ipl-logo

Pericles Golden Age

1199 Words5 Pages

As many modern historians agree that the Periclean Age of 480 BC to 404 BC championed Athen’s democratic, economic and cultural empire unlike any other period, Pericles contribution was so significant to the extent where, the Periclean Age was identified as Athen’s Golden Age. Through his democratic reforms and policies, Pericles successfully completed the steps towards a “true” democracy and extended wealth, power and cultural influence of the Athenian empire unlike any other politician in Athenian history. Whilst he did not single-handedly delivered Athens into its Golden Age, Pericles’ beneficial reforms and policies provoked and motivated the Athenians to labor towards an ideal Athens. Without Pericles, Athens would have no one as wise …show more content…

Whilst it was Cleisthenes who found democracy, it was Pericles who effectively made Cleisthenes’ ideal democracy a reality. Through transferring political and judicial autonomy from the Areopagus to the Assembly of the people, Kagan explained that the Areopagus reform fundamentally progressed Athens from a limited to a full democracy, where the majority of Athen’s population, the lower class Thetes, were granted with previously unheard opportunities such as the authority to govern their own cities. Without Pericles, there is no definite possibility as to whether Athens would have established such an unprecedented reform, which effectively ensured an equal political role to every citizen before the end of its Classical Era. Hence, it is agreed that Pericles was completing the steps towards Athen’s Golden Age of Democracy by encouraging Ephialtes to initiate the radical yet revolutionary Areopagus reform, which was never considered before the Periclean Age. Whilst it was Ephialtes who inaugurated the Areopagus reform, …show more content…

Cartwright argues that it was Cimon who had encouraged the Greek cities to join the Delian League, yet more sources agree that it was ultimately Pericles who transformed the Delian League into the Athenian empire. Through his Cleruchy reform, Bradley affirms that Pericles not only improved the economic lifestyle of the Athenian garrisons by migrating them away from overpopulated Athens to the agarian lands of Delian League allies. Pericles also colonized Delian League members as he converted their governments into the democratic system of Athens, effectively coercing their allies to Athenian control. To reinforce Athen’s imperialism, Pericles unlike any general before, took a step further by moving the Delian League treasury to Athens in 454BC and utilizing both the Cleruchies and the power of the navy to suppress revolts such as the Black Sea rebellion. As no other politician labored towards maintaining Athenian autonomy alike Pericles did, Athens’ Golden Age of Empire would have never excelled without him. Since Athen’s role in the Delian League was to provide military security and protect Hellenes’ trade routes, Pericles utilized the Delian League members’ high reliance on Athens to exercise Athenian control and flourish the

Show More
Related

  • A Primary Text Analysis: The Funeral Oration Of Pericles

    664 Words  | 3 Pages

    Pericles argues that Athens has become a model for others, and articulates what it is to be a good citizen. This can be seen when he says, “although the eyes of an enemy may occasionally profit by our liberality; trusting less in system and policy than to the native spirit of our citizens; while in education, where our rivals from their very cradles by a painful discipline seek after manliness, at Athens we live exactly as we please, and yet are just as ready to encounter every legitimate danger.” (Thucydides, 2.39) It proves that Ancient Athens’ valued greatness and worked in order to achieve the excellence of the state, by focusing on rebuilding themselves back up after the Persian war. Pericles played a big role in this because he showed his ambitions to rebuild Athens, which lead to the thriving of other subjects such as literature, philosophy, science, art, and religion.

    Read More

  • How Did Athens Change Athenian Government

    611 Words  | 3 Pages

    Understanding the foundations of democracy will allow for a greater knowledge of why these democratic reforms occurred. The three archons and six additional officials called thesmothetae were elected to become the dominant political force in the polis. A fragment of an inscription broken from a large marble block is engraved with a list of archons of Athens, providing archaeological evidence that inscribes influential chief magistrates such as Miltiates, the commander of the battle of Marathon, and Cleisthenes, the later initiator of certain democratic reforms. The three chief magistrates included, the archon polemarch who was the supreme military commander, the archon basileus who was responsible for religious functions, and the archon eponymous who was in charge of civil administrations. Each were responsible for different specific functions that supported the control of the Athenian Empire by establishing laws and policies that further initiated the democratic reforms of Athens.

    Read More

  • How Did Rome Influence America

    1112 Words  | 5 Pages

    First, Pericles strongly promoted the benefits of an organized democracy at a funeral orientation for fallen Roman soldiers. He cried, “While every citizen has an equal opportunity to serve the public, we rewarded our most distinguished citizens by asking them to make our political decisions” (2). This encouraged citizens to work hard. They elected people to office similarly to how Americans elect people for office today. The Greek democracy heavily impacted the modern day American democracy because every citizen has an equal opportunity to serve the public and make important political decisions.

    Read More

  • Did Thucydides Believe In The Story Of Athenian Democracy

    1793 Words  | 8 Pages

    Much of Athenian life and politics was based on stories of Athenian history. These historical events shaped the way and life of Athenian actions. Yet what happens when the histories that become integral aspects of Athens are based on inaccuracies? The history of Harmodius and Aristogeiton and the impact that it had on Athens was so deep that it led to the catastrophe that was the trials surrounding the defacement of the statues of Hermes. However, Athenian misunderstanding of the situation brings into question the legitimacy of Athenian democracy as a whole, something Thucydides uses his retelling of Harmodius and Aristogeiton to convey.

    Read More

  • What Impact And Influence Did Pericles Have During His Time?

    1477 Words  | 6 Pages

    Regardless of the exclusivity of ancient Athenian democracy (excluding women and those of non-Hellenic descent), Pericles’ influence and actions of his time laid the

    Read More

  • Essay On Spartan Government

    1292 Words  | 6 Pages

    In this essay, I would like to answer and discuss the following questions: How did the people in Athens and Sparta obtain the right to participate in public life and make decisions affecting the community? Who held public office? What rules governed the selection of public office holders? How were two city-states similar in their governmental structures and how did they differ with each other? For the Spartans the right to participate and made important decisions from the entire community were only exercised by the adult and legitimate male citizens of Sparta.

    Read More

  • Ap World History Dbq Questions And Answers

    548 Words  | 3 Pages

    “In 508 BCE, the Athenian aristocrat Cleisthenes instituted the first Athenian political democracy.” As the Greek playwright, Euripides wrote in his play that,“ Nothing is worse for a city than a tyrant.” (Section 2.2The Rise of Democracy and the Threat of Persia) Cleisthenes knew that, so he gave every

    Read More

  • The Impact Of Pericles On Athens

    1251 Words  | 6 Pages

    Without his leadership, Greece suffered a depression for 30 years, wars were lost, and most important of all, Pericles glory was never regained again. The years that Pericles was leader of Athens has two titles; “The Golden Age of Athens” and “The Age of Pericles”. These titles are used because during these 32 years, Athens had tremendous economic growth and cultural flourishing. Pericles introduced direct democracy, made Athens the “Intellectual Center of the Ancient World”, led Athens through

    Read More

  • Ancient Greece Source Analysis

    815 Words  | 4 Pages

    Additionally, the reliability affected by the emotive language being employed in this article as the author utilises this language it demonstrates that bias is present. This article was useful to my essay as it provided detailed information on the gaps in Athenian democracy. Moreover, the article provided a perspective that highlighted the differences in Athenian democracy such as that Athens was a direct democracy and that only some of the population was eligible, it mainly created a feeling that Athens was advanced for its time however the system had discrepancies. This information provided significantly when comparing modern societies to ancient Greece and also in justify as to why democracy was significant to Greece. A source that shares this view is the Ted-Ed video this also similarly to historian Paul Cartledge states that Athens was a direct democracy and also that not all of the population had the right to

    Read More

  • Why Was Pericles Essential For The Athenian Golden Age?

    432 Words  | 2 Pages

    Pericles One thing that led to the Athenian Golden Age is Pericle's rise to power. Pericles was an Athenian leader, statesmen, and general(History.com Staff., 2009). I will attempt to explain how Pericles was essential for Athens Golden Age. Pericles lived from 495-429 BCE(Lewis, D. M., 2018,). He became the leader of the democratic party after the death of Ephialtes in 461.

    Read More

  • The Importance Of Citizenship: Why Athens Was The Better System

    504 Words  | 3 Pages

    Unlike the Romans, Athenians had a strict but fair schedule that allowed them to enjoy citizenship equally. Equally, hard workers have brought Athens power just as much as hereditary leaders. According to Document B all citizens should be allowed to speak their opinion and have a share in election because of the hard work they do to make the city powerful. Athenians allowed poor and common men to win a position in government which was a transition from the wealthy having power to everyone having power.

    Read More

  • The Importance Of Arete In Ancient Greece

    1134 Words  | 5 Pages

    Pericles, a key political figure of 5th century Athens states, “Our constitution does not copy the laws of neighboring states; we are rather a pattern to others than imitators ourselves.” The Athenians had no desire to follow what appeared as mediocre government, the Athenians pushed for the best form they could find. Arete, for Athens, meant every person had a voice in politics. Politics embraces the reason of the mind as well as the emotion of the heart. Therefore, the very essence of a good human being would lie in being a politically active person.

    Read More

  • Why Was Athens Successful

    875 Words  | 4 Pages

    Athens organized a group of Greek city states into the Delian League and eventually lead and dominated all of the city states in the League. Athens’s military prowess allowed them to look down on the other members of the League and treat them as members of an empire instead of equals. This caused some to view them with hostility which sparked the conflicts between Athens and Sparta that lead to the Peloponnesian War. The direct democracy of Athens wasn’t actually as inclusive and steady as the statement at Pericles 's funeral state, “Our Constitution is called a democracy because power is in the hands not of a minority but of the whole people (Doc C).” In fact, of the 450,000 citizens of Athens in 430 BC, only about 40,000 people had the power to vote.

    Read More

  • Polis In Ancient Greek Life

    1255 Words  | 6 Pages

    Each Polis had a patron deity and was named after their patron deity, Athens’s deity being the Goddess of Wisdom and of War, Athena. Athens was one of the largest city-states in Greece, the city-state that came second to Athens being Sparta, but it is one of the most well-known city-states due to having features of its own that were not seen in any other city-states and one other feature that it gave us that is still present today, known as Democracy. An example of one of these distinctive features, according to Polis, was introduced during the classical period, “In about 508-507 B.C., Cleisthenes prevented Athenian aristocrats from controlling the assembly by limiting citizenship” (“Polis”, 1998). By doing this, citizenship was no longer controlled by the rich, making it easier to become a part of Athenian society. But Cleisthenes did not stop there, proposing even more reforms, as according to Polis, “He also instituted the Council of 500, whose members were chosen by lot from male citizens 30 years of age or older” (“Polis”, 1998).

    Read More

  • Athens And Sparta Democracy Vs Dictatorship Case Study

    893 Words  | 4 Pages

    In Athenian society there was a sort of democracy, the first in recorded history, but political rights and the power to vote was held by a relatively small group. Only free adult males with Athenian parents were eligible. While this also seems like an oligarchy today, it gave voice to a much larger portion of society than any of its contemporaries.(Brand,

    Read More

More about Pericles Golden Age

Open Document