pericles military achievements

Pericles Military Achievements - Pericles, the first citizen of Athens, led the golden age of Athens. Through his politics and leadership, he led and promoted Athenian democracy and helped establish the Athenian Empire.

The 5th century BC represents the peak of cultural, political and economic prosperity in an area of ​​ancient Greece. Socrates began to lay the foundations of Western philosophy. Playwrights like Euripides, Aeschylus and Sophocles were credited with creating the stories we still enjoy today. Phidias, the sculptor, created one of the seven wonders of the world, the statue of Zeus at Olympia. Herodotus began recording world history and Hippocrates, the father of Western medicine, instituted the Hippocratic Oath.

Pericles Military Achievements

All these people lived and breathed in one place at the same time: Athens. This period is sometimes called the golden age of Athens, however, it is known by another name: Age of Pericles. It is named after the man who led the city to prosperity, the first Athenian.

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Pericles was born in 495 BC. His father Xanthippos was a wealthy politician and military leader. Pericles' mother Agaristis came from the ancient and wealthy family of the Alcmaeonids of Athens. Cleisthenes' grandfather helped remove the tyrant Peisistratus from the city and instituted constitutional reforms that further strengthened Athenian democracy.

According to Plutarch and Herodotus, a few days before the birth of Pericles, his mother Agaristes dreamed that she would give birth to a lion. Pericles' political opponents would often use this symbol to defame him. A few days later, when Agarist gave birth, it was revealed that Pericles had a strangely elongated head, which many assumed was the true meaning of her dream.

Pericles was nicknamed "the genius" because his head resembled a sea onion, and he was the target of many playwrights and poets throughout his time in Athens. Every picture we have of Pericles shows him wearing a helmet to cover his unique figure and to celebrate his position as the leader of the Athenian army.

The son of privilege, Pericles received a good education. Pythocleides and the Sophist Damon taught him music. Zeno taught him about the physical world. and the famous philosopher Anaxagoras taught him philosophy. Anaxagoras and Pericles were very close, and the young councilor often turned to his old teacher for advice and guidance. Plutarch also suggests that Pericles learned sophistry from Damon under the guise of music. Plutarch notes that many people saw the young Pericles as a villain—an aspect of his character that was emphasized by his political enemies.

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Although he was privileged, Pericles understood the chaos and confusion of the world. At the age of ten, his father Xanthippos was expelled from Athens. Harassment was a common political practice in Athens at the time and often occurred when a politician was perceived to be more powerful or a greater threat to his opponents. No citizen who was hated by the city was expelled. Ten years later they can return with their current social and economic status.

Xanthippus did not serve for a full decade. A few years after he fled, he was remembered for protecting Athens from the Persian invasion, because he was considered one of the great military leaders of Athens. Xanthippus was exonerated when he led the Athenian navy to a decisive victory over the Persians at the Battle of Mycale in 479 BC, the battle that marked the end of the second Persian invasion of Greece. Xanthippus died a few years later, the hero who ensured that his son could live the life he chose without prejudice.

Before we move on to Pericles' rise to political power, a brief survey of Athenian politics must be done. The Athenian democracy was divided into two classes: Lords and Generals. Archons were the chief lawyers of Athens, as well as other Greek cities, and they took over whenever a king or tyrant was not in power.

Archons existed in one form or another for centuries before the 5th century and always came in three: Archon Eponymous, Archon Polemarchus, and Archon Basilios. The length of their service has changed with time and history. At first they served for life, then ten years, and from the time of Pericles, they served only one year. The advent of democracy greatly reduced the power of the Lords and by the 5th century, their work was exclusively ceremonial, with some secondary civil duties.

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While the Archons represented a part of Athens in the past, the opposite was the case for the council of generals in the 5th century. The general was the military leader or general, and in Athens, the council of ten generals handled the actual running of the city. While the Lords are elected by vote in parliament, the General is elected democratically every year. In theory, all ten generals were equal in power, but, in practice, those who were more skilled in political skills gained more political power over the others.

Similar to modern democracies, the Strategoi were divided into two opposing political groups: conservatives and liberal democrats. The conservatives hoped to limit democracy to the minority, while the liberals wanted to strengthen the democratic system and give more power to the Athenian masses. This was the situation when a young Pericles entered the world of democracy.

As a young man, Pericles avoided talking and politics. Instead, he focused on military service believing that it was his true calling. Pericles avoided politics because of his resemblance to Peisistratus, the ancient tyrant of Athens.

However, life takes people in unexpected ways, and in the 20s, Pericles entered the political arena. The first written political work of Pericles was in 472 BC, when he supported the famous play of Aeschylus, called Persia. Here Pericles served as Choragos, a wealthy citizen who took on the task of the state whether they wanted it or not. The position of commissioning the Choragus was one of the few duties of the Lord, and although it was imposed on wealthy citizens, Pericles seems to have preferred to assign this specific task.

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Aeschylus' Persian describes the Battle of Salamis in which Themistocles led Athens to victory over Persia. At the time Themistocles was the leader of the democratic party and the play showed his achievements. The aristocratic faction led by Cimon saw Pericles agreeing to take on this task as a sign that Pericles was with this political group.

Themistocles had many enemies, but the greatest of them was Sparta, Cimon's friend. Both Cimon and the Spartans claimed that the rich few had all the power. Themistocles was abandoned and forced to leave Greece altogether after Sparta accused him of conspiring against them. Ironically, Themistocles found refuge with the Persian king, Artaxerxes I, the son of the man Themistocles had conquered all those years. Artaxerxes I welcomes a man with enough talent to defeat his father and make Themistocles governor of Magnesia where he spends the rest of his life.

Throughout the political career of Pericles Cimon would be his main political opponent. Like Pericles, Cimon's father, Miltiades, was a warrior who led the Greeks to victory in the Battle of Marathon. Cimon's family had much more wealth than Pericles and used it to improve their public image by inviting the citizens to dinner every night. In contrast, Plutarch describes Pericles as restless with his work.

Plutarch notes that throughout his political career Pericles did not attend meetings or social functions. When Pericles went to such an event, he went to the wedding of Euryptolemus's family. However, she left shortly after the ceremony was over, slowly avoiding the wedding.

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Plutarch describes Pericles' social interactions with the port of Salamis: a special port in Athens that was only ever used for special functions. Pericles reserved it for special occasions, and Plutarch reports that one would only see a councilor outside when on his way from his home to a political meeting.

Although Cimon had more resources, Pericles did not hesitate and began to attack his rival's integrity during the meeting. Pericles claimed that Cimon was taking bribes from Alexander I of Macedon, the grandfather of the great military leader of the same name. Cimon was prosecuted and found not guilty. However, scandal continued to tarnish his political reputation, and in the end, despite Pericles' efforts to rid the city of his rival, Cimon overthrew himself.

Cimon had strong ties to Sparta and was an ambassador advocating closer ties between the two city-states. In 462 BC Sparta faced the revolt of the Elotes. Helots were slaves in Sparta, and while the Spartans focused on the military style, they were the ones who farmed, fed, and cared for the Spartans. Kimon wanted to help his friends and eventually won them over