Pericles (495 - 429 BC)

	Bust of Pericles

Pericles was the great-nephew of Cleisthenes and has therefore been argued to have been ‘born into’ politics. He is frequently claimed to be the founder of the ‘Golden Age’ of Athenian democracy and the man who led Athens to the height of her political power and artistic achievements. As a result, his reign is called the 'Periclean Age’.

From 460 BC until his death in 429 BC, Pericles dominated Athenian politics. For sixteen consecutive years he was elected as one of the ten strategi (or generals). Periclean domestic policy was to continue with democratic reform, whilst his strategy for foreign affairs was to extend Athenian power throughout central and northern Greece by land, and to strengthen Athenian control of the Delian League. Once the Persian wars had ended (in 448 BC), Pericles spent the next fifteen years of peace making Athens the cultural leader of the world.

By 432 BC, Athens had become the most populous city-state of the Hellenic world. In Athens and Attica, there were at least 150,000 Athenians, around 50,000 foreigners, and more than 100,000 slaves. Other city-states became both jealous and fearful of Athens and, as a result, these city-states began to turn toward Sparta as their last best hope of security.

In 431 BC the Peloponnesian Wars – of which there were three principal phases – began. The first lasted from 431 - 421 BC; during this stage, Spartan troops advanced on Attica. For weeks, Attica's citizens were forced to live in the walled city while Spartan troops ravaged the countryside. Because of such harsh conditions, a plague broke out that killed one out of every three people. During this outbreak, Pericles became ill; he died in 429 BC.

During the period of peace in Athens, Pericles constructed many great monuments and edifices (including the Temple of Athena Nike, the Propylaea, and the Parthenon). As a result of his great political contributions to Athens (in both cultural and military spheres), democracy prevailed. Despite the fact that the Spartans eventually won the war, only eight months following Athenian defeat a popular uprising saved the city and restored democracy.