Pericles of Athens Read Online Free

rise to power of the people (the dēmos ) in the city. Even after the ostracism of this dangerous rival, in 443 B.C., Pericles
     was assailed by virulent criticisms, as is testified by the attacks launched, in the
     course of the 430s, against several of those close to him—namely, Anaxagoras the philosopher;
     Aspasia, Pericles’ partner; and the sculptor Phidias.
    The mark that Pericles made upon the city was nevertheless undeniable. In the first
     place, it was he who pressed for the most prestigious magistracies to be open even
     to the most poverty-stricken of the citizens; next, thecensus disqualifications that had been established at the beginning of the sixth century
     were progressively removed, although access to the post of archon continued to be
     denied to the thetes. It was also thanks to Pericles’ initiative that pay, in the
     form of misthoi , was for the first time introduced as remuneration for taking part in civic life.
     By the end of the 450s, the juries serving in Athenian courts were reimbursed so that
     the least wealthy citizens could be in a position to serve in lawsuits without fear
     of losing a day’s wages. From being purely a formality, democracy gradually became
     a reality. Meanwhile, Pericles initiated a policy of major public works, the building
     of the Parthenon between 447 and 438 B.C. being its most dazzling manifestation; and,
     finally, he completed the construction of the Long Walls that linked the town to its
     port, Piraeus, and also built a war-fleet, to the great advantage of the thetes, who
     manned the triremes and received a wage for this. In this respect, internal democratization
     and external imperialism kept in step as they developed.
    So it was by no means by chance that Pericles also became a passionate defender of
     Athenian interests within the Delian League. In, at the latest, 454 B.C., at the height
     of its influence, the federal treasury was transferred to the Acropolis. Now the Athenians
     could draw on it as they wished, in order to finance the functioning of their democracy.
     But among their allies, these developments gave rise to discontent that was all the
     more fervent given that the Persian peril had been dispelled as early as the 460s.
     With the swearing of the Peace of Callias in 449 B.C., the situation became critical.
     This treaty drew a final line under the confrontation that began with the Persian
     Wars, thereby rendering the maintenance of the Delian League pointless. However, Athens
     refused to dissolve this alliance, from which it acquired substantial profits; and
     Pericles had no compunction about putting down the uprisings that followed, in Euboea
     in 446 B.C. and then a long war against Samos, which lasted from 441 to 439.
    Meanwhile, over and above these sporadic revolts, the democratic city had to cope
     with the growing hostility of Sparta and its Peloponnesian allies. Alarmed by Athens’s
     rise to power, the Spartans headed an alliance designed to counter its influence.
     After a series of clashes between their respective allies, followed by a brief interlude
     of calm—the “Thirty Years’ Peace” of 446 B.C.—tensions rose again until, in 431 B.C.,
     the conflict erupted openly. This was the start of the Peloponnesian War. It was to
     last for twenty-seven years and end in the defeat of Athens in 404 B.C. It was Pericles
     who elaborated the strategy that, during the early years, made it possible for the
     Athenians to resist the Peloponnesians despite the latter’s numerical superiority
     and their redoubtable infantry. Thanks to their own superiority at seaand their impregnable defense system, the Athenians even appeared to be in a good
     position to triumph. But from 430 onward, a serious “plague” ravaged the city, and
     one year later Pericles was dead, carried off by this scourge.
    Those few milestones trace a complex biographical path, the subtle twists and turns
     of which it is hard to pinpoint. The fact is