Latest / Ancient Greece: Philosophy, Democracy, and Endless War — Fexingo History / Pericles and the Athenian Golden Age
Transcript
- Lucas: Welcome back. Today we are talking about Pericles, the man whose name is practically synonymous with Athens' Golden Age. But I want to do more than just repeat the Funeral Oration. We are going to look at the real Pericles — the politician, the strategist, the man who turned Athens into an empire while walking a tightrope between democracy and his own power. Luna: So not just the idealized version we get from Thucydides? Lucas: Exactly. Thucydides, who was a huge admirer, gives us Pericles at his best. But there is a lot more to the story. Pericles came from the Alcmaeonid family — the same clan as Cleisthenes, the father of Athenian democracy. But the Alcmaeonids also carried a curse, literally. They were blamed for a massacre of Cylon's followers back in the 7th century BC. So Pericles grew up with that shadow over his family. Lucas: He was also famously aloof. Plutarch says he never laughed in public, never went to parties, kept his emotions entirely under wraps. He was called 'the Olympian' because people said he thundered like Zeus when he spoke in the Assembly. That distance served him well — it made him seem above petty politics. Luna: But he was deeply involved in petty politics, right? Lucas: Oh absolutely. He rose to power in the late 460s BC by attacking his rival Cimon, who was a conservative aristocrat. Pericles used the democratic reforms of Ephialtes — who was assassinated, by the way — to push through measures that weakened the Areopagus council and gave more power to the Assembly and the people's courts. He then got Cimon ostracized in 461 BC. That cleared the field. Lucas: Once Pericles was the leading man in Athens, he pursued a coherent strategy. First, he made Athens a fortress. He convinced the Athenians to build the Long Walls — those massive fortifications connecting Athens to the port of Piraeus. As long as Athens controlled the sea, the city could never be starved into submission. Luna: The Long Walls — that's the strategy that came back to bite them later, right? Lucas: Exactly. It meant that during the Peloponnesian War, Pericles' strategy was basically: don't fight the Spartans on land, just stay behind the walls and rely on the navy. But that also meant cramming the entire population of Attica inside the walls, which led to overcrowding, unsanitary conditions, and then the plague. But we will get to that. Lucas: Second, he transformed the Delian League into the Athenian Empire. The League was originally a defensive alliance against Persia, with its treasury on Delos. Pericles moved the treasury to Athens in 454 BC, and from then on, the 'allies' were essentially subjects. Athens dictated policy, installed garrisons, and demanded tribute. When the island of Samos revolted in 440 BC, Pericles personally led a brutal siege to crush them. Luna: So much for the freedom of the Greek cities. Lucas: Right. But Pericles justified it by saying Athens provided security and prosperity. And he used the tribute money to fund an enormous building program — the Parthenon, the Propylaea, the Odeon. He turned Athens into a showpiece. Plutarch says the buildings were so magnificent that people thought they were built by gods, not men. Luna: But wasn't there a lot of criticism about using allied money to build Athenian temples? Lucas: Oh yes. His political opponents — especially Thucydides son of Melesias, not the historian — attacked him for embezzling funds. Pericles famously replied that he would pay for the buildings himself, but then his name alone would be on the dedication. That shut them up, because no one wanted Pericles to get all the glory. So the Assembly voted to fund the project from the public treasury. Lucas: But here is where it gets really interesting. Pericles also pushed through a citizenship law in 451 BC that restricted Athenian citizenship to people whose both parents were Athenian. That was a radical move. It meant that even if you were a wealthy metic or an ally, your children couldn't become citizens. It created a very clear insiders versus outsiders dynamic. Luna: And that had massive consequences later, especially for Aspasia. Lucas: Exactly. Aspasia was from Miletus, so she was a metic. Under Pericles' own law, his son by her — also named Pericles — could not be a citizen. He had to get a special exemption from the Assembly. And that created all kinds of political problems. His enemies attacked Aspasia for impiety and for corrupting Athenian women. Pericles had to defend her in court, weeping, to get her acquitted. Luna: We did an episode on Aspasia, and that part is just heartbreaking. Lucas: It is. Pericles was clearly deeply attached to her, but his own law boxed him in. And that tension between public policy and private life is something Thucydides doesn't really talk about. But Plutarch does, and it gives us a much more human picture. Lucas: Now, the third pillar of Pericles' policy was radical democracy at home. He introduced payment for jury duty — the misthos — so that poor citizens could afford to serve. That was a game changer. Before, only wealthy Athenians could afford to spend their days in court. With payment, the common people could participate, and the courts became a tool of the democracy — and also a way for Pericles to check the power of the rich. Luna: But didn't that also lead to a kind of mob rule? The comic poets certainly thought so. Lucas: Aristophanes and others mocked the popular courts as being easily swayed by demagogues. But Pericles himself was not a demagogue in the modern sense. He was a patrician who led through persuasion and respect, not flattery. Thucydides says that Athens was a democracy in name but actually a monarchy under Pericles — because his authority was so great. He could tell the people things they didn't want to hear and they still followed him. Lucas: Which brings us to the war. The Peloponnesian War started in 431 BC, and Pericles was the architect of Athenian strategy. He told the Athenians to bring everyone inside the walls, avoid land battles, and use the navy to raid the Peloponnese. It was sound, but it had a fatal flaw. Luna: The plague. Lucas: The plague hit Athens in 430 BC, during the second year of the war. People were packed into the city, and the disease — probably typhus or something similar — spread like wildfire. A third of the population died. Thucydides caught it himself and survived, and he gives a horrifying account of the symptoms, the social breakdown, the despair. Lucas: Pericles himself lost his sister, his two legitimate sons, and many close friends. He tried to keep up morale, but the people turned on him. They fined him for misusing public funds. But they soon realized they needed him, so they re-elected him as general in 429 BC. Then he caught the plague himself and died after a lingering illness. Luna: It's such a tragic end for the man who built Athens into an empire. Lucas: It is. And his death marked a turning point. Without Pericles, Athenian politics became more chaotic. Leaders like Cleon and Alcibiades were much more aggressive and populist. The war ground on for another 27 years, and Athens eventually lost. But Pericles' vision — of a democratic, imperial, culturally vibrant Athens — it defined the city's legacy forever. Luna: So would you say Pericles was a hero, a villain, or something in between? Lucas: I think he was a brilliant leader who made choices that had enormous consequences — some good, some terrible. He championed democracy but restricted citizenship. He built beautiful temples but crushed rebellious allies. He gave a speech about the glory of Athens while his city was ravaged by plague. He was a man of his time, and his time was both glorious and brutal. Thucydides called his age a 'possession for all time.' But it's a possession we have to look at with clear eyes. Luna: That's a good note to end on. Thanks, Lucas. Lucas: Thanks, Luna. Next time we'll look at the aftermath of the Peloponnesian War and the rise of Sparta's empire. But until then, keep questioning the past.