Pericles

The Athenian statesman Pericles (c. 495-429 BCE): his democratic reforms, the Parthenon and the Funeral Oration, and his leadership into the Peloponnesian War.

Category: Figures

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1. c. 461 BCE
   Ephialtes curbs the Areopagus

   Around 461 BCE Ephialtes strips the aristocratic Areopagus of most of its powers, and Cimon is ostracised. Ephialtes is killed the same year. Pericles emerges as the leading figure of the democracy.

   Greek city-statesAthensPericlesPolitics📍 Athens
2. c. 456 BCE
   Anaxagoras brings philosophy to Athens

   Around 456 BCE, or perhaps earlier, Anaxagoras of Clazomenae settles in Athens and becomes a friend of Pericles. He teaches that mind (nous) set the world in order, and leaves Athens for Lampsacus around 434.

   Greek city-statesAthensGreek philosophyPericles📍 Athens
3. 454 BCE
   Delian League treasury moved to Athens

   In 454 BCE Pericles moves the League's treasury from Delos to Athens, officially for safety from Persia. Plutarch reports that rivals accused him of diverting funds to building projects such as the Parthenon.

   Greek city-statesAthensPericles📍 Athens📍 Delos
4. 451 BCE
   Pericles's citizenship law

   In 451 BCE Pericles passes a law limiting Athenian citizenship to those with an Athenian father and an Athenian mother. Around this time he also supports pay for jurors in the Heliaia.

   Greek city-statesAthensPericlesPolitics📍 Athens
5. 447 BCE
   The Parthenon is built

   Begun in 447 BCE under Pericles, the Parthenon is substantially finished by 438, with its sculpture continuing to about 432. Ictinus and Callicrates design it and Phidias oversees the work and its gold-and-ivory Athena. It is paid for largely from Delian League funds.

   Greek city-statesAthensPericles📍 Parthenon📍 Athens
6. 440 BCE
   Samian War

   In 440 BCE Athens besieges Samos for about eight months and forces it to surrender.

   Greek city-statesAthensPericles📍 Samos
7. c. 430 BCE
   Pericles's Funeral Oration

   In winter 431-430 BCE Pericles delivers the funeral oration for the first Athenian war dead, praising Athens's democracy. We know it only through Thucydides, and scholars debate how far the words are his own.

   Greek city-statesAthensPericlesPeloponnesian WarPolitics📍 Athens
8. 429 BCE
   Pericles dies

   Removed as general and fined in 430 BCE, Pericles is re-elected in 429 but dies that year, reportedly of the plague, after losing two sons to it. Cleon leads a more aggressive Athenian policy afterwards.

   Greek city-statesAthensPericlesPeloponnesian War📍 Athens