Pericles facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Pericles
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Bust of Pericles bearing the inscription "Pericles, son of Xanthippus, Athenian". Marble, Roman copy after a Greek original from c. 430 BC, Museo Pio-Clementino, Vatican Museums,
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| Born | c. 495 BC Athens, Greece |
| Died | 429 BC (aged c. 65 – 66) Athens, Greece |
| Allegiance | Athens |
| Rank | Strategos |
| Battles/wars |
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| Spouse(s) | Aspasia of Miletus |
| Children | Paralus and Xanthippus Pericles the Younger |
| Relations | Xanthippus (father) Agariste (mother) |
Pericles (/ˈpɛrɪkliːz/; Greek: Περικλῆς; c. 495 – 429 BC) was a Greek politician, orator and general during the Golden Age of Athens. He was prominent and influential in Athenian politics, particularly between the Greco-Persian Wars and the Peloponnesian War, and was acclaimed by Thucydides, a contemporary historian, as "the first citizen of Athens".
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Early years
Pericles was born c. 495 BC, in Athens, Greece. He was the son of the politician Xanthippus, who, though 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, was a member of the powerful noble family of the Alcmaeonidae. His mother's familial connections played a crucial role in helping start Xanthippus' political career. Agariste was the great-granddaughter of the tyrant of Sicyon, Cleisthenes, and the niece of the Athenian reformer Cleisthenes.
Pericles's early years were quiet; the young Pericles avoided public appearances and devoted his time to his studies. His family was wealthy enough to pay for his education. He learned music from the masters of the time. He also enjoyed the company of the philosophers Protagoras, Zeno of Elea, and Anaxagoras. Anaxagoras, in particular, became a close friend and influenced him greatly.
Rise to power
Pericles was an extremely wealthy man. He often handed out money to common people in the streets. As a member of the democratic party, he promoted 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. His most controversial measure, however, was a law of 451 BC limiting Athenian citizenship to those of Athenian parentage on both sides.
He soon became very popular among the Athenians. By 461, Pericles had also become the unchallengeable leader of the democratic party.
Leading Athens
In 461 BC, after the assassination of his predecessor, Pericles became the ruler of Athens. He remained in power until his death in 429 BC. The period during which he led Athens, roughly from 461 to 429 BC, is sometimes known as the "Age of Pericles".
Pericles turned the Delian League into an Athenian empire and led his countrymen during the first two years of the Peloponnesian War. Pericles fostered Athenian democracy to such an extent that critics called him a populist.
Military achievements
For more than 20 years Pericles led many expeditions, mainly naval ones. Being always cautious, he never undertook a battle involving much uncertainty.
During the Peloponnesian War, Pericles initiated a defensive "grand strategy" whose aim was to exhaust the enemy. He believed that Athens were stronger on water than on land. Pericles was responsible for Athens's naval power, which was a key factor in its success. Pericles personally took great risks in combat and was "the most conspicuous of all in taking no care for his safety," according to the historian Plutarch.
Pericles led the military to recapture Delphi from the Spartans and the navy to establish a blockade of the Peloponnesian peninsula.
Cultural policy
Pericles promoted the arts and literature. Through his efforts Athens acquired the reputation of being the educational and cultural center of the ancient Greek world. He started an ambitious construction project on the Acropolis, including the Parthenon. This project beautified and protected the city, exhibited its glory and gave work to its people.
Promoting democracy
At the early stages of his political career, Pericles got involved with the politician called Ephialtes. Pericles and Ephialtes took away the noble's powers. Ephialtes was later assassinated.
Pericles later continued to promote democracy in Athens, by appointing people to positions in government based on their ability, and not their social class, and increasing the number of officials and paying them salaries. He also granted the lower classes access to the political system and public offices, from which they had previously been barred.
Pericles believed that the demos (the people of Athens) was the crucial element of Athenian military dominance.
Public speaking skills
Pericles was a master of public speaking and a skilled orator. In Athens, persuasive oratory played a key role in the city's democratization, and Pericles was a master not only of public speaking but also of the art of persuasion.
Pericles' eloquent speeches and rhetorical skills were outstanding throughout Athens's history, and he was successful at convincing others to follow his lead. Pericles' speech, known as "The Funeral Oration," is a model for how a leader can encouraging people in the times of hardship.
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. 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.
After Pericles divorced his wife, he had a long-term relationship with Aspasia of Miletus, with whom he had a son, Pericles the Younger. While Aspasia was held in high regard by many of Athens' socialites, her status as a non-Athenian led many to attack their relationship.
His sister and both his legitimate sons, Xanthippus and Paralus, died during the Plague of Athens. 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.
Death
Pericles died of the plague later in 429 BC.
Just before his death, Pericles' friends gathered around his bed, enumerating his virtues during peace and underscoring his nine war trophies. Pericles 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".
According to Thucydides, his death was a disaster for Athens, since his successors were inferior to him.
Pausanias (c. 150 AD) records (I.29) seeing the tomb of Pericles along a road near the Academy.
Legacy
Pericles' most visible legacy can be found in the literary and artistic works of the Golden Age, much 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".
The freedom of expression is regarded as the lasting legacy deriving from this period. 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.
Interesting facts about Pericles
- According to Herodotus and Plutarch, Agariste dreamed, a few nights before Pericles' birth, that she had borne a lion. Legends say that Philip II of Macedon had a similar dream before the birth of his son, Alexander the Great. The dream treats the lion as a traditional symbol of greatness.
- Pericles had an unusually large skull, which became a popular target of contemporary comedians (who called him "Squill-head", after the squill or sea-onion).
- His calmness and self-control have become legendary.
- In 1932, botanist Albert Charles Smith published Periclesia, a monotypic genus of flowering plants from Ecuador belonging to the family Ericaceae and named after Pericles.
- The exterior of the ETH Zurich University Archives has a wall painting with the face of Pericles, together with Homer and Aristotle.
Images for kids
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Pericles' Funeral Oration (Perikles hält die Leichenrede) by Philipp Foltz (1852)
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Marble bust of Pericles with the Corinthian helmet, Roman copy of a Greek original, Museo Chiaramonti, Vatican Museums
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Phidias Showing the Frieze of the Parthenon to Pericles, Aspasia, Alcibiades and Friends, by Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, 1868, Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery
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Bust of Pericles after Kresilas, Altes Museum, Berlin
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Anaxagoras and Pericles by Augustin-Louis Belle (1757–1841)
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The Parthenon was prompted by Pericles.
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A painting by Hector Leroux (1682–1740), which portrays Pericles and Aspasia, admiring the gigantic statue of Athena in Phidias' studio
See also
In Spanish: Pericles para niños
