Greece: Pericles

1. Greece: Pericles

2. Historical context • Geography, topography and resources of Athens, Attica and the Athenian empire • Geography • Athens was the city and countryside of Attica • 16 km from sea • Attica – land around, a peninsula • Phaleron – old harbour • Piraeus – new harbour • Topography • Rocky • Few fertile areas • Resources • Olives • Grapes • Goats • Bees: honey and wax • Fish • Some grain, but not enough to feed the population • Silver: used to buy triremes

3. Historical context • Overview of the development of Athenian democracy • In the 6th Century BC, Athens was transformed from a second-rate polis dominated by aristocrats and plagued by economic and political problems, into a prosperous city-state with a sense of unity, optimism and increasing confidence. • Solon594 BC • He became the eponymous archon and decided to make a more serous attempt to solve the problems causing the trouble.

4. Historical context • He organised the Athenian people into 4 social classes Pentecosiomedimni • Owned a certain amount of land • Could become archon or strategos Hippeis • Horse/cavalry class Zeugitae • Small farmers • Hoplite Thetes • Landless labouring class • Could vote • Auxiliary troops • Paid to row the boats • Could not become an archon or strategos

5. Historical context • He set up a council, which could meet regularly and pose questions for the ecclesia; the People’s Assembly. However, real power, the place of serious decision-making was a council called the Areopagus. This was composed of everybody who had been an archon. • Solon’s most important reforms were his economic reforms, which set Athens up as a commercial centre: • Cancel all debts • You couldn’t be enslaved for debt • Every father had to teach his son a trade • He banned the export of grain • He brought in foreign workers with skills (pottery, ships, building) • Solon banned the enslavement of Athenians at Athens, and it was thought highly improper to enslave other Greeks.

6. Historical context Cleisthenes508 BC • He was Pericles’ great uncle and used the work isonomia (equality) to describe his reforms of the system of Athenian government. His reforms became the basis of Athenian democracy during the 5th Century BC. • After the reforms of Cleisthenes, the Athenian constitution consisted of: • New tribes • He replaced the original 4 tribes based on kinship, to 10 tribes based on territory; the hill, coast and plain. Each tribe was called a prytanny.

7. Historical context • The Boule • He changed the old Council of Four Hundred to the Council of Five Hundred. It was divided into groups of 50 men over 30 years of age from each of the ten tribes. The council managed the day to day running of the state. It did not create laws but advised magistrates and submitted proposals to the People’s Assembly. Every citizen had an opportunity to select its members from the top two classes by a mixed process of election and lot. The disadvantage was that it sometimes produced mediocre or incompetent officials • Archons • These were chief magistrates and there were 9 in total. They were elected from the top two wealth classes and held office for one year. They were held to account for their actions.

8. Historical context • The strategoi (board of 10 generals) • Each of the 10 tribes elected a general annually and these formed a permanent body. They were both civil and military leaders. One of these emerged as the most influential leader of the generals called The Strategos. They could be chosen for unlimited successive years. • The Council of the Areopagus • This was an aristocratic body made up of ex-archons who held their position for life. • Ecclesia • Also known as the People’s Assembly. It was open to all citizens over the age of 18 including the lowest class (thetes). It voted on laws, elected magistrates and decided issues of war and peace. The meetings were held regularly on a hill in Athens called the pnyx, and anybody could speak on any subject by taking the podium. This was the essence of the democracy.

9. Historical context • The Law Courts – Heliaea • It comprised of all those who sat in the Assembly called together to act as a court. All citizens could appeal against a magistrate’s decision and try a magistrate for mismanagement. In some cases there could have been 5000 jurors and in a system with no judges or lawyers, the jurors became very important and the trials very public. • Ostracism • Every year an ostracism was held at which a quorum of at least 6000 citizens had to be present for it to take place. Each citizen in attendance was given as ostraka and asked to write the name of a person they considered to be very dangerous to the democracy. If a majority of citizens gave the same name, that person was ostracised from Athens for 10 years. The property of those ostracised was not confiscated. 

10. Historical context • Overview of Athenian social, religious and economic structures Social structures • Democracy • Cleruchs – the thetes were sent out to places that Athens took over and were given land • Panhellenism – all the Greeks working, fighting and living together as one people • Citizens • Male child of Athenian parents • Women were not included • Thetes • Lowest class • Became the rowers • Cleruchs

11. Historical context • Women • The status of a woman was determined by her class • Priestesses were held in the highest respect • The hetairai (female companions) had the greatest social freedom E.g. Aspasia • Expected to keep silent (aidos) • Expected to be a good household manager • Women participated in the religious festivals • Women had their own festivals • No political rights • They were legally under the control of men • Metics • Foreigners who chose to live permanently in Athens • Craftsmen, traders, farmers, bakers, merchants, fullers • Served in the armed forces • Could not attend the ecclesia • Could not own land • Could not obtain citizenship • Paid a special tax • Brought new religion (Eastern goddesses; Bendis and Cybele)

12. Historical context • Slaves • Privately owned or owned by the state • It is believed that privately owned slaves were better treated then state owned slaves • State owned slaves worked on the roads, in the dockyards, in the mint and on public buildings • The lowest class of slaves worked in the silver mines at Laurium • Prisoners of war • Unwanted children • Children or men sold into slavery for debt • Children born into slavery

13. Historical context • Religious structures • Worshipped the Pantheon of Gods and Goddesses • Zeus, Hera, Athena • Athena could be the demus unmarried girl to which the Parthenon was devoted or she could be Athena Nike, the Goddess of victory and war • The all Athens Games which involved everybody in the city started with a huge procession outside the city going up the main thoroughfare (the Panathenaic way) and ending on the acropolis • The Mysteries of Eleusis – women went into Attica for a week and let loose their basic instincts • The Lenaea – drama festival • The festival of Dionysus

14. Historical context • Economic structures • Athens during the 5th Century BC was the most important economic power in Greece • The transformation of the Delian League to the Athenian Empire gave Athens greater power with access to tribute • Their pottery was the Black Attic War found and was found where ever their ships did their trade • They had a very serious economic problem; they didn’t have enough grain to feed the population • Their main source of carbohydrates was imported from the Black Sea area • The industrial and commercial life of Athens was carried out by the metics

15. Background and rise to prominence • Family background and education • Family background • Member of the Pentecosiomedimni • He was born into a wealthy family (the Alcmaeonids) • The Alcmaeonids owned cast tracts of land in Attica and were reputed to be extremely wealthy however, they were generally excluded from the inner circle of nobility because of their curse (agos) • His father was Xanthippus, a rising politician and general during the Persian Wars who was ostracised in c.484 BC • His mother was Agariste who was born into the Alcmaeonids • His great-uncle was Cleisthenes, who in 507 BC had reformed Athenian government

16. Background and rise to prominence • It is believed that Pericles was born around 494 BC • He would have been old enough to understand the Athenian anger and humiliation when the Persians burnt and occupied the city • ‘The fact that he was rich and that he came from a distinguished family and possessed exceedingly powerful friends made the fear of ostracism very real to him’ – Plutarch • Like Cleisthenes, Pericles turned his back on his aristocratic lineage and committed himself to the power of the people, partly because of his family’s alienation from the rest of the nobility • He probably inherited from his mother’s side a certain anti-Spartan attitude. Cleisthenes had been banished from Athens on the urging of the Spartans who suggested that the Alcamaeonids were unfit for Athenian society because they were polluted by a curse

17. Background and rise to prominence • Education • The traditional education in Pericles’ time for boys involved gymnastics, the recital of epic poems of Homer and music • Pericles’ family’s nobility and wealth allowed him to follow his natural inclination toward education • Kagan infers that physical training prepared the boys for the athletic contests that were a regular part of religious festivals and of Panhellenic competitions, and kept them in condition to serve as soldiers • Kagan infers that musical education taught the boys to sing and play instruments and to learn the traditional body of poetry (the poems of Homer). This prepared the boys for competitions which would involve choruses at religious festivals

18. Background and rise to prominence • Teachers • Plutarch gives us information about Pericles’ teachers in Life of Pericles • Damon • Most would agree that Damon was Pericles’ music teacher (which included poetry) and would also train Pericles for his political contests • Damon was interested in politics and philosophy and it was probably because of him that Pericles entered politics as a radical • Pericles’ enemies claimed that it was Damon who advised him to use public funds to pay citizens for jury service • He was ostracised for being an intriguer and supporter of tyranny • ‘A most accomplished man in every way, as well as a musician and a companion of inestimable value for young men’ - Plato • Pythocleides • According to Aristotle, he thoroughly trained Pericles in music

19. Background and rise to prominence • Zeno • A pre-Socratic Greek philosopher of southern Italy • Zeno taught Pericles a technique of cross examination, which allowed Pericles to corner his opponent by a method of question and answer • He taught natural philosophy • Inventor of dialectic and several famous paradoxes • Anaxagoras • Pre-Socratic Greek philosopher • Member of the Ionian School of philosophy • Metic • Imparted to Pericles the majesty and gravity he had in all his sayings and doings, superior to all arts of popularity • He appears to have been Pericles’ most influential teacher • His scientific ideas freed Pericles from the superstitions held by the people he guided • It is said his studies were in natural science • Nicknamed ‘intelligence personified’

20. Background and rise to prominence • Early political career to 460 BC • In 480 BC the Persians invaded Greece for the second time and Athens was evacuated. Pericles devoted himself to being a soldier. He showed initiative and joined the people’s party • As Choregus in 472 BC he paid for Aeschylus’ play The Persians to be produced at the festival of Dionysus. This play gave him popularity among the citizens and therefore he gained some influence • It is thought that he used the revolt and subjugation of Naxos by Cimon and the Delian League forces in 469 BC, to make his first speech • Some believe that Pericles was the leading prosecutor against Cimon, the head of the conservative party. Although Cimon was acquitted, this confrontation proved that Pericles’ major opponent was vulnerable • He associated with Ephialtes from 463 BC onwards • They called for an ostracism of Cimon and he was ostracised • He proposed a decree that would allow the poor to watch theatrical plays without paying

21. Career • Democratic reforms and policies • When Ephialtes was murdered c. 461 BC, Pericles introduced ‘a sweeping policy allowing Athenians to participate in all aspects of their government at state expense’. C. M. Bowra, in his book Periclean Athens, argues that Pericles completed the work started by Themistocles because he was intensely patriotic, and believed in Athens. If Athens was to be a great city he envisaged, every citizen had to play his part to the full extent of his ability.

22. Career • The payment of jurors 461 BC • Pericles proposed a bill for the payment of jurors in the Heliaea • This could be seen as an attack on the Areopagus • This encouraged citizens to undertake jury service • Jurors were paid 2 obols a day to sit on juries • This resulted in the democratisation of the law courts • Pericles became wildly popular as the jurors composed of commoners who were never before paid for service • The aristocrats were outraged and blamed Pericles for lowering the standards of the Athenian court • The jury was selected by lot, a set number from each tribe • Therefore one faction could not control the court

23. Career • The admission of the zeugitae to the archonship • This occurred at about 458 BC • Pericles proposed a bill that allowed the zeugitae to hold archonship • Archons were now selected by lot • He also introduced a payment for service as an archon • They were paid 4 obols a day. This meant that there was no need to restrict it to the two richest classes • This continued to weaken the power of the aristocracy • Payment of the Boule • One drachma was payed to the members of the Council of 500 • It was also paid to other officials except generals

24. Career • Citizenship law • Pericles introduced this decreed between 451 – 450 BC • It was passed by the ecclesia • It revised the citizenship roles • Restricted the admission of new citizens depending upon their parentage • To become an Athenian citizen, both of your parents had to already be Athenian citizens and they had to be legally married • This limited the number of people who could benefit from the wealth of the city and its empire • This limited the number of people who could wed

25. Career Military career • Battle of Tanagra 457 BC • Periclesfought as a citizen • ‘Brave and fond of danger’ - Plutarch • Athenians lost • Egyptian expedition 455 BC • Egypt was one of the main sources of grain • Egypt was part of the Persian empire and the Persians did not want to trade their grain their the enemy • Pericles wanted to take over the trade • Sent out a fleet of 200 ships up the Nile • All the ships were lost • Could not secure this second source of grain

26. Career • The Peloponnese 454 BC • Pericles was strategos • Pericles was given command of a fleet of 100 triremes • Defeated the army from Sicyon at Nemea • Attacked Acarnania, ravaged and looted the land • Unsuccessfully besieged the city of Oeniadae • Sailed back to Athens   • Southern Italy and Sicily 450s BC • There was a rich source of grain supply, but for hundreds of years the area had been settled by other Greek cities especially Corinth • Corinth resented the Athenians for trying to take this grain trade from them • Pericles made a serious attempt to get the trade towards the end of the 450s • At one stage he took control of the whole of central Greece, and even making an alliance with Argos • This only came to an end when Corinth was encouraged by Sparta to fight back in the so called First Peloponnesian War • It ended in 445 BC with the collapse of Athens’ control of central Greece and Pericles making a precarious peace with Sparta

27. Career • The Chersonese 447 BC • Pericles took 100 Athenian colonists to the Chersonese to help build up the number of Greeks living there • The Greek colonies were under constant attacks and raids from the Thracian tribes who lived nearby • He built a fortified wall across the Isthmus • This stopped the raids and allowed the Greek colonies to grow • Euboea 446 BC • Part of the Delian League • The inhabitants decided to revolt • Pericles was sent to restore order • The Megarians also revolted and the Spartans sent an army to invade Attica • Pericles crossed back, avoided a battle with the Spartan army and supposedly managed to bribe one of the advisers of the Spartan king • Pericles returned to Euboea with 5000 hoplites and 50 triremes • He captured the city of Chalcis, banished its leading citizens and captured the city of Hestiaea • He moved the entire population out and replaced it with cleruchs

28. Career • Thirty Years Peace 445 BC • Agreement between Sparta and Athens • Pericles knew that if Athens needed to devote more energy maintaining its naval empire, it had to secure a lasting peace with Sparta • Samos440 BC • The people of Samos refused to end a war with Miletus • Many Athenians believed that Pericles undertook this campaign to please his mistress Aspasia who came from Miletus • Pericles took 50 of their most influential men and 50 children as hostages and sent them to the island of Lemnos • He established a democracy and returned to Athens • They revolted against this new government • The Persian satrap freed the hostages and prepared for war • Pericles returned with an army of triremes and fought a naval battle against the Samians • Pericles was victorious and besieged the city of Samos • More Athenian ships came and Pericles decided to sail back out to sea, leaving a small number of Athenian ship still at Samos • The Samians attacked the remaining forces and destroyed the ships • Pericles returned and defeated a second Samian fleet and began the siege again • It took 9 months to capture it • He demolished their walls, confiscated their fleet of war ships, took more hostages and made them pay a large fine • Pericles became very popular in Athens after this victory

29. Career • Black Sea 436 BC • It was an attempt to show how strong Athens was to the tribes who lived there • Pericles sailed into the Black Sea and stopped at the various Greek colonies and negotiated with them over grain supplies for Athens • The protection of the trading routes was of crucial importance to the Athenians • Pericles left a military force and some triremes to help some citizens of Sinope dispose the tyrant of the city, Timesilaus • 600 Athenians then settled into Sinope to help the locals keep control of their city • Alliance with Corcyra 433 BC • This island had been founded by Corinth • It became very powerful as ships heading to Italy needed to stop there • Pericles was keen on developing a relationship with it • By 432 BC Corinth and Corcyra fought out a sea battle at Sybota • Corcyra won • The Corinthians must have been annoyed that the Athenian ships stood by, clearly ready to assist Corcyrean ships if they were needed • This is seen as one of the causes of the Peloponnesian War

30. Career • Potidaea 432 BC • It was a Corinthian colony • It was an important trading centre in the Athenian empire • It welcomed Corinthian officials into the city every year • This showed support for Corinth • The Athenians besieged the city and took over it • Megara432 BC • Pericles proposed a decree that banned the Megarians from trading with any of the Athenian controlled markets in the Aegean and Black Sea • This caused considerable hardship and forced the Megarians to request assistance from the Spartans and other members of the Peloponnesian League

31. Career • Building program • This occurred during the peak of Pericles’ power • Athens held unused tribute from the annual payment made to the Delian League • - Pericles proposed that his money should be used to fund a building program which would make Athens beautiful  • - He did not consult the allies • - Pericles argued that the Athenians were not obliged to provide an account of how the money was spent, since Athens was fulfilling its responsibilities in maintaining peace • - Thucydides (son of Melesias) denounces Pericles’ actions as barefaced tyranny • - Pericles offered to pay for the buildings himself, provided that he be given full credit for them for posterity

32. Career • His aims were to glorify Athens and to ensure that the unskilled masses, who had no military training, should not be barred from benefiting from the national income and yet should not be paid for sitting about and doing nothing • He wanted to increase Athens’ prosperity and share the wealth with people of all classes by creating a demand for all kinds of enterprises, providing an inspiration for art and transforming the people into wage earners

33. Career • The Parthenon • Built between 447 – 432 BC • Made of white marble • Largest Doric temple built in antiquity • Ictinus and Callicrates were its architects • The great martial pan-Hellenic myths including the battle of Giants, Lapiths battling with centaurs, Amazons and the Trojan War is represented through carvings • There is a frieze depicting the Panathenaic procession and the gods awaiting its arrival • It contained a room which was used as a treasury • The foundation of a previous temple was used as its basis • The columns lean slightly inwards to make it appear more graceful

35. Career • Athena Parthenos • 11.5 metres high • Stood in the cella of the Parthenon • Central core was of wood to which were attached plates of ivory for the goddess’ face, neck, arms and feel • The Gorgon’s head that stood on her shield was also made of ivory • Gold was used for her garment and snake bracelets • Other parts are supposed to have been of gilded bronze • She rested on her shield with her spear against her left shoulder • She wore a helmet with a sphinx, winged horses and griffins • She is depicted accepting a statue of Nike (victory) as thanksgiving from her people

36. Career • The Temple of Athena Nike • Commemorate the victory of the Persians • Ionic style • It is a smaller temple situated on the acropolis 

37. Career • The Temple of Hephaestus • Dedicated to the god of the artisans • Construction started during the tyranny in the 6th Century BC • Construction restarted at the time of Pericles

38. Career • The Temple of Poseidon at Sunium

39. Career • The Propylaea • Situated to the left side of the Acropolis • Gateway • Made of Pentelic marble

40. Career • The Odeon • Theatre • Built from the timbers and masts captured from Persian ships

41. Career • Piraeus • The new harbour • Although not a building, it was built during Pericles’ time • Constructed by Hippodamus of Miletus • Storehouses, a corn exchange and dry docks for the repair of ships were built • The emporion – a showplace where merchants displayed their products was rebuilt 

42. Career • The Erechtheum • Temple • Dedicated to Athena and Poseidon Erechtheus

43. Career • People employed in the building program • Artists and craftsmen – architects, sculptors, modellers, painters, coppersmiths, workers in gold and ivory, stone masons and engravers • Tradesmen and labourers – dyers, rope makers, weavers, leatherworkers, miners, road builders, wagon makers, trainers of draught animals, drivers, sailors and merchants

44. Career • Roles as general (strategos) and politician • In 459 BC he became the leader of the radical democratic faction • Pericles held the position of strategos continuously for 16 years until his death in 429 BC, except for the year 430 BC • Pericles was removed from office and fined in 430 BC. This was because the Athenians were unhappy about Pericles’ political policies and the hardships suffered during the early years of the Peloponnesian War • He convened the assembly and presided over it • His voice and opinion was the one most citizens wanted to hear first • He controlled the domestic and foreign affairs of the polis • Commanded the Athenian forces on land and sea • Influenced the Athenian foreign policy • Responsible for calling up citizens for naval and military service and maintaining the fleet • Could conduct preliminary negotiations with foreign states

45. Career • Methods of maintaining leadership and influence • According to Plutarch and Thucydides, Pericles had many admirable personal qualities: • Reserve and dignity • Great integrity • Intense patriotism and idealism • Moderation and a sense of justice • Persuasive oratory e.g. funeral oration • Intelligence and rational thought • Incorruptibility • Determination

46. Career • He continuously broke down the powers of the aristocracy • He returned some of the power to the people • His introduction of payment to jurors made him popular with the people • His constant encouragement of the people e.g. funeral oration • Building program brought employment to Athens leading to economic growth and development • Athens became a wealthy cultural centre • He sent out cleruchs

47. Career • Promotion of Athenian imperialism • Cleruchs - Pericles sent out thetes to the cities and islands they took over to give them new land • The Athenians formalised the imperial view of themselves by removing the League funds to the Athenian treasury in 454 BC on the pretext of the failure of the Egyptian campaign • The Athenians took over surrounding cities and turned them into democracy • The Spartans disliked the Athenians as they feared they would spread democracy into their society

48. Career • Role and influence in the development of Athens, the ‘Golden Age’ • Pericles contributed to the cultural greatness of Athens by his vision for and pride in the city he loved • He was responsible for providing the incentive and support for the marvellous buildings in and around the city, especially those on the acropolis • He was associated with philosophers and sophists, dramatists, writers, town planners, artists and architects, many of whom where part of his circle E.g. Anaxagoras, Protagoras, Damon, Sophocles, Herodotus, Hippodamus, Pheidias, Callicrates and Ictinus • He succeeded in enabling Athens to rise to the height of its prosperity by expanding the economy • Opened up the Athenian government to the people and completed its democratic development • Athens became the cultural centre of Greece

49. Career • Relationships with prominent individuals: Aspasia, Ephialtes, Pheidias • Aspasia • It is said that between 445 – 440 BC, Pericles met a young woman named Aspasia • She was a hitarii from Miletus • The traditional view states that she was very intelligent and mixed with leading Athenian philosophers • She taught rhetoric • She was legally forbidden to marry an Athenian citizen because she was a hitarii and a foreigner • She lived with Pericles as if they were married

50. Career • Had a son with Pericles who was denied Athenian citizenship under Pericles’ own law • After Pericles had died from the plague, his son was legitimised and became a citizen • His son changed his name to Pericles and was later elected strategos. He was one of the strategoi who was executed after the Battle of Arginusae • Many leading comic playwrights made fun of Aspasia’s influence over Pericles • She was charged with immorality and accused of impiety • She was accused of corrupting the women of Athens in order to satisfy Pericles’ perversions • Charged with having influence of Pericles to attack Samos • Pericles had her acquitted • Aristophanes goes so far as to blame her for the start of the Peloponnesian War • Pericles’ relationship with Aspasia was unusual. He involved her regularly in conversation with other men and discussed important matters with her and treated her opinions with respect