Pericles | Athenian Statesman - Encyclopedia Britannica

Rise to democratic leadership

That Pericles immediately succeeded the assassinated Ephialtes as head of the democratic party in 461 is an ancient oversimplification; there were other men of considerable weight in Athens in the next 15 years. The outbreak of war among the Greek states in 459 put a premium on military talent, and Pericles’ only recorded campaign in the next few years was a naval expedition in the Corinthian Gulf in 454, in which Athens defeated Achaea but failed to win more important objectives. Politically he is credited with some kind of rapprochement with Cimon, who is said to have been recalled and allowed to resume the war with Persia, much preferred to fighting other Greeks, but the date of Cimon’s recall is uncertain, and the rumours are hard to disentangle.

In 451 or 450 Pericles carried a law confining Athenian citizenship to those of Athenian parentage on both sides. No source provides any background to this proposal; it is not even clear whether it was retroactive. A correct assessment is vital for understanding Pericles, but explanations vary considerably; some argue that Pericles was merely forging a low-level political weapon for use against Cimon, who had a foreign mother. 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.

One hundred years later, an orator argued for firm distinctions of status on the ground that the law provided even the poorest Athenian girl with a dowry in the form of her citizenship. 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 foreigners—who 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. 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.

Quick Facts Born: c. 495 bce, Athens (Show more) Died: 429, Athens (Show more) Role In: Peloponnesian War (Show more) See all related content

Cimon died after 451, during his last campaign against Persia. The policy of war with Persia was abandoned and a formal peace probably made. The Persian War, begun as an ill-considered gesture in 499, could be considered ultimately successful. The city of Athens, however, was physically still much as it had been left by the Persian sack of 480, and its gods were inadequately housed.