Read complete books and articles on: Pericles

Pericles - pĕrˈĭklēz, c.495–429 b.c., Athenian statesman. He was a member of the Alcmaeonidae family through his mother, a niece of Cleisthenes. He first came to prominence as an opponent of the Areopagus (462) and as one of the prosecutors of Cimon, whom he replaced in influence. From then on he was the popular leader in Athens. As strategos, or military commander, c.454 he campaigned unsuccessfully against Sicyon and Oeniadae, and his plans to bring these Peloponnesian regions under Athenian control failed. While in Athens between campaigns, Pericles carried through a number of reforms that advanced democracy. As a result, all officials in Athens were paid salaries by the state and every office was opened to most citizens. In 451–450 he limited citizenship to those of Athenian parentage on both sides. He made an attempt, probably in 448, to call a Panhellenic conference, but Spartan opposition defeated his effort. Under Pericles the Delian League reached its maximum efficiency as an instrument of Athenian imperialism; in 446 Pericles destroyed Euboea (now Évvoia), which had revolted against the league. A 30-year truce was arranged in 445 between Athens and Sparta. The 14 years of peace that followed gave Pericles a chance to develop the splendor of Athens. He became a great patron of the arts and encouraged drama and music. Under his direction Ictinus and Callicrates, Phidias and others produced such monuments as the Parthenon and the Propylaea on the Acropolis. Pericles established colonies at Thurii in Italy and at Amphipolis. He was one of the participants in the events that led to the Peloponnesian War. The war, which began in 431, brought on the ruination of Athens. The celebrated funeral oration that Pericles made at the end of the first year of war (as told by Thucydides) was a strong appeal to the pride and patriotism of the citizens. However, Pericles was driven from office by his enemies, only to be reelected strategos in 429. He died six months later.

See V. Ehrenberg, Sophocles and Pericles (1954); A. R. Burn, Pericles and Athens (1966); C. M. Bowra, Periclean Athens (1971); L. Abbot, Pericles and the Metaphysics of Political Leadership (2 vol., 1984).

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14 of the Best Books and Articles on: Pericles

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1.

Pericles and Athens » Read Now
by A. R. Burn. 256 pgs.

Collections: History, Entire Library

...PERICLES AND ATHENS is one of the volumes in the TEACH YOURSELF HISTORY LIBRARY Edited by A...Basil Williams Gandhi and Modern India , by Guy Wint Copyright: British Museum...
2.

Sophocles and Pericles » Read Now
by Victor Ehrenberg. 187 pgs.

Collections: Literature, Entire Library

...SOPHOCLES AND PERICLES Plate I ANTIGONE BEFORE CREON SOPHOCLES AND PERICLES VICTOR EHRENBERG Meinst du denn alles was...except for Plut. which means Plutarch Life of...
3.

Pericles and the Golden Age of Athens (1891) » Read Now
by Evelyn Abbott. 380 pgs.

Collections: History, Entire Library
4.

Pericles on Stage: Political Comedy in Aristophanes' Early Plays » Read Now
by Michael Vickers. 262 pgs.

Collections: Literature, Entire Library

Since the eighteenth century, classical scholars have generally agreed that the Greek playwright Aristophanes did not as a matter of course write "political" plays. Yet, according to an anonymous Life of Aristophanes, when Dionysius the tyrant of Syracuse wanted to know about the government of...
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Since the eighteenth century, classical scholars have generally agreed that the Greek playwright Aristophanes did not as a matter of course write "political" plays. Yet, according to an anonymous Life of Aristophanes, when Dionysius the tyrant of Syracuse wanted to know about the government of Athens, Plato sent him a copy of Aristophanes' Clouds.In this boldly revisionist work, Michael Vickers convincingly argues that in his earlier plays, Aristophanes in fact commented on the day-to-day political concerns of Athenians. Vickers reads the first six of Aristophanes' eleven extant plays in a way that reveals the principal characters to be based in large part on Pericles and his ward Alcibiades.According to Vickers, the plays of Aristophanes--far from being nonpolitical--actually allow us to gauge the reaction of the Athenian public to the events that followed Pericles' death in 429 B.C., to the struggle for the political succession, and to the problems presented by Alcibiades' emergence as one of the most powerful figures in the state. This view of Aristophanes reaffirms the central role of allegory in his work and challenges all students of ancient Greece to rethink long-held assumptions about this important playwright.
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5.

Justifying Empire: Pericles, Polk, and a Dilemma of Democratic Leadership, in Polity » Read Now
by Ronald C. Lee Jr. 29 pgs.

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...Justifying Empire: Pericles, Polk, and a Dilemma of Democratic...to justify empire. I consider first Pericles justifications of Athenian imperialism...latter is more sound...
6.

Greek Civilization (Chap. Ten "Pericles the Olympian") » Read Now
by Andre Bonnard, A. Lytton Sells. 202 pgs.

Collections: History, Entire Library

...ChapterX Plutarch : Plutarchs Cimon and Pericles . . . , newly translated, with Introduction...Destiny and Justice 150 X Pericles the Olympian 173 BIBLIOGRAPHICAL...160 and...
7.

Aspects of Greek History, 750-323 BC: A Source-Based Approach (Chap. 13 "The Democratic Reforms of Ephialtes and Pericles, 462/1-451/0") » Read Now
by Terry Buckley. 542 pgs.

Collections: History, Entire Library

Aspects of Greek History offers an indispensable introduction to the central period of Greek History for all students of classics. Chapter by chapter, the relevant historical periods from the age of colonization to Alexander the Great are reconstructed. Emphasis is laid on the interpretation of the...
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Aspects of Greek History offers an indispensable introduction to the central period of Greek History for all students of classics. Chapter by chapter, the relevant historical periods from the age of colonization to Alexander the Great are reconstructed. Emphasis is laid on the interpretation of the available sources, and the book sets out to give a clear treatment of all the major problems within a chronological framework.It covers:* the main literary sources: Aristotle, Diodorus, Herodotus, Plutarch, Thucydides and Xenophon* Greek political and military history from the eighth century to Alexander's conquest of Persiaand includes:* maps, a glossary of Greek terms and a full bibliography
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8.

Athens: Its Rise and Fall: With Views of the Literature, Philosophy, and Social Life of the Athenian People (Book V "From the Death of Cimon, BC 449, to the Death of Pericles in the Third Year of the Peloponnesian War, 429 BC") » Read Now
by Edward Bulwer Lytton, Oswyn Murray. 614 pgs.

Collections: Philosophy, History, Literature, Entire Library

Athens: Its Rise and Fall , originally published in 1837, is the most important and readable of the Victorian histories of ancient Greece. It stands alongside Macauley and Carlyle as a great historical work of British Romanticism, and anticipates the thinking of George Grote and John Stuart Mill on...
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Athens: Its Rise and Fall , originally published in 1837, is the most important and readable of the Victorian histories of ancient Greece. It stands alongside Macauley and Carlyle as a great historical work of British Romanticism, and anticipates the thinking of George Grote and John Stuart Mill on Greek history by over a decade.Originally published in two volumes, this new one-volume edition includes the text of the never-before published 'third volume' on which he was working at the time of his death, recently rediscovered by Oxford academic Oswyn Murray.An absolute must for any scholar of ancient Greece.
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9.

A History of Greece (Chap. X "The Age of Pericles") » Read Now
by Cyril E. Robinson. 482 pgs.

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...THE ATHENIAN LAND EMPIRE 136 X. THE AGE OF PERICLES 153 XI. THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR--THE FIRST PHASE...XXI. * A ALEXANDER 264 B PERICLES 264 XXII. A SOCRATES 266...
10.

Taming Democracy: Models of Political Rhetoric in Classical Athens (Chap. III "Thucydides on Periclean Rhetoric and Political Instruction") » Read Now
by Harvey Yunis. 316 pgs.

Collections: History, Entire Library
11.

Thucydides and Internal War ("The Periclean Speeches" begins on p. 171) » Read Now
by Jonathan J. Price. 410 pgs.

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This book explains in detail Thucydides' abstract model of internal war, and then shows how, by the terms of the model itself, Thucydides perceived and narrated the Peloponnesian War not as a conventional war but as an internal conflict. Viewing the great war as a destructive internal conflict had...
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This book explains in detail Thucydides' abstract model of internal war, and then shows how, by the terms of the model itself, Thucydides perceived and narrated the Peloponnesian War not as a conventional war but as an internal conflict. Viewing the great war as a destructive internal conflict had profound consequences for Thucydides' understanding of this particular war and all wars in general, and of Greece as a whole.
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12.

Plato's Democratic Entanglements: Athenian Politics and the Practice of Philosophy (Chap. Seven "Remembering Pericles: The Political and Theoretical Import of Plato's Menexenus") » Read Now
by S. Sara Monoson. 252 pgs.

Collections: Philosophy, History, Entire Library

In this book, Sara Monoson challenges the longstanding and widely held view that Plato is a virulent opponent of all things democratic. She does not, however, offer in its place the equally mistaken idea that he is somehow a partisan of democracy. Instead, she argues that we should attend more...
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In this book, Sara Monoson challenges the longstanding and widely held view that Plato is a virulent opponent of all things democratic. She does not, however, offer in its place the equally mistaken idea that he is somehow a partisan of democracy. Instead, she argues that we should attend more closely to Plato's suggestion that democracy is horrifying and exciting, and she seeks to explain why he found it morally and politically intriguing.Monoson focuses on Plato's engagement with democracy as he knew it: a cluster of cultural practices that reach into private and public life, as well as a set of governing institutions. She proposes that while Plato charts tensions between the claims of democratic legitimacy and philosophical truth, he also exhibits a striking attraction to four practices central to Athenian democratic politics: intense antityrantism, frank speaking, public funeral oratory, and theater-going. By juxtaposing detailed examination of these aspects of Athenian democracy with analysis of the figurative language, dramatic structure, and arguments of the dialogues, she shows that Plato systematically links democratic ideals and activities to philosophic labor. Monoson finds that Plato's political thought exposes intimate connections between Athenian democratic politics and the practice of philosophy.Situating Plato's political thought in the context of the Athenian democratic imaginary, Monoson develops a new, textured way of thinking of the relationship between Plato's thought and the politics of his city.
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13.

Fathers and Sons in Athens: Ideology and Society in the Era of the Peloponnesian War ("The Paradox of Pericles" begins on p. 131) » Read Now
by Barry S. Strauss. 284 pgs.

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As history's first democracy, classical Athens invited political discourse. The Athenians, however could not completely separate the politicals from the private sphere; indeed father-son conflict, from patricide to murdering one's son, was a major public as well as a private theme. In a fascinating...
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As history's first democracy, classical Athens invited political discourse. The Athenians, however could not completely separate the politicals from the private sphere; indeed father-son conflict, from patricide to murdering one's son, was a major public as well as a private theme. In a fascinating historical reappraisal, the author explores the consequences, for Athens and us, of the powerful influence of familial ideology on politics.
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14.

Eros and Polis: Desire and Community in Greek Political Theory (Discussion of Pericles begins on p. 320) » Read Now
by Paul W. Ludwig. 398 pgs.

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Paul Ludwig examines how and why Greek theorists treated political passions as erotic. Because of the tiny size of ancient Greek cities, contemporary theory and ideology could conceive of entire communities based on desire. A recurrent aspiration was to transform the polity into one great household...
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Paul Ludwig examines how and why Greek theorists treated political passions as erotic. Because of the tiny size of ancient Greek cities, contemporary theory and ideology could conceive of entire communities based on desire. A recurrent aspiration was to transform the polity into one great household that would bind the citizens together through ties of mutual affection. In this study, Ludwig evaluates sexuality, love, and civic friendship as sources of political attachment and as bonds of political association.
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