Pericles

Question 1

When and why did Pericles rise to prominence in Athens?

Answer 1

• c. 470s BCE — Political vacuum: Aristides dead, Themistocles exiled, Cimon absent (Plutarch).
• Gained popularity via public sponsorship of arts (The Persians by Aeschylus, 472 BCE).
• Avoided powerful factions to prevent ostracism.
• Promoted demos-friendly policies (festivals, public fund distribution, juror payments).
• Leveraged elite connections (Alcmaeonid family, intellectual friends like Anaxagoras & Aspasia).

Question 2

What was Pericles’ family background and its political significance?

Answer 2

• Born c. 495 BCE into wealth & influence:
• Father Xanthippus — strategos, fought at Mycale, ostracised.
• Mother Agariste — Alcmaeonid clan, major aristocratic network.
• Exposure to politics from Persian Wars era; Athenian pride likely influenced later imperialism.
• Elite education in oratory, music, poetry, athletics (Thucydides)

Question 3

What reforms and policies did Pericles introduce to strengthen democracy?

Answer 3

• Payment for jury service (Aristophanes, The Wasps) — encouraged poorer citizens to serve.
• Rotation of magistrates and sortition — broadened participation.
• Mass participation — Ecclesia vote on key issues.
• 451 BCE Citizenship Law — both parents must be Athenian (Bury & Meiggs: “interest… to have as few citizens as possible”).
• Maintained cleruchies to project power and reward poorer Athenians.

Question 4

What was the purpose of ostracism in Pericles’ time, and how did it influence him?

Answer 4

• Purpose: prevent tyranny; 10-year exile; min. 6,000 votes; property retained.
• Used politically (e.g., Cimon ostracised 463 BCE after Pericles’ prosecution).
• Pericles avoided factional alignment early to prevent personal risk.

Question 5

What was the structure of Athenian democracy during Pericles’ career?

Answer 5

• Direct democracy — free Athenian-born adult males only.
• Ecclesia: main decision-making assembly.
• Boule: 500-member council (lottery).
• Heliaea: people’s courts (jury pay introduced).
• Strategoi: 10 elected generals, most powerful annual office — Pericles held 15 consecutive terms.

Question 6

How did earlier democratic reforms enable Pericles’ political career?

Answer 6

• Solon — laid foundations of democracy.
• Cleisthenes (508 BCE) — restructured tribes to weaken aristocracy.
• Ephialtes (462 BCE) — reduced Areopagus’ powers; Pericles was his ally and successor (Plutarch, Aristotle).

Question 7

What were the problems and limitations of Periclean democracy?

Answer 7

• Citizenship exclusivity (451 BCE law).
• Exclusion of women, reliance on slavery.
• Harsh treatment of other Greeks; cleruchies caused resentment.
• Factional rivalry (e.g., Pericles vs Cimon).

Question 8

How did Pericles’ political career connect to his military role?

Answer 8

• Held office of strategos — combined military command and political influence.
• Advocated pro-imperialist, anti-Spartan policy.
• Used military prestige (Eurymedon River, Samos revolt) to consolidate political power.

Question 9

What were Pericles’ key political rivalries?

Answer 9

• Cimon — pro-Sparta; rivalry culminated in prosecution and ostracism (463 BCE).
• Relief expedition to Sparta (464 BCE) worsened anti-Spartan feeling.
• Pericles replaced Cimon as leading figure of democratic faction.

Question 10

How did Thucydides assess Pericles’ leadership?

Answer 10

• “Nominally a democracy, in fact the rule of the first citizen”
• Praised his integrity and ability to “lead rather than be led” by the people.
• Under Pericles Athens reached “her greatest”

Question 11

How did Pericles’ personal relationships affect his political career?

Answer 11

• Aspasia — foreign intellectual companion; could not marry due to citizenship law; politically controversial.
• Phidias — sculptor, supervised Acropolis works; friendship used by rivals to attack Pericles (Plutarch).
• Home became intellectual centre, influencing political ideas.

Question 12

What role did the arts and architecture play in Pericles’ politics?

Answer 12

• Funded major building projects (Parthenon, Acropolis) as propaganda of Athenian power.
• Phidias oversaw designs — East pediment (birth of Athena), metopes (mythological battles).
• Promoted Athens as cultural leader of Greece.

Question 13

How did the Delian League change under Pericles?

Answer 13

• 454 BCE — Treasury moved from Delos to Athens, transforming league into empire.
• Used league funds for Athens’ building program.
• Harsh on revolts (e.g., Naxos, Samos).

Question 14

What events marked the end of Pericles’ career?

Answer 14

• Peloponnesian War (431 BCE) — defensive naval strategy.
• Blamed for hardships; fined and removed from office (430 BCE).
• Re-elected soon after.
• Died in 429 BCE during plague, which also killed his two sons.