Pericles

All About Pericles

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Pericles four hundred ninety five to four hundred twenty nine
before Christ. Perracles was born in four hundred ninety five
before Christ. In Athens, Greece. Perracles was a dominant figure
in Athenian politics between four hundred sixty one and four

(00:26):
hundred twenty nine before Christ, a period historians called the
Age of Pericles. He was an Athenian statesman largely responsible
for the full development in the later fifth century before
Christ of both the Athenian democracy and the Athenian Empire.

(00:51):
He made Athens the political and cultural focus of Greece
between the Greco, Persian and Peloponnesian Wars. Perracles was born
into the Athenian aristocracy. His father Xanthipis began his political

(01:11):
career with a dynastic marriage to a Garris to the
controversial Alcimeonid family, who was a very wealthy and powerful family.
Pericle was one of the wealthier men of Athens. After
the Persian Wars, the leading figure in Athenian politics was

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a general Perocles. This great statesman guided Athens for more
than thirty years from four sixty one BC when he
was first elected, until four twenty nine B c. Shortly
before his death. Under Percles, Athens became very powerful in

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more democratic Athenians had a strong faith in their democratic system.
We called their system direct democracy. In a direct democracy,
people gather at mass meetings to decide on government matters.

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The mass meetings of Athenian male citizens were held in Agora.
The ancient Agora of Athens was situated beneath the northern
slope of the acropolis. The ancient agora was the primary
meeting ground for Athenians, where members of democracy congregated affairs

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of the state, where business was conducted, and a place
to hang out, watch performers and listen to famous philosophers.
The literal meaning of the word agra is gathering place
or assembly. The aga was the center of the athletic, artistic, business, social,

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spiritual and political life in the city. In the four
hundreds BC, more people lived in Athens than in any
other Greek city state. Athens had about two hundred eighty
five thousand residents. In all, some one hundred fifty thousand

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were citizens, although only forty three thousand of these were
men with political rights. Foreigners in Athens numbered about thirty
five thousand. The population also included about one hundred thousand
enslaved people. Slavery was common even in the city of democracy.

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What made direct democracy workable In ancient Athens there was
a relatively small number of citizens. In the mid four
hundreds before Christ, about forty three thousand male citizens over
eighteen years old made up the Assembly. Usually fewer than

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six thousand attended the meetings, which were held every ten days.
The assembly passed all laws, elected officials, and made decisions
on war and foreign affairs. Ten officials, known as generals,

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carried out the Assembly's laws and policies. Greek historian Thucidides
wrote the quote in name of democracy, but in fact
governed by its first citizen, in name democracy, but the
rule of one man. Thucydides is one of the greatest

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ancient historians. He fought in the Peloponnesian War for Athens
and recorded the events he witnessed. The Age of Pericles
four hundred sixty one to four hundred twenty five was
Athens's golden age. Perracles made Athens a centerpiece of art, philosophy,

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and democracy. The most well known monument built at that
time is the Parthenon. In four twenty nine BC, Parthenon
is a former temple on the Athenian Acropolis, Greece that
was dedicated to the goddess Athena. Parthenon is a former

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temple on the Athenian Acropolis, Greece that was dedicated to
the goddess Athena. The cella of the Parthenon housed the
Chryselliphantine Statue of Athena Parthenos, sculpted by Phidias and dedicated
in four hundred thirty nine or four hundred thirty eight.

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Before Christ, Pericles helped Athens dominate the Delian League. The
Delian League was a confederacy of Greek city states founded
in four seventy eight BC under the leadership Pagemony of Athens.

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The Delian League was formed as an anti Persian defensive
association of equal city states seeking protection under Athens. Pericles
based his military policy on themisticalles principle that athens predominance
depends on its superior naval power. In the second year

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of the Peloponnesian War, a plague struck Athens, which was
crowded with evacuees from the countryside, killing perhaps a quarter
of the city's inhabitants. Pericles was among its victims. He
died four hundred, twenty nine before Christ