Pericles

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Pericles : biography

circa 495 BC – 429 BC

Plutarch says that Pericles stood first among the Athenians for forty years.Plutarch, Pericles, XVI 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.Plutarch, Pericles, VIIPlutarch, Pericles, IX

In 463 BC, Pericles was the leading prosecutor of Cimon, the leader of the conservative faction who was accused of neglecting Athens’ vital interests in Macedon.Aristotle, Constitution of Athens, Although Cimon was acquitted, this confrontation proved that Pericles’ major political opponent was vulnerable.Plutarch, Cimon,

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.Fornara-Samons, Athens from Cleisthenes to Pericles, 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. 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. 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. 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.L.J. Samons, What’s Wrong with Democracy?, 80

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.Plutarch, Cimon,

Even after Cimon’s ostracism, Pericles continued to espouse and promote a populist social policy. 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 the archonship 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.Fornara-Samons, Athens from Cleisthenes to Pericles, His most controversial measure, however, was a law of 451 BC limiting Athenian citizenship to those of Athenian parentage on both sides.R. Martin,

"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 as recorded by Thucydides ()

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.K. Paparrigopoulos, History of the Greek Nation, Ab, 145 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.Aristotle, Constitution of Athens, and Politics,