] 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 Callias from this first marriage.[99]
"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."
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The woman he really
adored was Aspasia of Miletus. She became Pericles'
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.[100] 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. Just before his death,
the Athenians allowed a change in the law of 451 BC that made his half-Athenian
son with Aspasia, Pericles the Younger,
a citizen and legitimate heir,[101] a decision all the more
striking in consideration that Pericles himself had proposed the law confining
citizenship to those of Athenian parentage on both sides.[102]
[edit]Assessments
Pericles marked a
whole era and inspired conflicting judgments about his significant decisions.
The fact that he was at the same time a vigorous statesman, general and orator
makes more complex the objective assessment of his actions.
[edit]Political leadership
An ostracon with Pericles' name written on
it (c. 444–443 BC), Museum of the ancient Agora of Athens
Some contemporary
scholars, for example Sarah Ruden, call Pericles a populist, a demagogue and a
hawk,[103]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".[104] It is told that when his
political opponent, Thucydides, was asked by Sparta's king, Archidamus, whether
he or Pericles was the better fighter, Thucydides answered without any
hesitation that Pericles was better, because even when he was defeated, he
managed to convince the audience that he had won.[10] 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".[16]
Thucydides, an
admirer of Pericles, maintains that Athens was "in name a democracy but,
in fact, governed by its first citizen".[1] Through this comment, the historian
illustrates what he perceives as Pericles' charisma to lead, convince and,
sometimes, to manipulate. Although Thucydides mentions the fining of Pericles,
he does not mention the accusations against Pericles but instead focuses on
Pericles' integrity.ι[›][1] On the other hand, in one of
his dialogues, Plato rejects the glorification of
Pericles and quote as saying: "as I know, Pericles made the Athenians
slothful, garrulous and avaricious, by starting the system of public
fees".[105] Plutarch mentions other
criticism of Pericles' leadership: "many others say that the people were
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".[18]
Thucydides argues
that Pericles "was not carried away by the people, but he was the one
guiding the people".[1] His judgement is not
unquestioned; some 20th-century critics, such as Malcolm F. McGregor and John
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.[106][107] According to King, by
increasing the power of the people, the Athenians left themselves with no
authoritative leader. During the Peloponnesian War, Pericles' dependence on
popular support to govern was obvious.[30]
[edit]Military achievements
For more than 20
years Pericles led many 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".[108] 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.[109] Pericles also tried to
minimize the advantages of Sparta by rebuilding the walls of Athens, which, it
has been suggested, radically altered the use of force in Greek international
relations.[110]
"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."
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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.[111] According to Platias and
Koliopoulos, Athens as the strongest party did not have to beat Sparta in
military terms and "chose to foil the Spartan plan for victory".[111] The two basic principles of
the "Periclean Grand Strategy" were the rejection of appeasement (in
accordance with which he urged the Athenians not to revoke the Megarian Decree)
and the avoidance of overextension.ια[›]According to Kagan, Pericles'
vehement insistence that there should be no diversionary expeditions may well
have resulted from the bitter memory of the Egyptian campaign, which he had
allegedly supported.[112] His strategy is said to have
been "inherently unpopular", but Pericles managed to persuade the
Athenian public to follow it.[113] It is for that reason that Hans Delbrück called him one of the
greatest statesmen and military leaders in history.[114] Although his countrymen
engaged in several aggressive actions soon after his death,[115] Platias and Koliopoulos argue
that the Athenians remained true to the larger Periclean strategy of seeking to
preserve, not expand, the empire, and did not depart from it until the Sicilian
Expedition.[113] For his part, Ben X. de Wet
concludes his strategy would have succeeded had he lived longer.[116]
Critics of Pericles'
strategy, however, have been just as numerous as its supporters. A common
criticism is that Pericles was always a better politician and orator than
strategist.[117] Donald Kagan called the Periclean
strategy "a form of wishful thinking that failed", Barry S. Strauss
and Josiah Ober have stated that "as strategist he was a failure and deserves
a share of the blame for Athens' great defeat", and Victor Davis Hanson believes
that Pericles had not worked out a clear strategy for an effective offensive action
that could possibly force Thebes or Sparta to stop the war.[118][119][120] Kagan criticizes the
Periclean strategy on four counts: first that by rejecting minor concessions it
brought about war; second, that it was unforeseen by the enemy and hence lacked
credibility; third, that it was too feeble to exploit any opportunities; and
fourth, that it depended on Pericles for its execution and thus was bound to be
abandoned after his death.[121] Kagan estimates Pericles'
expenditure on his military strategy in the Peloponnesian War to be about 2,000 talents annually, and based on this
figure concludes that he would only have enough money to keep the war going for
three years. He asserts that since Pericles must have known about these
limitations he probably planned for a much shorter war.[122][123] Others, such as Donald W.
Knight, conclude that the strategy was too defensive and would not succeed.[124]
On the other hand,
Platias and Koliopoulos reject these criticisms and state that "the
Athenians lost the war only when they dramatically reversed the Periclean grand
strategy that explicitly disdained further conquests".[125] Hanson stresses that the
Periclean strategy was not innovative, but could lead to a stagnancy in favor
of Athens.[122] It is a popular conclusion
that those succeeding him lacked his abilities and character.[126]
[edit]Oratorical skill
A painting by Hector
Leroux (1682–1740), which portrays Pericles and Aspasia, admiring the gigantic
statue of Athena in Phidias' studio
Modern commentators
of Thucydides, with other modern historians and
writers, take varying stances on the issue of how much of the speeches of
Pericles, as given by this historian, do actually represent Pericles' own words
and how much of them is free literary creation or paraphrase by Thucydides.ιβ[›] Since Pericles never wrote
down or distributed his orations,ιγ[›] no historians are able to
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.ιδ[›]
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.ιε[›] This might, however, be 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.
Kagan states that
Pericles adopted "an elevated mode of speech, free from the vulgar and
knavish tricks of mob-orators" and, according to Diodorus Siculus, he "excelled all his
fellow citizens in skill of oratory".[127][128] According to Plutarch, he avoided using gimmicks in his
speeches, unlike the passionate Demosthenes, and always spoke in a calm and
tranquil manner.[129] The biographer points out,
however, that the poet Ion reported
that Pericles' speaking style was "a presumptuous and somewhat arrogant
manner of address, and that into his haughtiness there entered a good deal of
disdain and contempt for others".[129]
Gorgias, in Plato's homonymous dialogue, uses
Pericles as an example of powerful oratory.[130] In Menexenus, however, Socrates casts aspersions
on Pericles' rhetorical fame, claiming ironically that, since Pericles was
educated by Aspasia, a trainer of many orators, he would be superior in
rhetoric to someone educated by Antiphon.[131] He also attributes authorship
of the Funeral Oration to Aspasia and attacks his contemporaries' veneration of
Pericles.[132]
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".[133]
Ancient Greek writers
call Pericles "Olympian" and extol his talents; referring to him
"thundering and lightening and exciting Greece" and carrying the
weapons of Zeus when orating.[134] 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.[135]
[edit]Legacy
Pericles' most
visible legacy can be found in the literary and artistic works of the Golden
Age, most of which survive to this day. The Acropolis, though in ruins, still
stands and is a symbol of modern Athens. Paparrigopoulos wrote that these
masterpieces are "sufficient to render the name of Greece immortal in our
world".[117]
In politics, Victor
L. Ehrenberg argues that a basic element of Pericles' legacy is Athenian
imperialism, which denies true democracy and freedom to the people of all but
the ruling state.[136] The promotion of such an
arrogant imperialism is said to have ruined Athens.[137] Pericles and his
"expansionary" policies have been at the center of arguments
promoting democracy in oppressed countries.[138][139]
Other analysts
maintain an Athenian humanism illustrated in the Golden Age.[140] The freedom of expression is
regarded as the lasting legacy deriving from this period.[141] Pericles is lauded as
"the ideal type of
the perfect statesman in ancient Greece" and his Funeral Oration is
nowadays synonymous with the struggle for participatory democracy and civic
pride.[117][142]
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