Editing Pericles (section)

== Assessments ==
Pericles marked a whole era and inspired conflicting judgments about his significant decisions. The fact that he was at the same time a vigorous statesman, general and orator only tends to make an objective assessment of his actions more difficult.

=== Political leadership ===
[[Image:AGMA Ostrakon Périclès.jpg|thumb|right|An [[ostracon]] with Pericles' name written on it (c. 444–443 BC), Museum of the ancient [[Agora of Athens]]]]

Some contemporary scholars call Pericles a populist, a demagogue and a hawk,<ref name="Ruden">S. Ruden, ''Lysistrata'', 80</ref> while other scholars admire his charismatic leadership. According to Plutarch, after assuming the leadership of Athens, "he was no longer the same man as before, nor alike submissive to the people and ready to yield and give in to the desires of the multitude as a steersman to the breezes".<ref name="Pl15">Plutarch, ''Pericles'', [[s:Lives/Pericles#15|XV]]</ref> It is told that when his political opponent, Thucydides, was asked by Sparta's king, Archidamus, whether he or Pericles was the better fighter, Thucydides answered without any hesitation that Pericles was better, because even when he was defeated, he managed to convince the audience that he had won.<ref name="Helios" /> In matters of character, Pericles was above reproach in the eyes of the ancient historians, since "he kept himself untainted by corruption, although he was not altogether indifferent to money-making".<ref name="Pl6" />

Thucydides (the historian), an admirer of Pericles, maintains that Athens was "in name a democracy but, in fact, governed by its first citizen".<ref name="Thuc65" /> Through this comment, the historian illustrates what he perceives as Pericles' charisma to lead, convince and, sometimes, to manipulate. Although Thucydides mentions the fining of Pericles, he does not mention the accusations against Pericles but instead focuses on Pericles' integrity.{{efn-lg|Vlachos criticizes the historian for this omission and maintains that Thucydides' admiration for the Athenian statesman makes him ignore not only the well-grounded accusations against him but also the mere gossips, namely the allegation that Pericles had corrupted the volatile rabble, so as to assert himself.<ref name="Vl62">A. Vlachos, ''Thucydides' bias'', 62</ref>}}<ref name="Thuc65"/> On the other hand, in one of his dialogues, [[Plato]] rejects the glorification of Pericles and declares: "as I know, Pericles made the Athenians slothful, garrulous and avaricious, by starting the system of public fees".<ref name="Gorgias515">[http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0178%3Atext%3DGorg.%3Asection%3D515e Plato, ''Gorgias'']</ref>
Plutarch mentions other criticism of Pericles' leadership: "many others say that the people were first led on by him into allotments of public lands, festival-grants, and distributions of fees for public services, thereby falling into bad habits, and becoming luxurious and wanton under the influence of his public measures, instead of frugal and self-sufficing".<ref name="Plutarch IX"/>

Thucydides argues that Pericles "was not carried away by the people, but he was the one guiding the people".<ref name="Thuc65" /> His judgement is not unquestioned; some 20th-century critics, such as Malcolm F. McGregor and John S. Morrison, proposed that he may have been a charismatic public face acting as an advocate on the proposals of advisors, or the people themselves.<ref name="McG">M.F. McGregor, ''Government in Athens'', 122–123.</ref><ref name="Morrison76-77">J.S. Morrison-[[A. W. Gomme]], ''Pericles Monarchos'', 76–77.</ref> According to King, by increasing the power of the people, the Athenians left themselves with no authoritative leader. During the Peloponnesian War, Pericles' dependence on popular support to govern was obvious.<ref name="King24" />

=== Military achievements ===
{{rquote|right|These glories may incur the censure of the slow and unambitious; but in the breast of energy they will awake emulation, and in those who must remain without them an envious regret. Hatred and unpopularity at the moment have fallen to the lot of all who have aspired to rule others.|[[Thucydides]], ''Pericles' Third Oration''<ref>[[s:History of the Peloponnesian War/Book 2#2:64|2.64]]</ref>{{efn-lg|name="Thucydides speeches"}}}}

For more than 20 years Pericles led many expeditions, mainly naval ones. Being always cautious, he never undertook of his own accord a battle involving much uncertainty and peril and he did not accede to the "vain impulses of the citizens".<ref name="Pl18">Plutarch, ''Pericles'', [[s:Lives/Pericles#18|XVIII]]</ref> He based his military policy on [[Themistocles]]' principle that Athens' predominance depends on its superior naval power and believed that the Peloponnesians were near-invincible on land.<ref name="Platias105">A.G. Platias-C. Koliopoulos, ''Thucydides on Strategy'', 105</ref> Pericles also tried to minimize the advantages of Sparta by rebuilding the walls of Athens, which, it has been suggested, radically altered the use of force in Greek international relations.<ref name="Ober254">J. Ober, ''National Ideology and Strategic Defence of the Population'', 254</ref>

During the Peloponnesian War, Pericles initiated a defensive "[[grand strategy]]" whose aim was the exhaustion of the enemy and the preservation of the ''status quo''.<ref name="Platias86,98">A.G. Platias-C. Koliopoulos, ''Thucydides on Strategy'', 98–99.</ref> According to Platias and Koliopoulos, Athens as the strongest party did not have to beat Sparta in military terms and "chose to foil the Spartan plan for victory".<ref name="Platias86,98" /> The two basic principles of the "Periclean Grand Strategy" were the rejection of appeasement (in accordance with which he urged the Athenians not to revoke the Megarian Decree) and the avoidance of overextension.{{efn-lg|According to Platias and Koliopoulos, the "policy mix" of Pericles was guided by five principles: a}} According to Kagan, Pericles' vehement insistence that there should be no diversionary expeditions may well have resulted from the bitter memory of the Egyptian campaign, which he had allegedly supported.<ref name="Out83">D. Kagan, ''The Outbreak of the Peloponnesian War'', 83</ref> His strategy is said to have been "inherently unpopular", but Pericles managed to persuade the Athenian public to follow it.<ref name="Platias119-120">A.G. Platias-C. Koliopoulos, ''Thucydides on Strategy'', 119–120.</ref> It is for that reason that [[Hans Delbrück]] called him one of the greatest statesmen and military leaders in history.<ref name="Delbruck">H. Delbrück, ''History of the Art of War'', I, 137</ref> Although his countrymen engaged in several aggressive actions soon after his death,<ref name="Ehr278">V.L. Ehrenberg, ''From Solon to Socrates'', 278</ref> Platias and Koliopoulos argue that the Athenians remained true to the larger Periclean strategy of seeking to preserve, not expand, the empire, and did not depart from it until the Sicilian Expedition.<ref name="Platias119-120" /> For his part, Ben X. de Wet concludes his strategy would have succeeded had he lived longer.<ref name="Wet103">B. X. de Wet, ''This So-Called Defensive Policy of Pericles'', 103–119.</ref>

Critics of Pericles' strategy, however, have been just as numerous as its supporters. A common criticism is that Pericles was always a better politician and orator than strategist.<ref name="Pap">K. Paparrigopoulos, Aa, 241–242.</ref> [[Donald Kagan]] called the Periclean strategy "a form of wishful thinking that failed", Barry S. Strauss and Josiah Ober have stated that "as strategist he was a failure and deserves a share of the blame for Athens' great defeat", and [[Victor Davis Hanson]] believes that Pericles had not worked out a clear strategy for an effective offensive action that could possibly force Thebes or Sparta to stop the war.<ref>V.D. Hanson, ''Peloponnesian War'', 58</ref><ref name="Athenian54">D. Kagan, ''Athenian Strategy in the Peloponnesian War'', 54</ref><ref name="Strauss-Ober47">S. Strauss-J. Ober, ''The Anatomy of Error'', 47</ref> Kagan criticizes the Periclean strategy on four counts: first that by rejecting minor concessions it brought about war; second, that it was unforeseen by the enemy and hence lacked credibility; third, that it was too feeble to exploit any opportunities; and fourth, that it depended on Pericles for its execution and thus was bound to be abandoned after his death.<ref name="Archidamian">D. Kagan, ''The Archidamian War'', 28, 41.</ref> Kagan estimates Pericles' expenditure on his military strategy in the Peloponnesian War to be about 2,000 [[Talent (weight)|talents]] annually, and based on this figure concludes that he would have only enough money to keep the war going for three years. He asserts that since Pericles must have known about these limitations he probably planned for a much shorter war.<ref name="H74-75">V.D. Hanson, ''Peloponnesian War'', 74–75</ref><ref name="KPel61-62">D. Kagan, ''The Peloponnesian War'', 61–62.</ref> Others, such as Donald W. Knight, conclude that the strategy was too defensive and would not succeed.<ref name="Knight150-160">D. Knight, ''Thucydides and the War Strategy of Pericles'', 150–160.</ref>

In contrast, Platias and Koliopoulos reject these criticisms and state that "the Athenians lost the war only when they dramatically reversed the Periclean grand strategy that explicitly disdained further conquests".<ref name="Platias138">A.G. Platias-C. Koliopoulos, ''Thucydides on Strategy'', 138</ref> Hanson stresses that the Periclean strategy was not innovative, but could lead to a stagnancy in favor of Athens.<ref name="H74-75" /> It is a popular conclusion that those succeeding him lacked his abilities and character.<ref name="Samons131-132">L.J. Samons, ''What's Wrong with Democracy?'', 131–132.</ref>

=== Oratorical skill ===
[[Image:Illus0362.jpg|thumb|250px|A painting by Hector Leroux (1682–1740), which portrays Pericles and Aspasia, admiring the gigantic statue of Athena in Phidias' studio]]
Modern commentators of [[Thucydides]], with other modern historians and writers, take varying stances on the issue of how much of the speeches of Pericles, as given by this historian, do actually represent Pericles' own words and how much of them is free literary creation or paraphrase by Thucydides.{{efn-lg|According to Vlachos, Thucydides must have been about 30 years old when Pericles delivered his Funeral Oration and he was probably among the audience.<ref name="Vlachos">A. Vlachos, ''Remarks on Thucydides'', 170</ref>}} Since Pericles never wrote down or distributed his orations,{{efn-lg|Vlachos points out that he does not know who wrote the oration, but "these were the words which should have been spoken at the end of 431 BC".<ref name="Vlachos" /> According to Sir Richard C. Jebb, the Thucydidean speeches of Pericles give the general ideas of Pericles with essential fidelity; it is possible, further, that they may contain recorded sayings of his "but it is certain that they cannot be taken as giving the form of the statesman's oratory".<ref name="Jebb"/> John F. Dobson believes that "though the language is that of the historian, some of the thoughts may be those of the statesman".<ref name="Dobson">J.F. Dobson, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0075&query=head%3D%235/ The Greek Orators]</ref> C.M.J. Sicking argues that "we are hearing the voice of real Pericles", while Ioannis T. Kakridis claims that the Funeral Oration is an almost exclusive creation of Thucydides, since "the real audience does not consist of the Athenians of the beginning of the war, but of the generation of 400 BC, which suffers under the repercussions of the defeat".<ref name="Sicking133">C.M.J. Sicking, ''Distant Companions'', 133</ref><ref name="Kakridis6">I. Kakridis, ''Interpretative comments on the Funeral Oration'', 6</ref> Gomme disagrees with Kakridis, insisting on his belief to the reliability of Thucydides.<ref name="Go2" />}} no historians are able to answer this with certainty; Thucydides recreated three of them from memory and, thereby, it cannot be ascertained that he did not add his own notions and thoughts.{{efn-lg|That is what Plutarch predicates.<ref name="Pl8">Plutarch, Pericles, [[s:Lives/Pericles#6|VIII]]</ref> Nonetheless, according to the 10th century encyclopedia [[Suda]], Pericles constituted the first orator who systematically wrote down his orations.<ref name="SudaPer">Suda, article [http://www.stoa.org/sol-bin/search.pl?search_method=QUERY&login=guest&enlogin=guest&page_num=1&user_list=LIST&searchstr=Pericles&field=hw_eng&num_per_page=25&db=REAL Pericles] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171013160026/http://www.stoa.org/sol-bin/search.pl?search_method=QUERY&login=guest&enlogin=guest&page_num=1&user_list=LIST&searchstr=Pericles&field=hw_eng&num_per_page=25&db=REAL |date=13 October 2017 }}</ref> [[Cicero]] speaks about Pericles' writings, but his remarks are not regarded as credible.<ref name="Cic93">Cicero, ''De Oratote'', [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0120;query=section%3D%23358;layout=;loc=2.94 II, 93]</ref> Most probably, other writers used his name.<ref name="Inst1">Quintilian, ''Institutiones'', III, [http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/quintilian/quintilian.institutio3.shtml 1]</ref>}}

Although Pericles was a main source of his inspiration, some historians have noted that the passionate and idealistic literary style of the speeches Thucydides attributes to Pericles is completely at odds with Thucydides' own cold and analytical writing style.{{efn-lg|Ioannis Kalitsounakis argues that "no reader can overlook the sumptuous rythme of the Funeral Oration as a whole and the singular correlation between the impetuous emotion and the marvellous style, attributes of speech that Thucydides ascribes to no other orator but Pericles".<ref name="Helios" /> According to Harvey Ynis, Thucydides created the Pericles' indistinct rhetorical legacy that has dominated ever since.<ref name="Yunis63">H. Yunis, ''Taming Democracy'', 63</ref>}} This might, however, be the result of the incorporation of the genre of rhetoric into the genre of historiography. That is to say, Thucydides could simply have used two different writing styles for two different purposes.

Ioannis Kakridis and Arnold Gomme were two scholars who debated the originality of Pericles' oratory and last speech. Kakridis believes that Thucydides altered Pericles words. Some of his strongest arguments included in the Introduction of the speech, (Thuc.11.35).<ref name="jstor.org">{{cite journal|last1=Sicking|first1=C. M. J.|title=The General Purport of Pericles' Funeral Oration and Funeral Speech|journal=Hermes|year=1995|volume=123|issue=4|pages=404–425|jstor=4477104}}</ref> Kakridis proposes that it is impossible to imagine Pericles deviating away from the expected funeral orator addressing the mourning audience of 430 after the Peloponnesian war.<ref name="jstor.org"/> The two groups addressed were the ones who were prepared to believe him when he praised the dead, and the ones who did not.<ref name="jstor.org"/> Gomme rejects Kakridis's position, defending the fact that "Nobody of men has ever been so conscious of envy and its workings as the Greeks, and that the Greeks and Thucydides in particular had a passion for covering all ground in their generalizations, not always relevantly."<ref name="jstor.org"/>

[[File:Bust Pericles Chiaramonti.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Marble bust of [[Pericles with the Corinthian helmet]], Roman copy of a Greek original, [[Museo Chiaramonti]], [[Vatican Museums]]]]
Kagan states that Pericles adopted "an elevated mode of speech, free from the vulgar and knavish tricks of mob-orators" and, according to [[Diodorus Siculus]], he "excelled all his fellow citizens in skill of oratory".<ref name="War">{{Cite book | first=Donald | last=Kagan | title = The Peloponnesian War | publisher = Viking | year= 2003 | isbn = 978-0-641-65469-5 }}</ref><ref>Diodorus, XII, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0084;query=chapter%3D%23207;layout=;loc=12.40.1 39]</ref> According to [[Plutarch]], he avoided using gimmicks in his speeches, unlike the passionate [[Demosthenes]], and always spoke in a calm and tranquil manner.<ref name="Plutarch5">Plutarch, ''Pericles'', [[s:Lives/Pericles#5|V]]</ref> The biographer points out, however, that the poet [[Ion of Chios|Ion]] reported that Pericles' speaking style was "a presumptuous and somewhat arrogant manner of address, and that into his haughtiness there entered a good deal of disdain and contempt for others".<ref name="Plutarch5" />

[[Gorgias]], in Plato's homonymous dialogue, uses Pericles as an example of powerful oratory.<ref name="Gorgias455d">Plato, ''Gorgias'', [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0178;query=section%3D%23490;layout=;loc=Gorg.%20455e 455d]</ref> In [[Menexenus (dialogue)|Menexenus]], however, [[Socrates]] (through [[Plato]]) casts aspersions on Pericles' rhetorical fame, claiming ironically that, since Pericles was educated by Aspasia, a trainer of many orators, he would be superior in rhetoric to someone educated by [[Antiphon (person)|Antiphon]].<ref name="Menexenus">Plato, ''Menexenus'', [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0180;layout=;query=section%3D%23255;loc=Menex.%20235e 236a]</ref> He also attributes authorship of the Funeral Oration to Aspasia and attacks his contemporaries' veneration of Pericles.<ref name="Monoson">[[S. Sara Monoson]], ''Plato's Democratic Entanglements'', 182–186</ref>

[[Richard Claverhouse Jebb|Sir Richard C. Jebb]] concludes that "unique as an Athenian statesman, Pericles must have been in two respects unique also as an Athenian orator; first, because he occupied such a position of personal ascendancy as no man before or after him attained; secondly, because his thoughts and his moral force won him such renown for eloquence as no one else ever got from Athenians".<ref name="Jebb">Sir Richard C. Jebb, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0077%3Ahead%3D%2336/ The Attic Orators]</ref>

Ancient Greek writers call Pericles "Olympian" and extol his talents; referring to him "thundering and lightning and exciting Greece" and carrying the weapons of Zeus when orating.<ref name="ArDi">Aristophanes, ''Acharnians'', [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0240;query=card%3D%2326;layout=;loc=541/ 528–531] and Diodorus, XII, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0083;query=chapter%3D%23208;layout=;loc=12.41.1/ 40]</ref> According to [[Quintilian]], Pericles would always prepare assiduously for his orations and, before going on the rostrum, he would always pray to the gods, so as not to utter any improper word.<ref name="Qui">Quintilian, ''Institutiones'', [http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/quintilian/quintilian.institutio12.shtml XII, 9]</ref>

=== Pericles and the city gods ===
Nothing was more alien to the Greeks than the notion of a [[Separation between church and state]]. In Athens, the community provided a tight framework for religious manifestations while, symmetrically, religion was deeply embedded in civic life. Within this context, participation in the rituals was an action highly political in the broadest sense of the term.<ref>Sourvinou-Inwood, C. 1990. ''What is polis religion?'' in ''The Greek City from Homer to Alexander'', ed. O. Murray and S. Price. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 295–322.</ref>

To analyze Pericles's relations with gods, one has to position oneself at the intersection of the general and the particular, where what was personal and what was shared by the whole community came together. On the one hand, the career of the ''strategos'' will illuminate the Athenians' collective relationship to all that was divine. As a reelected ''strategos'' and a persuasive orator, Pericles was the spokesman of a civic religion that was undergoing a mutation. He was implicated in a policy of making constant offerings and of launching huge architectural religious works not only on the Acropolis but also throughout Attica; and, furthermore, he was engaged in such activities at a time when city was introducing profound changes into its religious account of its origins—that is, [[Autochthon (ancient Greece)|autochthony]]—within a context of strained diplomatic relations.<ref>Vincent Azoulay, 2014. ''Pericles of Athens'', trans. Janet Lloyd. Princeton and Oxford, 107–108</ref>

On the other hand, the ancient sources made it possible to glimpse the personal relations that Pericles had developed with gods. These were relations of proximity in the first place: he was sometimes depicted as a protégé of [[Athena|goddess Athena]], but in Attic comedies he was also assimilated to [[Zeus god of war|god Zeus]], in an analogy that was in no way flattering. But then, there were also relations that emphasized distance: some philosophical accounts presented him as a man close to the [[sophists]] or even as a [[freethinker]]. Finally, there were relations involving irreverence: some later and less trustworthy sources made much of several trials for impiety in which those close to him were involved, and this raises the question of religious tolerance in fifth-century Athens and, in particular, how far individuals enjoyed freedom of thought when faced with the civic community.<ref>Vincent Azoulay, 2014. ''Pericles of Athens'', trans. Janet Lloyd. Princeton and Oxford, 108.</ref>

=== Legacy ===
[[File:Akropolis by Leo von Klenze.jpg|thumb|300px|''The Acropolis at Athens'' (1846) by [[Leo von Klenze]]]]

Pericles' most visible legacy can be found in the literary and artistic works of the Golden Age, much of which survive to this day. The [[Acropolis of Athens|Acropolis]], though in ruins, still stands and is a symbol of modern Athens. Paparrigopoulos wrote that these masterpieces are "sufficient to render the name of Greece immortal in our world".<ref name="Pap" />

In politics, Victor L. Ehrenberg argues that a basic element of Pericles' legacy is Athenian imperialism, which denies true democracy and freedom to the people of all but the ruling state.<ref name="Ehren332">V. L. Ehrenberg, ''From Solon to Socrates'', 332</ref> The promotion of such an arrogant imperialism is said to have ruined Athens.<ref name="Starr">C.G. Starr, ''A History of the Ancient World'', 306</ref> Pericles and his "expansionary" policies have been at the center of arguments promoting democracy in oppressed countries.<ref>V.D. Hanson, ''Peloponnesian War'', 584</ref><ref>L. Miller, [https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F00E0D6123EF932A15750C0A9629C8B63 My Favorite War]</ref>

Other analysts maintain an Athenian humanism illustrated in the Golden Age.<ref name="Power">E.J. Power, ''A Legacy of Learning'', 52</ref><ref name="Popper">Karl Popper, ''The Open Society and Its Enemies''</ref> The freedom of expression is regarded as the lasting legacy deriving from this period.<ref name="Katula18">R.A. Katula, ''A Synoptic History of Classical Rhetoric'', 18</ref> Pericles is lauded as "the [[ideal type]] of the perfect statesman in ancient Greece" and his Funeral Oration is nowadays synonymous with the struggle for participatory democracy and civic pride.<ref name="Pap" /><ref name="Mattson32">K. Mattson, ''Creating a Democratic Public'', 32</ref>

In 1932, botanist [[Albert Charles Smith]] published ''[[Periclesia]]'', a [[monotypic]] genus of [[flowering plant]]s from [[Ecuador]] belonging to the family [[Ericaceae]] and named after Pericles.<ref>{{cite web |title=Periclesia A.C.Sm. {{!}} Plants of the World Online {{!}} Kew Science |url=https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:295201-2 |website=Plants of the World Online |access-date=16 March 2021 |language=en}}</ref>

The exterior of the [[ETH Zurich University Archives]] has a wall painting with the face of Pericles, together with [[Homer]] and [[Aristotle]].

=== In popular culture ===

In the 1968 ''[[Star Trek]]'' episode "[[Plato's Stepchildren]]", Captain Kirk is presented with the shield of Pericles by the leader of the Platonian race.

[[Taylor Caldwell]]'s 1974 novel ''Glory and the Lightning'' chronicles the lives of Pericles and Aspasia.

In the 2001 TV Movie ''[[Black River (2001 film)|Black River]]'' Pericles is the pseudonym used by the mysterious voice on the phone.

In the 2016 video game ''[[Civilization VI]]'' Pericles is one of the two playable leaders for the Greek civilization, the other being [[Gorgo, Queen of Sparta|Gorgo]].<ref>Official Sid Meier's YouTube channel video introducing Pericles https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSCTlpEM9Vw</ref>

In the 2018 video game ''[[Assassin's Creed Odyssey]]'' Pericles's life as a politician and his death are both presented, although his death being from injuries sustained during a violent attack is not historically accurate.