Pericles Pericles ( , " Periklēs " , " surrounded by glory " ; c . 495 – 429 BC ) was the most prominent and influential Greek statesman , orator and general of Athens during the Golden Age — specifically , the time between the Persian and Peloponnesian wars . He was descended , through his mother , from the powerful and historically influential 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 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 ; it is principally through his efforts that Athens holds the reputation of being the educational and cultural center of the ancient Greek world . He started an ambitious project that generated most of the surviving structures on the Acropolis ( including the Parthenon ) . This project beautified the city , exhibited its glory , and gave work to the people . Pericles also fostered Athenian democracy to such an extent that critics call him a populist . Early years . Pericles was born c . 495 BC , in the deme of Cholargos just north of Athens . He was the son of the politician Xanthippus , who , although ostracized in 485 – 484 BC , returned to Athens to command the Athenian contingent in the Greek victory at Mycale just five years later . Pericles ' mother , Agariste , 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 ( who called him " Squill - head " , after the Squill or Sea - Onion ) . ( 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 ) . Pericles belonged to the local tribe of Acamantis ( ) . His early years were quiet ; the introverted young Pericles took to avoiding public appearances , instead 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 teacher ) 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 Anaxagoras ' emphasis on emotional calm in the face of trouble and skepticism 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 BC , Pericles presented " The Persians " of Aeschylus at the Greater Dionysia as a liturgy , demonstrating that he was 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 initially succeeded in having Themistocles ostracized shortly afterwards . Plutarch says that Pericles stood first among the Athenians for forty years . If this was so , Pericles must have taken up a position of leadership by the early 460s BC - in his early or mid - thirties . 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 . Around 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 favor 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 . 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 archon ship in 458 – 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 . 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 , because 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 . 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 states 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 – 450 BC the Athenians sent troops to Cyprus . Cimon defeated the Persians in the Battle of Salamis - in - Cyprus , 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 ) . 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 uprising 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 – 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 factions 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 he spent the money for the ongoing building plan . Thucydides managed , initially , to incite the passions of the ecclesia in his favor , but , when Pericles , 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 voted to ostracize Thucydides from the city 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 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 – 449 BC 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 major 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 . The Samian War was one of the last significant military events 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 , although 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 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 , gave a funeral oration to honor the soldiers who died in the expedition . Between 438 - 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 – 436 BC ) . Personal attacks . 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 . The accusations against her were probably nothing more than unproven slanders , but the whole experience was very bitter for Pericles . 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 pre - eminence 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 many ancient historians lay the blame on Pericles and Athens . Plutarch seems to believe that Pericles and the Athenians incited the war , scrambling to implement their belligerent tactics " with a sort of arrogance and a love of strife " . Thucydides hints at the same thing , believing the reason for the war was Sparta ' s fear of Athenian power and growth . However , as he is generally regarded as an admirer of Pericles , Thucydides has been criticized for bias towards Sparta . Prelude to the war . 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 behavior 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 , 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 ) . In 431 BC , while peace already was precarious , 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 . 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 when in the face of mounting pressure , 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 – 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 sun frightened the crews , but Pericles used the astronomical knowledge he had acquired from Anaxagoras to calm them . In the summer of the same year an epidemic broke out and devastated 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 at an amount 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 , Paralus and Xanthippus , in the epidemic . His morale undermined , he burst into tears and not even Aspasia ' s companionship could console him . He himself died of the plague 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 , Paralus and Xanthippus , but around 445 BC , Pericles divorced his wife . He 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 . 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 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 . 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 , whether he or Pericles was the better fighter , Thucydides answered without any hesitation that Pericles was better , because even when he was defeated , he managed to convince the audience that he had 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 , to manipulate . Although Thucydides mentions the fining of Pericles , he does not mention the accusations against Pericles but instead focuses on Pericles ' integrity . On the other hand , in one of his dialogues , Plato rejects the glorification of Pericles and quote as saying : " 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 many 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 also tried to minimize the advantages of Sparta by rebuilding the walls of Athens , which , it has been suggested , radically altered the use of force in Greek international relations . 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 " , 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 " , and Victor Davis Hanson believes that Pericles had not worked out a clear strategy for an effective offensive action that could possibly force Thebes or Sparta to stop the war . 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 state that " the Athenians lost the war only when they dramatically reversed the Periclean grand strategy that explicitly disdained further conquests " . Hanson stresses that the Periclean strategy was not innovative , but could lead to a stagnancy in favor of Athens . It is a popular conclusion that those succeeding him lacked his abilities and character . Oratorical skill . Modern commentators of Thucydides , with other modern historians and writers , take varying stances on the issue of how much of the speeches of Pericles , as given by this historian , do actually represent Pericles ' own words and how much of them is free literary creation or paraphrase by Thucydides . Since Pericles never wrote down or distributed his orations , no historians are able to 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 Pericles 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 . 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 " . Ancient Greek writers call Pericles " Olympian " and extol 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 . Legacy . Pericles ' most visible legacy can be found in the literary and artistic works of the 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 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 . Pericles and his " expansionary " policies have been at the center of arguments promoting democracy in oppressed countries . Other analysts maintain 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 .