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Biography of Pericles
Pericles (Ancient Greek: Περικλῆς; English: Pericles, about 495 BC – 429 BC) was an influential leader of the Golden Age of Athens (Hippo War to Peloponnesian War). He rebuilt Athens from the ruins after the Hippo War, fostered culture and art, and many of the existing ancient Greek buildings were built in his time. He also helped Athens defeat the Spartans in the first phase of the Peloponnesian War. Most importantly, he nurtured what was seen at the time as a very radical democratic force. His era, also known as the Age of Pericles, was the most glorious era in Athens, and produced a number of well-known thinkers such as Socrates and Plato.
Internal Claim
Pericles represented the interests of Athenian industrial and commercial slave owners and middle- and lower-class free people, especially the interests of fourth-class citizens such as seamen and servants. At the heart of his domestic policy is the strengthening of democracy. Starting from the reform in 462 BC, the Athenian Citizens Assembly, under the impetus of Pericles, gradually passed a series of decrees and measures, mainly in four aspects:
Deprivation of Power
Deprived of the political powers of the Ares Council, and made it belong to the Citizens’ Assembly, the Council of Five Hundreds, and the Jury Court. Since then, the Ares Council will only hear cases and affairs of a religious nature. The Citizens’ Assembly, the Jury Court and the Council of Five Hundred were freed from the constraints of the Marshall Council and completely became the highest authority and executive body of the Athenian state.
Open Office
Official positions at all levels are open to the general public. After 457 B.C., citizens of the third rank were qualified to serve as consuls, and citizens of the fourth rank were de facto later allowed to hold the office. As a result, all male citizens of Athens were basically granted the right and opportunity to hold official positions at all levels through lottery, election and rotation without property restrictions.
Public Salary System
Implement public salary system. Initially, the state gave jury judges a daily subsistence allowance, and the post-salary system was extended to most public positions, which provided a certain material guarantee for poor citizens to participate in the management of the regime.
Restricted Range
Limit the scope of obtaining Athenian citizenship. In 451 BC, it was stipulated that only those whose parents were both Athenian citizens could obtain Athenian citizenship.
Through the painstaking management of Pericles, the slave-owner democracy in Athens has become increasingly complete.
Main Speech
At a gathering of Athenians honoring dead war heroes, Pericles gave a speech:
“Our state is called democracy because power is not held by a few but by all people. When private disputes arise, all are equal before the law. Just as our political life is free and As open, so is our interpersonal relationship in daily life… Here each individual is interested not only in his own private affairs, but also in the great affairs of the whole society.”
World History–Junior High School History Textbook Quote:
The doors of our city are open to the world. …wealth is not just the cost of conceit to us, but the opportunity to do something. We are not ashamed to admit poverty, but we are truly depraved if we do not work hard to overcome it.
