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Pericles

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Military People

                              Pericles
   c. 495 BC – 429 BC
   Bust of Pericles after Cresilas, Altes Museum, Berlin
   Bust of Pericles after Cresilas, Altes Museum, Berlin
   Place of birth Athens
   Place of death Athens
     Allegiance   Athens
        Rank      general ( strategos)
    Battles/wars  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 BC- 429 BC)

   Pericles or Perikles (c. 495 BC - 429 BC, Greek: Περικλῆς, meaning
   "surrounded by glory") was a prominent and influential statesman,
   orator, and general of Athens in the city's Golden Age (specifically,
   between the Persian and Peloponnesian wars). He was descended, through
   his mother, from the Alcmaeonid family.

   Pericles had such a profound influence on Athenian society that
   Thucydides, his contemporary historian, acclaimed him as "the first
   citizen of Athens". 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 BC 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; this was a chief reason
   Athens holds the reputation of being the educational and cultural
   centre of the ancient Greek world. He started an ambitious project that
   built most of the surviving structures on the Acropolis (including the
   Parthenon). This program beautified the city, exhibited its glory, and
   gave work to the people. Furthermore, Pericles fostered the Athenian
   democracy to such an extent that critics call him a populist.

Early years

   Pericles was born at about 495 BC, in the deme of Cholargos just north
   of Athens. He was the son of the politician Xanthippus, who, although
   ostracized in 485/4 BC, returned to Athens to command the Athenian
   contingent in the Greek victory at Mycale just five years later.
   Pericles' mother, Agariste, was 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. According to Herodotus and Plutarch,
   Agariste dreamed, a few nights before Pericles' birth, that she had
   borne a lion. 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. (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)).
   "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."
   Pericles' Funeral Oration as recorded by Thucydides, ( II, 37);
   Thucydides disclaims verbal accuracy.

   Pericles belonged to the local tribe of Acamantis (Ἀκαμαντὶς φυλὴ) and
   his early years were quiet. An introverted young man, he avoided public
   appearances, preferring to devote his time to his studies.

   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 teachers) and he is
   considered to have been the first politician to attribute great
   importance to philosophy. He enjoyed the company of the philosophers
   Protagoras, Zeno of Elea, and Anaxagoras. Anaxagoras in particular
   became a close friend and influenced him greatly. Pericles' manner of
   thought and rhetorical charisma may have been in part products of that
   philosopher’s emphasis on emotional calm in the face of trouble and
   scepticism about divine phenomena. His proverbial calmness and
   self-control are also regarded as products of Anaxagoras' influence.

Political career until 431 BC

Entering politics

   In the spring of 472, Pericles presented the Persae of Aeschylus at the
   Greater Dionysia as a liturgy, demonstrating that he was then one of
   the wealthier men of Athens. Simon Hornblower has argued that Pericles'
   selection of this play, which presents a nostalgic picture of
   Themistocles' famous victory at Salamis, shows that the young
   politician was supporting Themistocles against his political opponent
   Cimon, whose faction succeeded in having Themistocles ostracized
   shortly afterwards.

   Plutarch says that Pericles stood first among the Athenians for forty
   years; if this was the case, Pericles must have taken up a position of
   leadership by the early 460s BC. 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.

   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. Although Cimon was acquitted, this confrontation
   proved that Pericles' major political opponent was vulnerable.

Ostracizing Cimon

   A modern statue of Pericles in modern Cholargos (Pericles' avenue). The
   name of the suburb dates to ancient Athens, but the ancient deme of
   Cholargos, which belonged to the tribe of Acamantis, was near modern
   Kamatero or Peristeri.
   Enlarge
   A modern statue of Pericles in modern Cholargos (Pericles' avenue). The
   name of the suburb dates to ancient Athens, but the ancient deme of
   Cholargos, which belonged to the tribe of Acamantis, was near modern
   Kamatero or Peristeri.

   Around 462 BC- 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. 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
   favour 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.

   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, an accusation frequently levelled against conservative
   politicians.

   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 BC- 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.
   "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 ( II, 41)

   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. 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.
   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. (The fleet, backbone of
   Athenian power since the days of Themistocles, was manned almost
   entirely by members of the lower classes.)

   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, since 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. According to another
   historian, Justin Daniel King, radical democracy benefited people
   individually, but harmed the state. On the other hand, Donald Kagan
   asserts that the democratic measures Pericles put into effect provided
   the basis for an unassailable political strength. After all, Cimon
   finally accepted the new democracy and did not oppose the citizenship
   law, after he returned from exile in 451 BC.

Leading Athens

   Ephialtes' murder in 461 BC paved the way for Pericles to consolidate
   his authority. 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.

First Peloponnesian War

   Phidias Showing the Frieze of the Parthenon to his Friends painted by
   Alma-Tadema, 1868, Birmingham, Museum and Art Gallery
   Enlarge
   Phidias Showing the Frieze of the Parthenon to his Friends painted by
   Alma-Tadema, 1868, Birmingham, Museum and 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 Sicyon and Acarnania. He then unsuccessfully tried to take
   Oeniadea on the Corinthian gulf, before returning to Athens. 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. 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".

   Plutarch underlines 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. 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.

   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. In 451 BC-450 BC the Athenians sent troops to Cyprus. Cimon
   defeated the Persians in the Battle of Salamis, but died of disease in
   449 BC. Pericles is said to have initiated both expeditions in Egypt
   and Cyprus, 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.

   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. 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. 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. 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.

   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. 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.
   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).
   "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."
   Pericles' Third Oration according to Thucydides ( II, 64)

   During the Second Sacred War Pericles led the Athenian army against
   Delphi and reinstated Phocis in its sovereign rights on the oracle. 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. 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. With Boeotia in hostile hands, Phocis
   and Locris became untenable and quickly fell under the control of
   hostile oligarchs. In 446 BC, a more dangerous arousal 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. 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. 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. The crisis was
   brought to an official end by the Thirty Years' Peace (winter of 446
   BC– 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.

Final battle with the conservatives

   In 444 BC, the conservative and the democratic faction 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 his
   political opponent spent the money for the ongoing building plan.
   Thucydides managed, initially, to incite the passions of the ecclesia
   in his favour, but, when 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. His stance was greeted with applause, and
   Thucydides suffered an unexpected defeat. In 442 BC, the Athenian
   public ostracized Thucydides for 10 years and Pericles was once again
   the unchallenged suzerain of the Athenian political arena.

Athens' rule over its alliance

   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, 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 a number of measures implemented by Pericles. 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. 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. By 450 BC-449BC the revolts in Miletus
   and Erythrae were quelled and Athens restored its rule over its allies.
   Around 447 BC Clearchus proposed the Coinage Decree, which imposed
   Athenian silver coinage, weights and measures on all of the allies.
   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.

   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. In
   449 BC Pericles proposed a decree allowing the use of 9,000 talents to
   finance the massive rebuilding program of Athenian temples. 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.

Samian War

   A 20 drachma coin of the Hellenic Republic picturing Pericles
   Enlarge
   A 20 drachma coin of the Hellenic Republic picturing Pericles

   The Samian War was the last significant military event 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 BC Samos 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. When the Athenians ordered the two sides to stop fighting
   and submit the case to arbitration at Athens, the Samians refused. In
   response, Pericles passed a decree dispatching an expedition to Samos,
   "alleging against its people that, though they were ordered to break
   off their war against the Milesians, they were not complying". 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. When the Samians revolted against the
   Athenian rule, Pericles compelled the rebels to capitulate after a
   tough siege of eight months, which resulted in substantial discontent
   among the Athenian sailors. Pericles then quelled a revolt in Byzantium
   and, when he returned to Athens, he gave a funeral oration to honour
   the soldiers who died in the expedition.

   Between 438 BC- 436 BC Pericles led Athens' fleet in Pontus and
   established friendly relations with the Greek cities of the region.
   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 BC- 436 BC).

Personal attacks

   Aspasia of Miletus (c.469 BC–c.406 BC), Pericles' companion
   Enlarge
   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. 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 of Athena 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. Pericles' enemies also found a false witness
   against Phidias, named Menon.

   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. Aspasia was probably a hetaera and ran a
   brothel, although these allegations are disputed by modern scholars.
   The accusations against her were probably nothing more than unproven
   slanders, but the whole experience was very bitter for the Athenian
   leader. 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 ecclesia for his
   religious beliefs.

   Beyond these initial prosecutions, the ecclesia attacked Pericles
   himself by asking him to justify his ostensible profligacy with, and
   maladministration of, public money. According to Plutarch, Pericles was
   so afraid of the oncoming trial that he did not let the Athenians yield
   to the Lacedaemonians. Beloch also believes that Pericles deliberately
   brought on the war to protect his political position at home. Thus, at
   the start of the Peloponnesian War, Athens found itself in the awkward
   position of entrusting its future to a leader whose preeminence had
   just been seriously shaken for the first time in over a decade.

Peloponnesian War

   The causes of the Peloponnesian War have been much debated, but most
   ancient historians laid the blame on Pericles and Athens. Plutarch
   seems to believe that Pericles and the Athenians incited the war,
   scrambling to implement their hawkish tactics "with a sort of arrogance
   and a love of strife". Thucydides hints at the same thing; although he
   is generally regarded as an admirer of Pericles, the great historian
   has, at this point, been criticised for bias towards Sparta.

Prelude to the war

   Anaxagoras and Pericles by Augustin-Louis Belle (1757 – 1841)
   Enlarge
   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. Therefore, he did not hesitate to send troops to Corcyra to
   reinforce the Corcyraean fleet, which was fighting against Corinth. In
   433 BC the enemy fleets confronted each other at the Battle 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 the
   Megarian 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 to George Cawkwell, a
   praelector in ancient history, with this decree Pericles breached the
   Thirty Years Peace "but, perhaps, not without the semblance of an
   excuse". The Athenians' justification was that the Megarians had
   cultivated the sacred land consecrated to Demeter and had given refuge
   to runaway slaves, a behaviour which the Athenians considered to be
   impious.

   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. At that time, however, 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. 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". 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.
   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". Another consideration that may well have
   influenced Pericles' stance was the concern that revolts in the empire
   might spread if Athens showed herself weak.

First year of the war (431 BC)

   The Parthenon, a masterpiece prompted by Pericles, from the south
   Enlarge
   The Parthenon, a masterpiece prompted by Pericles, from the south

   In 431 BC, while peace already was on the razor's edge, 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. With his last attempt
   at negotiation thus declined, Archidamus invaded Attica, 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.

   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. Therefore, although they
   agreed to leave, many rural residents were far from happy with
   Pericles' decision. 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.
   "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."
   Pericles' Funeral Oration as recorded by Thucydides ( II, 43)

   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 in the face of mounting pressure, however, 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. 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. 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.
   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 BC- 430 BC) he delivered his monumental and emotional Funeral
   Oration, honoring the Athenians who died for their city.

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.
   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. According to Plutarch, just before the
   sailing of the ships an eclipse of the moon frightened the crews, but
   Pericles used the astronomical knowledge he had acquired from
   Anaxagoras to calm them down. In the summer of the same year an
   epidemic broke out and decimated the Athenians. The exact identity of
   the disease is uncertain, and has been the source of much debate. 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. This is considered to be a monumental oration, revealing
   Pericles' virtues but also his bitterness towards his compatriots'
   ingratitude. 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 an amount of money estimated between 15 and 50 talents.
   Ancient sources mention Cleon, a rising and dynamic protagonist of the
   Athenian political scene during the war, as the public prosecutor in
   Pericles' trial.

   Nevertheless, within just a year, in 429 BC, the Athenians not only
   forgave Pericles but also re-elected him as strategos. 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. In that year, however, Pericles witnessed the death of
   both his legitimate sons from his first wife, Xanthippus and his
   beloved Paralus, in the epidemic. With his morale undermined, he burst
   into tears, and not even Aspasia's companionship could console him. He
   himself died of the disease 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". 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. 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.

Personal life

   Pericles, following Athenian custom, was first married to one of his
   closest relatives, with whom he had two sons, Xanthippus and Paralus.
   This marriage, however, was not a happy one, and at some point near 445
   BC, Pericles divorced his wife and 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.
   "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."
   Pericles' Funeral Oration as recorded by Thucydides ( II, 35)

   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. 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, a decision all the more striking in consideration of
   the fact that Pericles himself had proposed the law confining
   citizenship to those of Athenian parentage on both sides.

Assessments

   Pericles marked a whole era and inspired conflicting judgments about
   his significant decisions, which is something normal for a political
   personality of his magnitude. The fact that he was at the same time a
   vigorous statesman, general and orator makes more complex the objective
   assessment of his actions.

Political leadership

   Some contemporary scholars, for example Sarah Ruden, call Pericles a
   populist, a demagogue and a hawk, 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". It is told
   that, when his political opponent, Thucydides, was asked by Sparta's
   king, Archidamus, if he or Pericles was a better fighter, Thucydides
   answered without any hesitation that Pericles was a better fighter,
   because, even when he is defeated, he achieves to convince the audience
   that he won. 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".

   Thucydides, an admirer of Pericles, maintains that Athens was "in name
   a democracy but, in fact, governed by its first citizen". Through this
   comment, the historian illustrates what he perceives as Pericles'
   charisma to lead, convince and, sometimes, manipulate. Although
   Thucydides mentions the fining of Pericles, he does not mention the
   accusations against the politician but instead focuses on Pericles'
   integrity. On the other hand, in one of his dialogues, Plato rejects
   the glorification of Pericles and quotes Socrates as saying: "As far as
   I know, Pericles made the Athenians slothful, garrulous and avaricious,
   by starting the system of public fees". 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".

   Thucydides argues that Pericles "was not carried away by the people,
   but he was the one guiding the people". 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. 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.

Military achievements

   For more than 20 years Pericles led numerous 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". 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. Pericles tried also to minimize the advantages
   of Sparta by rebuilding the walls of Athens. According to Josiah Ober,
   professor of classics in Princeton University, the strategy of
   rebuilding the walls radically altered the use of force in Greek
   international relations.
   "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."
   Pericles' Third Oration as recorded by Thucydides ( II, 64)

   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. 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". 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.
   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. His
   strategy is said to have been "inherently unpopular", but Pericles
   managed to persuade the Athenian public to follow it. It is for that
   reason that Hans Delbrück called him one of the greatest statesmen and
   military leaders in history. Although his countrymen engaged in several
   aggressive actions soon after his death, 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. For his part, Ben X. de Wet concludes
   his strategy would have succeeded had he lived longer.

   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. Donald Kagan called the
   Periclean strategy "a form of wishful thinking that failed", whilst
   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".
   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. 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. Others, such as Donald W. Knight,
   conclude that the strategy was too defensive and would not succeed.

   On the other hand, Platias and Koliopoulos reject these criticisms and
   underscore that "the Athenians lost the war only when they dramatically
   reversed the Periclean grand strategy that explicitly disdained further
   conquests". It is a popular conclusion that those succeeding him lacked
   his abilities and character.

Oratorical skill

   Painting of Hector Leroux (1682 - 1740), which portrays Pericles and
   Aspasia, admiring the gigantic statue of Athena in Phidias' studio.
   Enlarge
   Painting of Hector Leroux (1682 - 1740), which portrays Pericles and
   Aspasia, admiring the gigantic statue of Athena in Phidias' studio.

   Thucydides' modern commentators are still trying to unravel the puzzle
   of Pericles' orations and to figure out if the wording belongs to the
   Athenian statesman or the historian. Since Pericles never wrote down or
   distributed his orations, no historians are able 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. 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. 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". According to Plutarch, he avoided using gimmicks in his
   speeches, unlike the passionate Demosthenes, and always spoke in a calm
   and tranquil manner. 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". Gorgias,
   in Plato's homonymous dialogue, uses Pericles as an example of powerful
   oratory. In Menexenus, however, Socrates casts aspersions on Pericles'
   rhetorical fame, claiming ironically that, since the Athenian statesman
   was educated by Aspasia, a trainer of many orators, he would be
   superior in rhetoric to someone educated by Antiphon. He also
   attributes authorship of the Funeral Oration to Aspasia and attacks his
   contemporaries' veneration of Pericles.

   Ancient Greek writers call Pericles "Olympian" and vaunt his talents;
   referring to him "thundering and lightening and exciting Greece" and
   carrying the weapons of Zeus when orating. 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. 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".

Legacy

   Pericles' most visible legacy can be found in the literary and artistic
   works of his 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".

   In terms of 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. The
   promotion of such an arrogant imperialism is said to have ruined
   Athens. Nonetheless, other analysts underscore an Athenian humanism
   illustrated in the Golden Age. 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.

Citations

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    2. ^ S. Muhlberger, Periclean Athens and S. Ruden, Lysistrata, 80
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    4. ^ Herodotus, VI, 131
    5. ^ ^a ^b ^c Plutarch, Pericles, III
    6. ^ V.L. Ehrenberg, From Solon to Socrates, a239
    7. ^ L. Cunningham-J. Reich, Culture and Values, 73
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    9. ^ ^a ^b Plutarch, Pericles, IV
   10. ^ Plato, Alcibiades I, 118c
   11. ^ M. Mendelson, Many Sides, 1
   12. ^ Plutarch, Pericles, VI and Plato, Phaedrus, 270a
   13. ^ S. Hornblower, The Greek World, 479-323 BC, 33-4
   14. ^ ^a ^b Plutarch, Pericles XVI
   15. ^ Plutarch, Pericles, VII, but also Plutarch, Pericles, IX
   16. ^ ^a ^b Aristotle, Constitution of Athens, 27.1
   17. ^ Plutarch, Cimon, XV
   18. ^ ^a ^b ^c Fornara-Samons, Athens from Cleisthenes to Pericles,
       24-25
   19. ^ ^a ^b ^c Plutarch, Pericles, IX
   20. ^ L.J. Samons, What's Wrong with Democracy?, 80
   21. ^ Plutarch, Cimon, XVI
   22. ^ Fornara-Samons, Athens from Cleisthenes to Pericles, 67-73
   23. ^ R. Martin, An Overview of Classical Greek History
   24. ^ ^a ^b K. Paparrigopoulos, History of the Greek Nation, Ab, 145
   25. ^ Aristotle, Constitution of Athens, 24 and Politics, 1274a
   26. ^ L.J. Samons, What's Wrong with Democracy?, 65
   27. ^ Fine, The Ancient Greeks, 377-8
   28. ^ ^a ^b J.D. King, Athenian Democracy and Empire, 24-25
   29. ^ D. Kagan, The Outbreak of the Peloponnesian War, 79
   30. ^ ^a ^b D. Kagan, The Outbreak of the Peloponnesian War, 135-136
   31. ^ Thucydides, I, 111
   32. ^ P.J. Rhodes, A History of the Classical Greek World, 44
   33. ^ Plutarch, Cimon, XVII
   34. ^ A.J. Podlecki, Perikles and his Circle, 44
   35. ^ ^a ^b Plutarch, Pericles, X
   36. ^ J.M. Libourel, The Athenian Disaster in Egypt, 605-615
   37. ^ H. Aird, Pericles: The Rise and Fall of Athenian Democracy, 52
   38. ^ K.J. Beloch, Griechische Geschichte, II, 205
   39. ^ ^a ^b J. Fine, The Ancient Greeks, 359-361
   40. ^ E. Badian, The Peace of Callias, 1-39
   41. ^ D. Kagan, The Outbreak of the Peloponnesian War, 108
   42. ^ Plutarch, Pericles, XVII
   43. ^ Wade-Grey, The Question of Tribute in 449/8 B. C., 212-229
   44. ^ ^a ^b ^c T. Buckley, Aspects of Greek History 750-323 BC, 206
   45. ^ Thucydides, I, 112 and Plutarch, Pericles, XXI
   46. ^ Plutarch, Pericles, XIX
   47. ^ ^a ^b Fine, The Ancient Greeks, 368-369
   48. ^ Thucydides, II, 21 and Aristophanes, The Acharnians, 832
   49. ^ ^a ^b Plutarch, Pericles, XXIII
   50. ^ ^a ^b Plutarch, Pericles, XIV
   51. ^ T. Buckley, Aspects of Greek History 750-323 BC, 196
   52. ^ H. Butler, The Story of Athens, 195
   53. ^ D. Kagan, The Outbreak of the Peloponnesian War, 98
   54. ^ T. Buckley, Aspects of Greek History 750-323 BC, 204
   55. ^ R. Sealey, A History of the Greek City States, 700-338 B. C., 275
   56. ^ S. Hornblower, The Greek World 479-323 BC, 120
   57. ^ J. M. Hurwit, The Acropolis in the Age of Pericles, 87 etc.
   58. ^ A. Vlachos, Thucydides' Bias, 62-63
   59. ^ Thucydides, I, 115
   60. ^ ^a ^b Plutarch, Pericles, XXV
   61. ^ Plutarch, Pericles, XXVIII
   62. ^ R. Sealey, A History of the Greek City States, 310
   63. ^ C.J. Tuplin, Pontus and the Outside World, 28
   64. ^ Plutarch, Pericles, XI and Plato, Gorgias, 455e
   65. ^ ^a ^b Fornara-Samons, Athens from Cleisthenes to Pericles, 31
   66. ^ ^a ^b ^c Plutarch, Pericles, XXXI
   67. ^ Suda, article Aspasia
   68. ^ ^a ^b ^c Plutarch, Pericles, XXXII
   69. ^ Aristophanes, Acharnians, 523-527
   70. ^ R. Just,Women in Athenian Law and Life",144
   71. ^ N. Loraux, Aspasie, l'étrangère, l'intellectuelle, 133-164
   72. ^ M. Henry, Prisoner of History, 138-139
   73. ^ K.J. Beloch, Die Attische Politik seit Perikles, 19-22
   74. ^ A.J. Podlecki, Perikles and his Circle, 158
   75. ^ Thucydides, I, 31-54
   76. ^ G. Cawkwell, Thucydides and the Peloponnesian War, 33
   77. ^ T. Buckley, Aspects of Greek History 750-323 BC, 322
   78. ^ Thucydides, I, 127
   79. ^ Thucydides, I, 140-144
   80. ^ ^a ^b A.G. Platias-C. Koliopoulos, Thucydides on Strategy,
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   81. ^ A. Vlachos, Thucydides' Bias, 20
   82. ^ V.L. Ehrenberg, From Solon to Socrates, 264
   83. ^ Thucydides, II, 12
   84. ^ Thucydides, II, 14
   85. ^ J. Ober, The Athenian Revolution, 72-85
   86. ^ Thucydides, II, 16
   87. ^ Thucydides, II, 13
   88. ^ Thucydides, II 22
   89. ^ D. Kagan, The Peloponnesian War, 69
   90. ^ Thucydides, II, 18 and Xenophon(?),Constitution of Athens, 2
   91. ^ Thucydides, II, 35-46
   92. ^ Thucydides, II, 55
   93. ^ Thucydides, II, 56
   94. ^ Plutarch, Pericles, XXXIV
   95. ^ Thucydides, II, 48 etc. and 56
   96. ^ Thucydides, II, 60-64
   97. ^ ^a ^b Plutarch, Pericles, XXXV
   98. ^ Plutarch, Pericles, XXXVIII
   99. ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Thucydides, II, 65
   100. ^ K. Paparrigopoulos, Aa, 221
   101. ^ ^a ^b Plutarch, Pericles, XXIV
   102. ^ Plutarch, Pericles, XXXVI
   103. ^ Plutarch, Pericles, XXXVII
   104. ^ W. Smith, A History of Greece, 271
   105. ^ S. Ruden, Lysistrata , 80
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   107. ^ Plato, Gorgias, 515e
   108. ^ M.F. McGregor, Government in Athens, 122-123
   109. ^ J.S. Morrison-A. W. Gomme, Pericles Monarchos, 76-77
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   112. ^ J. Ober, National Ideology and Strategic Defence of the
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   114. ^ D. Kagan, The Outbreak of the Peloponnesian War, 83
   115. ^ ^a ^b A.G. Platias-C. Koliopoulos, Thucydides on Strategy,
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   116. ^ H. Delbrück, History of the Art of War, I, 137
   117. ^ V.L. Ehrenberg, From Solon to Socrates, 278
   118. ^ B. X. de Wet, This So-Called Defensive Policy of Pericles,
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   119. ^ ^a ^b ^c K. Paparrigopoulos, Aa, 241-242
   120. ^ D. Kagan, Athenian Strategy in the Peloponnesial War, 54
   121. ^ S. Strauss-J. Ober, The Anatomy of Error, 47
   122. ^ D. Kagan, The Archidamian War, 28,41
   123. ^ D. Kagan, The Peloponnesian War, 61-62
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   125. ^ A.G. Platias-C. Koliopoulos, Thucydides on Strategy, 138
   126. ^ L.J. Samons, What's Wrong with Democracy?, 131-132
   127. ^ D. Kagan, The Peloponnesian War
   128. ^ Diodorus, XII, 39
   129. ^ ^a ^b Plutarch, Pericles, V
   130. ^ Plato, Gorgias, 455d
   131. ^ Plato, Menexenus, 236a
   132. ^ S. Monoson, Plato's Democratic Entanglements, 182-186
   133. ^ Aristophanes, Acharnians, 528-531 and Diodorus, XII, 40
   134. ^ Quintilian, Institutiones, XII, 9
   135. ^ ^a ^b Plutarch, Pericles, VIII
   136. ^ ^a ^b Sir Richard C. Jebb, The Attic Orators
   137. ^ V. L. Ehrenberg, From Solon to Socrates, 332
   138. ^ C.G. Starr, A History of the Ancient World, 306
   139. ^ E.J. Power, A Legacy of Learning, 52
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   142. ^ J.K. Davies, Athenian propertied families, 600-300 BC, 457
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   144. ^ Aristotle, Constitution of Athens, 25.4
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   147. ^ A. Vlachos, Comments on Thucydides, 141
   148. ^ A. Vlachos, Thucydides' bias, 60 etc
   149. ^ Ste Croix, The Character of the Athenian Empire, 1-41
   150. ^ Fornara-Samons, Athens from Cleisthenes to Pericles, 77
   151. ^ ^a ^b A.W. Gomme, An Historical Commentary on Thucydides, II,
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   152. ^ A. Vlachos, Remarks on Thucydides, 177
   153. ^ A. Vlachos, Thucydides' bias, 62
   154. ^ A.G. Platias-C. Koliopoulos, Thucydides on Strategy, 104 etc.
   155. ^ ^a ^b A. Vlachos, Remarks on Thucydides, 170
   156. ^ J.F. Dobson, The Greek Orators
   157. ^ C.M.J. Sicking, Distant Companions, 133
   158. ^ I. Kakridis, Interpretative comments on the Funeral Oration, 6
   159. ^ Suda, article Pericles
   160. ^ Cicero, De Oratote, II, 93
   161. ^ Quintilian, Institutiones, III, 1
   162. ^ H. Yunis, Taming Democracy, 63

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