Nothing further is known until 463, when he unsuccessfully prosecuted Cimon, the leading general and statesman of the day, on a charge of having neglected a chance to conquer Macedonia; this implies that Pericles advocated an aggressive policy of expansion for Athens. Gill, N.S. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement and Your California Privacy Rights. . It was given in the 5th-century by Pericles. Instead, we put our trust not in secret weapons, but in our own courage when we are called upon to act. Orderly Athenians, no longer expecting to live long enough to face punishment for crimes, plunged into a state of unprecedented lawlessness. They could not even bother to lay their dead to rest respectably. She was also niece to the father of Athenian democracy, Cleisthenes. Pericles was a famous Greek general. The average citizen could not look even to his polis for the satisfaction of his greatest spiritual needs. In the speech, Pericles, the first great statesman of the ancient world, says that he wished to focus on "the road by which we reached our position, the form of government under which our greatness grew, and the national habits out of which it sprang" in addition to praising the dead. Only one ancient account mentions the existence of Xerxes Canal, long thought to be a tall tale. left his mark on the world in far more ways than the iconic Acropolis that still defines the skyline of Athens. We are superior in this way, too, that we are the most daring in what we undertake at the same time as we are the most thoughtful before going about it, while with others it is ignorance that brings boldness and thought that makes them hesitate. Athens Should be Admired According to Funeral Oration Speech In a democracy, citizens behave lawfully while doing what they like without fear of prying eyes. In 430429 B.C.E., Athens was devastated by a mysterious epidemic, which reared its head again a few years later. Because as they are described by Pericles, Athenian citizens were distinct from the citizens of other nations they were open minded, tolerant, and ready to understand and follow orders. Please select which sections you would like to print: Professor of Ancient History, University of Oxford, 198594. Pericles's speech first gave praise to the ancestors, for which they are the people who built the city from the ground up and fought for democracy. This is because it commands our deep respect." Gazing at the men and women gathered for this solemn moment, Pericles reminds them of the difficult times they face. It existed for only two centuries in Athens and less than that in a small number of Greek states. Pericles allowed all people to participate in government which also made Athens more of a direct democracy. Only rumour associates him directly with the political convulsion of the next two years, which drove Cimon into exile, swung Athens away from its alignment with Sparta, and decisively strengthened the democratic elements in the Athenian constitution; but he probably did support the democratic leader Ephialtes in this period, and his introduction of pay for juries, unfortunately undatable, is a logical consequence of Ephialtes reforms. When tested, the Athenians behaved with the required devotion, wisdom, and moderation in large part because they had been inspired by the lofty democratic vision and example that Pericles had so effectively communicated to them. In it, Pericles (or Thucydides) extols the values of democracy. In 431 B.C., Pericles urged the popular assembly to declare war against Sparta. Leading up to this oration, the people of Athens, including those from the countryside whose land was being pillaged by their enemies, were kept in crowded conditions within the walls of Athens. The characteristics of Athenian democracy as presented by Pericles in his funeral oration are that it is an ideal democracy, that it is animated by a shared sense of civic virtue, and that in it . But these benefits, important as they were, did not appeal to the most basic spiritual need of all, the need for kleos and immortality. But modern democracies are also more remote and indirect, less political in the ancient understanding of the term. Often regarded as the greatest ruler of Athens and even all of Greece, Pericles fostered the famous democracy of Greece and supervised countless theater, statue, and infrastructure building projects. When you visit the site, Dotdash Meredith and its partners may store or retrieve information on your browser, mostly in the form of cookies. 105 Copy quote. Pericles (Leader of Athens) Biography - ThoughtCo America was a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Victory would mean a new birth of freedom, and would ensure that government of the people, by the people, and for the people, shall not perish from the earth. The fallen soldiers purpose was to preserve a Constitution and a way of life that was unique and worthy of sacrifice. The thousands of citizens who participated in Athenss fledgling democracy attended the popular assembly at the Pnyx, a rise in the center of the city. Thucydides, who wrote his Periclean speech for his History of the Peloponnesian War, readily admitted that his speeches were only loosely based on memory and shouldn't be taken as a verbatim report. In the following speech Pericles made these points about democracy: Democracy allows men to advance because of merit rather than wealth or inherited class. American Civil War scholars Louis Warren and Garry Wills have addressed the parallels of Pericles's funeral oration to Abraham Lincoln's famous Gettysburg Address. You can find out more about our use, change your default settings, and withdraw your consent at any time with effect for the future by visiting Cookies Settings, which can also be found in the footer of the site. Here, front-line workers grapple with their anxieties about how the coronavirus has affected their city. The Athenians prized thought, deliberation, and discussion. Gill, N.S. N.S. During the war, even in its darkest moments, Pericles could count on a strong response when he reminded the people that they were right to love their city and even to risk their lives for it, because it was uniquely great, and because only by preserving and enhancing it could the ordinary man share in its glory and so achieve a degree of fame and immortality. Pericles also elevated Athenss role within the Delian League, a naval alliance of Greek city-states unified to fight the Persians. He was the son of the politician Xanthippus and Agariste. A democracy is a form of government that gives all the ability to participate, and according to Pericles everyone has a responsibility to take part. The Spartan imposed a property qualification for participation in public life; any Athenian citizen could sit on juries or the council and vote and speak in the assembly. The answer was to be found in the power of Athens, although less in its extent than its character. What Is a Brief Summary of Pericles' Funeral Oration? - Reference.com The law also may have passed because of a general wish to restrict access to the benefits of office and public distributions, but there was never any disposition on the part of Athenians to restrict economic opportunities for foreignerswho served in the fleet, worked on public buildings, and had freedom of trade and investment, with the crucial, but normal, exception of land and houses. Aside from its value as a study in political greatness, therefore, Pericles career offers instruction in how a new and fragile democracy can be brought to maturity. Donald Kagan is Bass Professor of History and Classics and Western Civilization at Yale University. As Plato knew, political regimes are as fragile as any other human structure, and all fall in time. "Everybody Wants to Make a Speech": Cleon and Aristophanes On It was a great center of cultural and intellectual development, and thus home to philosophers. In the first year of the Peloponnesian War, Pericles gave speech . The ancient Greek Herodotus is considered by many to be the father of history. It is from his groundbreaking work, the History, that our modern meaning of the word was handed down through time. This text is an excerpt from the National Geographic special issue, The little-known history of the Florida panther. Solon responded, Tellus of Athens, a name neither Croesus nor anyone else outside of Athens had ever heard. The speech that Pericles delivers is such a dramatic departure from the customary oration that it is often considered a eulogy of Athens itself. Athens lost its first citizen, but his legacy endures in the Athens skyline and in democratic institutions around the world. Support for Democratic Institutions: Pericles was a strong advocate for democracy and supported the . Nevertheless, Thucydides was extremely meticulous in his documentation, and records the varied certainty of his sources each time. https://www.thoughtco.com/pericles-funeral-oration-thucydides-version-111998 (accessed May 1, 2023). It was written by the Greek philosopher Thucydides (460-395 B.C.E. Pericles' Funeral Oration | Classical Wisdom Weekly In the climax of his praise of Athens, Pericles declares: "In short, I say that as a city we are the school of Hellas; while I doubt if the world can produce a man, who, where he has only himself to depend upon, is equal to so many emergencies, and graced by so happy a versatility as the Athenian. Under the hands of Pericles, Thucydides thought democracy could be controlled, but without him, it could be dangerous. The story of the Athenians in the time of Pericles suggests that the creation and survival of democracy requires leadership of a high order. In a democracy . The style is deliberately elaborate, in accord with the stylistic preference associated with the sophists. Center on Opportunity and Social Mobility. 13. We continue to admire Athenss architectural splendor, stage its tragedies and comedies, and marvel, especially, at much that its democracy (the worlds first) wrought: participatory government, equal treatment before the law in private disputes, a distaste for class consciousness, juries made up of citizens, and tolerance about others personal lives. "Pericles's Funeral Oration" (Ancient Greek: ) is a famous speech from Thucydides' History of the Peloponnesian War. At the begining of the war, Athens and Sparta both thought they knew how to win. Governor Pericles' speech, captured by the Athenian historian General Thucydides and known as "The Funeral Oration," serves as a model for how a leader in an executive role may raise the spirit of his or her people during a time of crisis. Modified by time and circumstance, his vision has proven peculiarly powerful. Pericles of Athens and his Legacy on Democracy and Politics All rights reserved, Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. . Part of the answer lay in a quality of life unknown elsewhere, a range of activities that brought the pleasures of prosperity to the appetite, joy and wonder to the spirit, stimulation to the intellect, and pride to the soul. Pericles was born into the Athenian aristocracy. Some were acquired by effort; others were simply a gift of irrational fate. But the reward of these virtues was kleos, the fame and glory that alone held out the hope of victory over death. Pericles first made a name for himself in the city-state during his 20s as a wealthy aristocratic arts patron. A reconstruction of Pericles' house from The Greeks documentary. An understanding of that reality should give pause to any who may think that democracy is the natural polity of mankind and that its establishment and success are assured once despotic or reactionary rule has been removed. to turn the rocky hill known as the Acropolis into a breathtaking temple complex. Corrections? He also said that the ability to govern and participate in government was more important than one's class. Athens is a major Greek city-state in European history. Pericles was first to honour Athens' dead in his Funeral Oration after the Peloponnesian War in 431 BC. Thought is not a barrier to the achievement of heroic goals. After all, Athens was a naval power, an imperial capital, and a trading city whose fleets ranged across the ancient world; the contagion, he wrote, probably spread from Ethiopia to Libya to Persia before finally reaching Greece, where Athensa global port for commercial shipswas its first stop. In a democracy, there is equal justice for all in private disputes. Previously, only the wealthy could afford the time to participate in politics. In fact, it is a prerequisite for them, for the brave deeds performed by enraged heroes who give no thought to danger are, by his definition, not brave at all. That the soldiers put aside their desires and wishes for the greater cause. The image and example of the prosperous, free nations of the world, conveyed to their people by modern technology, has meanwhile raised material expectations to unrealistic levels. Plato and Aristotle wrote long after the death of Pericles, and it is by no means clear that these descriptions fit the real Athenian democracy at any time. "Pericles' Funeral Oration - Thucydides' Version." According to Pericles speech, Athenians had great respect for their warrior class and they were proud of their city and its customs. To honor the gods for the victory and to glorify Athens, Pericles proposed using the Delian Leagues treasury to mount an unprecedented building campaign. They were a very small minority of the total population over which they ruled. "For the love of honor alone is ever young, and not riches, as some say, but honor is the delight of men when they are old and useless." - Pericles, 'Pericles' Funeral Oration'. Concentrating on each translator's rendering of one of the most frequently cited passages in Thucydides' History (the so-called "funeral oration" given by Pericles in Book 2), Lianeri's central aim is to show how each of these interpretations was shaped by changes in attitudes towards the concept of . . [32], , ' . In a book packed with battle, conquest, and massacre, Thucydides account of the plague is especially horrifying. That if anyone should ask, they should look at their final moments when they gave their lives to their country and that should leave no doubt in the mind of the doubtful. [8] It is possible that elements of both speeches are represented in Thucydides's version. To succeed, they need a vision of the future that is powerful enough to sustain them through bad times as well as good and to inspire the many difficult sacrifices that will be required of them. More fully, and therefore at greater length, Pericles did the same thing. Beyond those advantages, its early champions tried to show that the polis was necessary for civilized life, and therefore deserved the highest sacrifice. Only someone of Pericles intelligence and integrity, Thucydides wrote, could respect the liberty of the people and at the same time hold them in check. His death left Athenian democracy in the hands of self-serving scoundrels such as Alcibiades, who later promoted an oligarchic coup, and bellicose demagogues such as Cleon, whom Thucydides scorned as remarkable among the Athenians for the violence of his character.. 2023 Cond Nast. The upper classes certainly had no prejudice against foreign marriages; the lower classes may well have had more, and, on the whole, it is possible to view Pericles here as championing exclusivist tendencies against immigrants who might break down the fabric of Athenian society. Pericles. Yet Thucydides swiftly dismissed such speculation. Several funeral orations from classical Athens are extant, which seem to corroborate Thucydides' assertion that this was a regular feature of Athenian funerary custom in wartime. Open Document. Pericles approved payment for jury duty and for soldiers, sailors, and administrators. Athens is called a democracy because the many rule, not the few; everyone knew that in Sparta a small minority dominated the vast majority. Socrates and Pericles, two of these philosophers, had polarizing opinions about the city-state and its citizens. Society was ravaged, and the military, which was in the early stages of a brutal twenty-seven-year war against Sparta, was debilitated for many years. The bones were kept for the funeral at the end of the year. He stated that the soldiers who died gave their lives to protect the city of Athens, its citizens, and its freedom. Thus, choosing to die resisting, rather than to live submitting, they fled only from dishonour"[19] The conclusion seems inevitable: "Therefore, having judged that to be happy means to be free, and to be free means to be brave, do not shy away from the risks of war". Yet this tolerant, easygoing way of life does not entail a disrespect for law or an invitation to licentious behavior. That Pericles skull was of unusual shape seems well attested, but one can hardly speculate about the possible psychological consequences. Updates? Scientists and historians have tried to identify the disease responsible based on the descriptions of Thucydides, but no consensus exists. A noted orator, Pericles stated in his famous Funeral Oration that Athenian citizens regard a man who takes no interest in public affairs not as a harmless, but a useless character.. In his oration, he made democracy, freedom, and justice the main rationale for citizens . ThoughtCo. They would have been appalled by Platos notion that each man should do the one thing for which he was best suited, and so would the Athenians described by Pericles. Pericles was widely seen as the leader of Athens. Although Thucydides records the speech in the first person as if it were a word for word record of what Pericles said, there can be little doubt that he edited the speech at the very least. Above all, Pericles helped the Athenians to understand that their private needs, both moral and material, required the kind of community Athens had become. Yet an Athenian reared in the Homeric tradition could also ask, How can I achieve kleos and thereby a chance at immortality? .But in Sparta anyone would be ashamed to dine or to wrestle with a coward. From the first, the Greeks faced the great truth of mans mortality squarely. No fear of god or law of man had a restraining influence.. To win the necessary devotion, the cityor rather its leaders, poets, and teachersmust show that its demands are compatible with the needs of the citizen, and even better, that the city is needed to achieve his own goals. It was translated into English in 1628 by Thomas Hobbes, and has since been cited by heads of state from Woodrow Wilson to Xi Jinping. Essay on Pericles | Ultius . What we can learn from Chernobyl's strays. He goes on to talk about Athenian lifestyle and recreation, as to further position Athens as the height of civilization. What was Pericles famous speech? - Studybuff Pericles (l. 495-429 BCE) was a prominent Greek statesman, orator, and general during the Golden Age of Athens. This newfound behavior may offer a clue to how these reptiles will respond to a warming planet. Thucydides fervently supported Periclesbut was less enthusiastic about the institution of democracy. His account suffers from the fact that, 40 years younger, he had no firsthand knowledge of Pericles early career; it suffers also from his approach, which concentrates exclusively on Pericles intellectual capacity and his war leadership, omitting biographical details, which Thucydides thought irrelevant to his theme. Dear ChatGPT: What would Pericles or Lincoln Do? - LinkedIn Judgment was rendered according to their laws, once again, by courts made up of citizens. In the face of this reputation, and in the teeth of its critics, who charged democracy especially with indiscipline and lawlessness, Pericles makes the claim for a higher obedience to law than was characteristic of the Spartans. To speak of this legislation as a move toward creating a master race is thus partly misleading, but the demagogic nature of the law seems clear. The older was the aristocratic image that emerged from the epic poems of Homer and dominated Greek society for hundreds of years. Courage, strength, military prowess, persuasiveness, cunning, beauty, wealth: these were examples of arete, the excellent qualities of the good, the fortunate, the happy man. The poorest Athenian serving on a jury, voting in the assembly, or allotted to an office was thereby called upon to use his intelligence and experience on behalf of his polis. The model of how democracy began is also a study in how it can founder and fall. 3.38.4. In Platos Republic, written several decades after the plague, Socrates warned that democracy would decay into tyranny; Thucydides recorded it sliding into discord, folly, and demagoguery. Pericles Funeral Oration in Depth - PBS Pericles: The First Great Statesman of the Ancient World Men must put aside their petty wants and look at what is best for the state as a whole. But Thucydides chronicle of what happened just after Pericles funeral oration is unsparingand should be as enduring as the speech itself. First, he said, I shall make clear through what practices we have come to our present position and with what political constitution and way of life our city has become great. The institutions are democratic, but Pericles explanation of what that means is a refutation of the attacks made by the enemies of democracy. We regard wealth as something to be properly used, rather than as something to boast about. 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