Probably the best known statesman Greece ever had, Pericles was the son of the army
commander Xanthippus who had defeated the Persians in the battle of Mycale
in 479 BC.
He studied under the Sophist and master of Music Damon, and the philosopher
Anaxagoras as well as Zenon of Elea. As a character, he won recognition by
the Athenians by being dignified, eloquent, upright and patriotic and his
friends were important people such as Sophocles, Herodotus, Phidias, Socrates
Pericles was also considered as an eloquent speaker who "carried the thunder
and lightning on his tongue". Although he was from an aristocratic family,
he was the leader of the peoples' party. His mistress was the intelligent
and beautiful Aspasia, whom he was to marry later on in life. Together the
couple would host meetings of intellectuals and their wives in their home.
Pericles' rule as a statesman in Athens
and he was an eager supporter of democracy. He wanted all citizens of Athens
to take an active part in politics, and he was the first to pay servants to
the state. Members of the council were chosen by all Athenians, and Pericles
restored and built many temples and structures, such as the Parthenon on the
Acropolis, employing the poorest citizens.
Pericles spent huge amounts of money for the improvement of Athens. He
commissioned the artist Phidias for the construction of many brilliant
artworks. Parthenon was build on the plans of Iktinos and Kallikrates while
Mnesikles worked for the construction of the Propylaea of the Acropolis.
One of the most expensive and most impressive statues was the gold and ivory
statue of Athena. He also reconstructed the port of Piraeus and completed
the fortifications of Themistocles and Cimon with the long walls, which
joined Athens with Piraeus. During the time of his rule, Athens became the
commercial, intellectual and artistic center of Hellenism and rightly this
era was called the Golden Age.
He had the aristocratic leader Cimon ostracized, thus becoming the foremost
leader of Athens for 15 years. Under Pericles, Athens became the most splendid
of Greek city-states, both politically and culturally with its fleet, making
allies with other city-states in the Delian League against the enemy Persia,
and with Pericles' favouritism of art and literature.
This eventually caused the fear and jealousy of the other states, leading to
the Peloponnesian war in 431 BC. Pericles let all residents of Attica take
refuge in Athens, but was himself charged and fined for misuse of public funds.
He was re-elected, though, but soon died of the plague that had struck the
overcrowded and undernourished city and that killed amongst others his two
Pericles' opponents had first not dared attacking the man himself, and so
went after his friends, for example the sculptor Phidias by accusing him of
embezzlement and Anaxagoras, accusing him of impiety.