Editing Pericles (section)

==== First Peloponnesian War ====
{{Main|First Peloponnesian War}}
[[Image:1868 Lawrence Alma-Tadema - Phidias Showing the Frieze of the Parthenon to his Friends.jpg|thumb|300px|''Phidias Showing the Frieze of the Parthenon to Pericles, Aspasia, Alcibiades and Friends'', by Sir [[Lawrence Alma-Tadema]], 1868, [[Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery]]]]

Pericles made his first military excursions during the First Peloponnesian War, which was caused in part by Athens' alliance with [[Megara]] and [[Argos, Peloponnese|Argos]] and the subsequent reaction of Sparta. In 454 BC he attacked [[Sicyon]] and [[Acarnania]].<ref name="Th111">Thucydides, [[s:History of the Peloponnesian War/Book 1#1:111|1.111]]</ref> He then unsuccessfully tried to conquer Oeniadea on the [[Corinthian gulf]], before returning to Athens.<ref name="Rhodes44">P.J. Rhodes, ''A History of the Classical Greek World'', 44</ref> In 451 BC, Cimon returned from exile and negotiated a five years' truce with Sparta after a proposal of Pericles, an event which indicates a shift in Pericles' political strategy.<ref name="Cimon17">Plutarch, ''Cimon'', [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0182&layout=&loc=Cim.+17.1 XVII]</ref> Pericles may have realized the importance of Cimon's contribution during the ongoing conflicts against the Peloponnesians and the [[Achaemenid Empire|Persians]]. Anthony J. Podlecki argues, however, that Pericles' alleged change of position was invented by ancient writers to support "a tendentious view of Pericles' shiftiness".<ref name="Podlecki44">A.J. Podlecki, ''Perikles and his Circle'', 44</ref>

Plutarch states that Cimon struck a power-sharing deal with his opponents, according to which Pericles would carry through the interior affairs and Cimon would be the leader of the Athenian army, campaigning abroad.<ref name="P10">Plutarch, ''Pericles'', [[s:Lives/Pericles#10|X]]</ref> If it were actually made, this bargain would constitute a concession on Pericles' part that he was not a great strategist. Kagan's view is that Cimon adapted himself to the new conditions and promoted a political marriage between Periclean liberals and Cimonian conservatives.<ref name=Kagan135-136 />

In the mid-450s the Athenians launched an unsuccessful attempt to aid an Egyptian revolt against Persia, which led to a prolonged siege of a Persian fortress in the [[Nile]] Delta. The campaign culminated in disaster; the besieging force was defeated and destroyed.<ref name="Libourel615">J. M. Libourel, ''The Athenian Disaster in Egypt'', 605–615</ref> In 451–450 BC the Athenians sent troops to [[Cyprus]]. Cimon defeated the Persians in the [[Battle of Salamis (in Cyprus)|Battle of Salamis-in-Cyprus]], but died of disease in 449&nbsp;BC. Pericles is said to have initiated both expeditions in Egypt and Cyprus,<ref name="Aird52">H. Aird, ''Pericles: The Rise and Fall of Athenian Democracy'', 52</ref> although some researchers, such as [[Karl Julius Beloch]], argue that the dispatch of such a great fleet conforms with the spirit of Cimon's policy.<ref name="Beloch205">K.J. Beloch, ''Griechische Geschichte'', II, 205</ref>

Complicating the account of this period is the issue of the [[Peace of Callias]], which allegedly ended hostilities between the Greeks and the Persians. The very existence of the treaty is hotly disputed, and its particulars and negotiation are ambiguous.<ref name="Fine359-361">J. Fine, ''The Ancient Greeks'', 359–361.</ref> Ernst Badian believes that a peace between Athens and Persia was first ratified in 463 BC (making the Athenian interventions in Egypt and Cyprus violations of the peace), and renegotiated at the conclusion of the campaign in Cyprus, taking force again by 449–448&nbsp;BC.<ref name="Badian">E. Badian, ''The Peace of Callias'', 1–39.</ref>

John Fine, in contrast, suggests that the first peace between Athens and Persia was concluded in 450–449&nbsp;BC, due to Pericles' calculation that ongoing conflict with Persia was undermining Athens' ability to spread its influence in Greece and the [[Aegean Sea|Aegean]].<ref name="Fine359-361" /> Kagan believes that Pericles used [[Callias]], a brother-in-law of Cimon, as a symbol of unity and employed him several times to negotiate important agreements.<ref name="Out108">D. Kagan, ''The Outbreak of the Peloponnesian War'', 108.</ref>

In the spring of 449 BC, Pericles proposed the Congress Decree, which led to a meeting ("Congress") of all Greek states to consider the question of rebuilding the temples destroyed by the Persians. The Congress failed because of Sparta's stance, but Pericles' intentions remain unclear.<ref name="Pl17">Plutarch, ''Pericles'', [[s:Lives/Pericles#17|XVII]]</ref> Some historians think that he wanted to prompt a confederation with the participation of all the Greek cities; others think he wanted to assert Athenian pre-eminence.<ref name="Wade212">Wade-Grey, ''The Question of Tribute in 449/8 B.C.'', 212–229.</ref> According to the historian Terry Buckley the objective of the Congress Decree was a new mandate for the [[Delian League]] and for the collection of "phoros" (taxes).<ref name="Buckley">T. Buckley, ''Aspects of Greek History 750–323 BC'', 206.</ref>

{{rquote|right|Remember, too, that if your country has the greatest name in all the world, it is because she never bent before disaster; because she has expended more life and effort in war than any other city, and has won for herself a power greater than any hitherto known, the memory of which will descend to the latest posterity.|[[Thucydides]], ''Pericles' Third Oration''<ref>[http://perseus.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0200&layout=&loc=2.64 II, 64]</ref>{{efn-lg|name="Thucydides speeches"}}}}

During the [[Second Sacred War]] Pericles led the Athenian army against [[Delphi]] and reinstated [[Phocis (ancient region)|Phocis]] in its sovereign rights on the [[oracle]].<ref name="ThPl112">Thucydides, [[s:History of the Peloponnesian War/Book 1#1:112|1.112]] and Plutarch, ''Pericles'', [[s:Lives/Pericles#21|XXI]]</ref> In 447 BC Pericles engaged in his most admired excursion, the expulsion of barbarians from the Thracian peninsula of [[Gallipoli]], to establish Athenian colonists in the region.<ref name="Br" /><ref name="Pl19">Plutarch, ''Pericles'', [[s:Lives/Pericles#19|XIX]]</ref> At this time, however, Athens was seriously challenged by a number of revolts among its subjects. In 447 BC the oligarchs of [[Thebes, Greece|Thebes]] conspired against the democratic faction. The Athenians demanded their immediate surrender, but after the [[Battle of Coronea (447 BC)|Battle of Coronea]], Pericles was forced to concede the loss of Boeotia to recover the prisoners taken in that battle.<ref name="Helios" /> With Boeotia in hostile hands, Phocis and Locris became untenable and quickly fell under the control of hostile oligarchs.<ref name="Fine368-369">Fine, ''The Ancient Greeks'', 368–369.</ref>

In 446 BC, a more dangerous uprising erupted. [[Euboea]] and [[Megara]] revolted. Pericles crossed over to Euboea with his troops, but was forced to return when the Spartan army invaded [[Attica]]. Through bribery and negotiations, Pericles defused the imminent threat, and the Spartans returned home.<ref name="ThAr">Thucydides, [[s:History of the Peloponnesian War/Book 2#2:21|2.21]] and Aristophanes, ''The Acharnians'', [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0023;query=card%3D%2340;layout=;loc=836 832]</ref> When Pericles was later audited for the handling of public money, an expenditure of 10 [[Greek talent|talents]] was not sufficiently justified, since the official documents just referred that the money was spent for a "very serious purpose". Nonetheless, the "serious purpose" (namely the bribery) was so obvious to the auditors that they approved the expenditure without official meddling and without even investigating the mystery.<ref name="P23">Plutarch, ''Pericles'', [[s:Lives/Pericles#23|XXIII]]</ref>

After the Spartan threat had been removed, Pericles crossed back to Euboea to crush the revolt there. He then punished the landowners of [[Chalcis]], who lost their properties. The residents of [[Oreus|Histiaea]], meanwhile, who had butchered the crew of an Athenian [[trireme]], were uprooted and replaced by 2,000 Athenian settlers.<ref name="P23" /> The crisis was brought to an official end by the [[Thirty Years' Peace]] (winter of 446–445&nbsp;BC), in which Athens relinquished most of the possessions and interests on the Greek mainland which it had acquired since 460&nbsp;BC, and both Athens and Sparta agreed not to attempt to win over the other state's allies.<ref name="Fine368-369" />