Perikles (Pericles) (Classics)

Introduction

Perikles is often considered Greece’s greatest democratic leader, and Athens in the mid-5th century BCE often bears his name, as “the age of Perikles.” However, although politically active from the 460s, Perikles died in 429, just when the quantity and quality of our sources for Athens improve. Beyond his three speeches in Thucydides’ history (speeches partly or largely composed by Thucydides himself), he left no written work. Except for brief mentions by Protagoras, Lysias, and several comic dramatists, the only major extant writer who wrote about him from firsthand knowledge was again Thucydides. Furthermore, Thucydides’ comments are biased, although scholars do not agree quite how, traditionally in favor of him but, in some recent opinions, against him. Hence, little can be certain about Perikles as an individual or a leader, and it remains difficult to understand his importance, even for events occurring around the time of the outbreak of the Peloponnesian War in 431 when our documentation is fullest. Contemporary comic dramatists and possibly also Sophokles represented his “rule” as tyrannical.

General Overviews

Except for Azoulay 2014, modern biographies named after Perikles, such as Brulé 1994 and Schubert 1994, typically focus on 5th-century BCE historical, cultural, or artistic subjects in which Perikles was involved. Podlecki 1998 directly acknowledges Perikles’ source problems by focusing on his friends. Alternatively, Kagan 1991, Samons 2015, and Schachermeyr 1969 seek to complement our meager sources with reconstructions driven by politically conservative perspectives, reflecting Thucydides’ admiration for Perikles’ strong leadership in a democracy. Forgetting 5th-century accusations of tyranny, many contributions, especially those from Europe, and the Pollitt festschrift Barringer and Hurwit 2005 (cited under Recent Overviews of the “Periklean Age”) bear Perikles’ name in some part because of its ready recognition and commercial advantages. With rare exceptions, the steady stream of such biographies by good scholars obviates the need to cite works more than twenty years old.

Azoulay, V. 2014. Pericles of Athens. Translated by Janet Lloyd. Forward by P. Cartledge. Princeton, NJ: Princeton Univ. Press.
DOI: 10.1515/9781400851171Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
An intelligent, sometimes hastily opinionated book, exciting but caveat lector. For example, in evaluating ancient sources, chapter 4 accepts comedy and Duris of Samos (much criticized by ancients and moderns) on Perikles’ “savagery” toward allies of Athens, despite Thucydides, Plutarch, and others. Chapter 6 on friends and family includes psychological speculations from questionable allegations of Perikles’ public weeping. Two fascinating chapters explore Perikles’ reception from medieval to modern times. Translation of Péricles: La démocratie athénienne à l’épreuve du grand homme (Paris: Armen Colin, 2010).
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Brulé, P. 1994. Périclès: L’apogée d’Athènes. Paris: Gallimard.
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An able Greek historian jumbles together discussions of different 5th-century Athenian topics, with not too much on Perikles and with an uncritical subtitle.
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Kagan, D. 1991. Pericles of Athens and the birth of democracy. New York: Free Press.
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An inspirational survey of Perikles’ “golden age of Athens” by a politically engaged conservative, here not preoccupied with the complexities of scholarship. See the reviews: David Potter in Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2.2 (2009) online and Oswyn Murray, “The Hero Who Can Do No Wrong: A Pre-critical View of Pericles,” Times Literary Supplement 4593 (12 April 1991): 8.
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Lehmann, G. 2008. Perikles: Staatsmann und Stratege im klassischen Athen: Eine Biographie. Munich: Beck.
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Fine quality, again mixing much history with the little we know about Perikles. The bibliography includes mostly German-language works.
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Mossé, C. 2005. Périclès: L’inventeur de la démocratie. Paris: Payot.
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Responsibly done (except for the subtitle, which Mossé repeats in her text), and crisply written; a well-informed, clear-minded historian provides a good, sensible mix on Perikles and his age, ending with his reception from Thucydides down to modern times. Unusually, Mossé’s discussion of the ancient sources follows her historical account.
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Podlecki, A. 1998. Perikles and his circle. London: Routledge.
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Solid work, sidestepping the problem posed by our ignorance of Perikles by focusing on his “circle” (Aeschylus, Kimon, Damon, Ephialtes, Thucydides, etc.), this book is characterized by sometimes inconclusive worrying about the sources, but it is good, with a helpful bibliography.
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Samons, L. J., II. 2015. Pericles of Athens and the conquest of history: A political biography. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Univ. Press.
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An impassioned account by another politically conservative scholar unafraid to show his sentiments. Fun to read, almost “popular,” and both opinionated and speculative about Perikles and Greek history (“may have,” “could have,” “we can assume,” and the like recur often); defends Samons’s thesis that Perikles and Athens were militaristic and nationalistic. Many consider this a one-sided view of the evidence, which many think shows the opposite.
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Schachermeyr, F. 1969. Perikles. Stuttgart: Kohlhammer.
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Schachermeyr argues that Perikles sought to make the Athenians a Herrenvolk over the Greeks, militarily, culturally, and in a liberal spirit. The failure to do so left him only the option of bringing on war with Sparta. Seemingly a vestige of German perspectives from the 1930s, which also affected Schachermeyr’s other studies of Perikles and his age published from 1969 to 1974, these works are documents especially of their author, a proponent of “scientific” and historical racism during the Third Reich.
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Schubert, C. 1994. Perikles. Erträge der Forschung 285. Darmstadt, Germany: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft.
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Following an initial chapter on sources, Schubert offers fine-quality scholarly discussions of various historical questions, including the Peace of Kallias, 5th-century Athenian foreign policy, finance, Perikles’ building program, democracy, and the trials of Perikles’ associates in the 430s. Copious bibliographical citations not limited to German-language works.
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Tracy, S. V. 2009. Pericles: A sourcebook and reader. Berkeley: Univ. of California Press.
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Written for students, this book includes a sensible traditional presentation of the sources for Perikles, including three chapters on Thucydides. Some of its not extensive scholarly references are dated.
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Recent Overviews of the “Periklean Age”

If most of the following works are not primarily relevant to Perikles himself, they help to illuminate developments of his time: Barringer and Hurwit 2005 deals with art, Samons 2007 and Boedeker and Raaflaub 1998 treat a range of topics.

Barringer, J. M., and J. M. Hurwit. 2005. Periklean Athens and its legacy: Problems and perspectives. Austin: Univ. of Texas Press.
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Useful especially for artistic developments, for example in vase painting, this festschrift for Yale’s J. J. Pollitt includes much that is not relevant to Periklean Athens or its legacy. Of note for Perikles are D. Kagan, “Pericles as General” (Perikles’ strategy for the Peloponnesian War would not have worked); B. Sismondo Ridgway, “‘Periklean’ Cult Images and Their Public”; J. M. Hurwit, “The Parthenon and the Temple of Zeus at Olympia”; I. Jenkins, “The Parthenon Frieze and Perikles’ Cavalry of a Thousand.”
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Boedeker, D., and K. A. Raaflaub. 1998. Democracy, empire, and the arts in fifth-century Athens. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Univ. Press.
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Notable essays pertinent to Perikles in this well-received volume include Raaflaub on transformations in Athens in the 5th century; Kallet on public spending; Morris on 5th-century Greek fiscal and artistic restraint in housing and burial habits; Hölscher on 5th-century political monuments, including of the Delian League; Saïd on tragedy and politics.
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Samons, L. J., II. 2007. Cambridge companion to the age of Pericles. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Univ. Press.
DOI: 10.1017/CCOL9780521807937Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
This collection includes essays on Athenian imperialism and Thucydides’ judgment on Perikles (Rhodes); Athenian religion (Boedeker); war (Raaflaub); art and architecture (Lapatin); slaves, foreigners, women (Patterson); drama and democracy (Henderson); polis bureaucracy (Sickinger); intellectual history, including the “sophists” (Wallace); democratic theory and practice (Sealey); the Peloponnesian War (Lendon); and Samons’s “conclusion” (better, sustained contention) that the Athenians were militaristic and nationalistic. See G. Herman’s review in Scripta Classica Israelica 29 (2010): 81–90.
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Sources

The only writers linked with Perikles who actually knew him were Sophokles (they disliked each other), Thucydides (who praises Perikles but sometimes undercuts his praise), and the comic poets (who ridiculed nearly everyone, how seriously?). These sources are difficult to control and must be used with care.

Sophokles

While the connection between tragedy and politics can be exaggerated, personal connections between Sophokles and Perikles are attested. While some scholars believe that these two leading contemporaries were friends, extant biographical data (especially from Ion of Chios) and the plays indicate the opposite, see Wallace 2013 (pp 16, 18). Some writers, in works including Ehrenberg 1954 (see esp. pp. 112–116), think that Oedipus in Oedipus Tyrannus resembles Perikles; as also Kreon in Antigone. However, most of Sophokles’ plays before and after Perikles feature an overly powerful leader/magistrate, which the plays (most of them criticizing democracy and “the mob”) present as a weakness in democratic government.

Ehrenberg, V. 1954. Sophocles and Pericles. Oxford: Blackwell.
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A dated classic that is still worth reading.
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Osborne, R. 2012. Sophocles and contemporary politics. In A companion to Sophocles. Edited by K. Ormand, 270–286. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell.
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This recent treatment by a fine Greek historian but no tragedy specialist, is well documented, incisive, and at times unexpected.
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Wallace, R. W. 2013. Sophokles’ lucky day: Antigone. Erga-Logoi 1.1: 7–22.
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Wallace identifies a series of political and social issues in Antigone and other plays, on most of which Sophokles and Perikles will have differed. Available online.
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Old Comedy

Perikles figured in a number of now fragmentary Old Comedies, including Kratinos’ Ploutoi and Dionysalexandros (which the ancient “hypothesis” says criticized Perikles “for having brought on the war,” possibly the Samian War of 440–437, between Athens and Samos: Mattingly 1977), and Eupolis’ Demes (see, e.g., fr. 102 in R. Kassel and C. Austin, Poetae Comici Graeci [Berlin: de Gruyter, 2001]: possibly mock praise of Perikles’ oratory). Schwartze 1971 offers a general treatment. Braun 2000 is largely about Thucydides, Aristophanes, and the causes of the Peloponnesian War.

Bakola, E. 2010. Cratinus and the art of comedy. Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press.
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In this first-rate study of a fragmentary comic poet arguably more impressive than Aristophanes, Bakola’s chapter 4 considers how far Kratinos’ Dionysalexandros was political allegory targeting Perikles.
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Braun, T. 2000. The choice of dead politicians in Eupolis’ Demoi: Themistokles’ exile, hero-cult and delayed rehabilitation; Pericles and the origins of the Peloponnesian War. In The rivals of Aristophanes: Studies in Athenian Old Comedy. Edited by D. Harvey and J. Wilkins, 191–231. London: Duckworth and the Classical Press of Wales.
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In the second part of this essay, Braun discusses the handling of Perikles by Aristophanes, Eupolis, and other comic poets, especially on the causes of the Peloponnesian War and on other matters, probably too charitably in regard to Thucydides’ objectivity.
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Harvey, D., and J. Wilkins, eds. 2000. The rivals of Aristophanes: Studies in Athenian Old Comedy. London: Duckworth and the Classical Press of Wales.
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In addition to Braun 2000, a number of other essays in this volume briefly but usefully discuss Perikles in contemporary comedies, as well as in Eupolis’ Demes.
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Mattingly, H. T. 1977. Poets and politicians in fifth-century Greece. In Greece and the eastern Mediterranean in ancient history and prehistory. Edited by K. H. Kinzl, 231–245. Studies Schachermeyr. Berlin: de Gruyter.
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Mattingly includes an important discussion of the chronology of Kratinos’ comedies.
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Schwartze, J. 1971. Die Beurteilung des Perikles durch die attische Komödie und ihre historische und historiographische Bedeutung. Zetemata 51. Munich: Beck.
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Schwartze considers every reference to Perikles in Old Comedy, although how serious these criticisms are may be harder to gauge than he thinks.
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Vickers, M. 1997. Perikles on stage: Political comedy in Aristophanes’ early plays. Austin: Univ. of Texas Press.
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Primarily a student of material culture, Vickers’s identification of various characters in Aristophanes with Perikles has proven to be not convincing.
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Thucydides

Thucydides’ descriptions of Perikles as intelligent, patriotic, and able to control an unruly demos have long inspired admiration, although his judgments about Perikles are sometimes thought more complicated. A famous article, Strasburger 1958 argues that Thucydides is critical of both Perikles and Athenian imperialism. More recent scholars agree: see Nicolai 1996 for a fine assessment, and also Foster 2010 and Taylor 2010. As for Thucydides’ speeches, many scholars, in works such as Samons 2015 (cited under General Overviews), accept Thucydides’ direct statement that these reproduce the gist of what speakers actually said plus what Thucydides thinks they should have said. However, Strasburger 1958 and later scholars are convincing that the speeches are heavily Thucydidean constructs. Thucydides reinforced his ideas by having people he admired repeat them, while losers say the opposite. For a summation of those who think that Thucydides’ Perikles does not especially sound like a democrat (Thucydides himself was largely contemptuous of democracy), see Hornblower 1997 (p. 299). Loraux 1986 is a fascinating work that, while long and densely argued, deals with Thucydides’ version of Perikles’ Funeral Oration.

Foster, E. 2010. Thucydides, Pericles and Periclean imperialism. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Univ. Press.
DOI: 10.1017/CBO9780511750960Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Foster argues that especially Thucydides’ narrative condemns Perikles’ aggressive naval imperialism which was driven by delusions by power.
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Hornblower, S. 1997. A commentary on Thucydides. Vol. 1, 2d ed. Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press.
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Hornblower’s three-volume commentaries include many good things but are uneven especially in coverage: long notes on points that interest the author, little or nothing on others, also including Perikles (e.g., no note on 2.65.7, Perikles’ alleged strategy for winning the war).
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Loraux, N. 1986. The invention of Athens: The Funeral Oration in the classical city. Translated by A. Sheridan. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Univ. Press.
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Masterly on the themes of Perikles’ Funeral Oration in Thucydides and later writers of the genre, although Loraux’s interest is not where this speech is distinctive and undercut. Translation of L’invention d’Athènes: Histoire de l’oraison funèbre dans la “cite classique” (Paris: Mouton, 1981).
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Nicolai, W. 1996. Thukydides und die Perikleische Machtpolitik. Hermes 124.3: 264–281.
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For Nicolai, the historian Thucydides felt obligated to teach lessons from the failure of Periklean imperialism. As a politician, he saw the defeat of Athens not as punishment for hubris, but the consequence of unforeseeable misfortunes and avoidable political errors.
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Rusten, J. 2009. Oxford readings in classical studies: Thucydides. Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press.
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Nineteen essays of which two, Strasburger’s “Thucydides and the Political Self-Portrait of the Athenians,” and J. Vogt’s “The Portrait of Pericles in Thucydides” (here first translated from the German), offer intelligent, partly contrasting analyses of Thucydides as a historian and his portrait of Perikles. Like F. Schachermeyr, Vogt was a former Nazi, commending strong leaders. For Strasburger, Thucydides was no admirer of Perikles.
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Strasburger, H. 1958. Thukydides und die politische Selbstdarstellung der Athener. Hermes 86:17–40.
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In a superb reassessment, Strasburger contrasts Thucydides on Perikles, Athens, and the empire with the orators, concluding that Thucydides liked none of them. Also available as “Thucydides and the Political Self-Portrait of the Athenians,” in Rusten 2009 (pp. 191–219).
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Taylor, M. 2010. Thucydides, Pericles, and the idea of Athens in the Peloponnesian War. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Univ. Press.
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For Taylor, in Thucydides’ view Perikles turned the Athenians’ conception of Athens toward foreign imperialism and ultimately the disasters of Melos and Sicily. The thesis is provocative, not least because Thucydides clearly states that Athenian policies degenerated in the absence of Perikles’s strong leadership.
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Will, W. 2003. Thukydides und Perikles: Der Historiker und sein Held. Bonn, Germany: Habelt.
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A brilliant, imaginative exposition of Thucydides’ portrait of Perikles, based on Will’s views of different chronological layers in the text and its subsequent reception. Will sees Thucydides’ Perikles as finally a general and war hero, while Thucydides’ earlier thoughts and later comments by Plutarch and others have yielded a more democratic peace-loving leader.
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Plato

Like Thucydides no supporter of democracy, Plato first condemns Perikles as a pandering demagogue (Gorg. 515c-519e), possibly to counter ostensibly loftier assessments of him by Thucydides and others, and to distract from the disgraceful conduct by Athens’ aristocrats during the Peloponnesian War, contributing to the city’s defeat. Menexenus, supposedly written by Perikles’ longtime companion Aspasia, is discussed as Plato’s parody of Perikles’ democratic Funeral Oration in Thucydides in Long 2003, Monoson 1998, and Loraux 1986 (cited under Thucydides).

Long, C. P. 2003. Dancing naked with Socrates: Pericles, Aspasia, and Socrates at play with politics, rhetoric, and philosophy. AncPhil 23:49–69.
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Each of these three personages in Menexenus represents one of the three subjects mentioned, in a dialogue characterized by playful ambiguity.
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Monoson, S. S. 1998. Remembering Pericles: The political and theoretical import of Plato’s Menexenus. Political Theory 26.4: 489–513.
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Monoson notes that Menexenus “sustains a critical commentary on the Thucydidean myth of Pericles, showing Plato to be deeply involved in the practical politics of his city” and “wrestles with the Funeral Oration as a species of public discourse, appropriating some of its features for philosophy.” Reprinted in S. S. Monoson, Plato’s Democratic Entanglements (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2000), pp. 181–205.
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Plutarch, Life of Perikles

Plutarch is a major source for Perikles, not least because he cites many Greek writers of the 5th and 4th centuries, as Pelling 1992 explores. However, he writes biographies rather than histories, and his focus on Perikles’ character (about which sources differed) proves fairly squirrely. Stadter 1989 is systematic and thorough, especially on Plutarch, although the present writer sometimes disagrees with his historical judgments.

Pelling, C. 1992. Plutarch and Thucydides. In Plutarch and the historical tradition. Edited by P. Stadter, 10–40. London: Routledge.
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A fine discussion of Plutarch’s use of sources (in particular Thucydides) for Nikias, Alkibiades, and Perikles.
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Stadter, P. 1989. A commentary on Plutarch’s Pericles. Chapel Hill: Univ. of North Carolina Press.
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Fine on Plutarch (but compare, e.g., J. Moles, CR 42 [1992] 289–294), while uneven on 5th-century historical issues (one of the book’s main foci), including Damon’s chronology and deme (pp. 69, 115), the date of the Peace of Kallias (pp. 149–151), the method of electing generals in Athens (p. 196), Aspasia’s social status (p. 236) and supposed trial (p. 297), and the major question of Athenian and Periklean imperialism where Plutarch’s benevolent portrait in chapters 18–28 goes unjudged. For other criticisms, see, e.g., A. Podlecki, Phoenix 46 (1992): 184–186.
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Early Years and Family Life

Perikles was born c. 495 BCE to aristocratic parents, Xanthippos, a naval commander, who in 489 successfully prosecuted the rival politician and general Miltiades for deceiving the Assembly, and Agariste, the niece of the Alkmaionid Kleisthenes who (re)instituted and expanded democracy in Athens in 508/7. Of Perikles’ activities down to his early thirties, little is attested. According to Plutarch (Per. 7), he did not seek prominence lest he be linked with Peisistratos, Athens’ former tyrant, or be ostracized (banished for ten years) because of his family’s prominence. Another factor may have been the ancestral curse on the Alkmaionid clan (Thuc. 1.126). Lehmann 2008 and Samons 2015 (both cited under General Overviews) speculate about the possible psychological effects on Perikles of his father’s ostracism. Wallace 2015 (pp. 15–18) discusses young Perikles’ teachers, especially Damon. In 472 Perikles was the chorêgos (producer and sponsor) of Aeschylus’ Persians, which may celebrate (but does not name) Themistokles as most responsible for the Greek victory over Persia in 480. Themistokles was a progressive democratic politician, as later was Perikles. Otherwise, Harrison 2000 (pp. 32–39, 101) argues that no responsible conclusions about Perikles or Aeschylus can be drawn from this chorêgia. Cromey 1984 argues that Perikles’ wife was a blood relative apparently named Deinomache, who bore him two sons, both later killed in the plague (as was Perikles). Subsequently, because of his own citizenship law of 451/0 (see Henry 1995), he could not marry his companion Aspasia, who Bicknell (1982) discovered was the scion of a distinguished Milesian family, and who also bore him two sons (one of them a general executed after the naval disaster at Arginousai in 406). Their long-term cohabitation, and Perikles’ conspicuous heterosexuality, inspired a mass of comic satire that she was a call-girl or a madam, which Henry 1995 shows should not be believed.

Bicknell, P. 1982. Axiochus Alkibiadou, Aspasia and Aspasios. L’Antiquité Classique 51:240–250.
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Fundamental for the author’s discovery of Aspasia’s probably upper-class Milesian family.
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Cromey, R. 1984. On Deinomache. Historia 33:385–401.
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In a fine study of Athenian upper-class in-breeding, Cromey argues that Perikles’ wife was Deinomache, who gave birth to Alkibiades when she was married to the wealthy Hipponikos.
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Harrison, T. 2000. The emptiness of Asia: Aeschylus’ Persians and the history of the fifth century. London: Duckworth.
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A fine study of Aeschylus’s Persians; also discusses Perikles, who was that play’s producer.
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Henry, M. 1995. Prisoner of history: Aspasia of Miletus and her biographical tradition. Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press.
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The first historically responsible treatment of Perikles’ longtime companion, reflecting how little we actually know of her, although much was said. See the review by R. W. Wallace, available online
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Wallace, R. W. 2015. Teaching and wisdom counsel. In Reconstructing Damon: Music, wisdom teaching, and politics in Perikles’ Athens. By R. W. Wallace, 3–22. Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press.
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Damon was one of Perikles’ most important teachers, including of music and music theory, and an important democratic adviser.
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Intellectual Life

Plutarch Per. 4–8 discusses Perikles’ long-standing involvement with major intellectuals of his time, notably Damon and Anaxagoras. The skepticism of Stadter 1991 about these traditions is excessive, as Giangiulio 2005 agrees. By contrast, Dover 1976, Wallace 1994, and Raaflaub 2000 agree that reports of public attacks on other intellectuals, some associated with Perikles, are greatly exaggerated, except for Damon’s ostracism (Wallace 2015 [pp. 53–64], cited under Early Years and Family Life). As for Perikles’ religious beliefs (if any), R. Parker concludes that “from the surviving scraps of his speeches and unreliable anecdotes little can be learnt” (Athenian Religion: A History [Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996], p. 214, n. 60).

Dover, K. J. 1976. The freedom of the intellectual in Greek society. Talanta 7:24–54.
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A justly famous essay questioning most of the traditions that 5th-century Athenians harassed or punished major intellectuals, including Protagoras and Anaxagoras. Reprinted with addenda in K. J. Dover, The Greeks and Their Legacy: Prose, Literature, History, Society, Transmission, Influence (Oxford: Blackwell, 1988), pp. 135–158.
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Giangiulio, M. 2005. Pericle e gli intellettuali: Damone e Anassagora in Plut. Per. 4–8 tra costruzione biografica e tradizione. In Da Elea a Samo: Filosofi e politici di fronte all’impero ateniese; Atti del convegno di studi, Santa Maria Capua Vetere, 4–5 giugno 2003. Edited by L. Breglia and M. Lupi, 151–182. Naples, Italy: Arte Tipografica.
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Giangiulio discusses the historicity and other qualities of Plutarch’s and his sources’ accounts of Perikles’ relations with Damon and Anaxagoras.
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Raaflaub, K. 2000. Den Olympier herausfordern? Prozesse im Umkreis des Perikles. In Grosse Prozesse im antiken Athen. Edited by L. Burckhardt and J. von Ungern-Sternberg, 96–113. Munich: Beck.
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A fine, mostly skeptical treatment of these prosecutions; also discusses Perikles’ trial in 430 (Thuc. 2.59); includes copious bibliographical references.
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Stadter, P. 1991. Pericles among the Intellectuals. Illinois Classical Studies 16.1: 111–124.
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Following recent trends that question biographical reports of famous 5th-century Greeks, Stadter excessively discounts the extensive traditions from the 5th and 4th centuries of Perikles’ instruction by sophoi and sophistai, in a cultural phenomenon reaching back to the era of Solon (see Wallace 2015, cited under Early Years and Family Life).
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Wallace, R. W. 1994. Private lives and public enemies: Freedom of thought in classical Athens. In Athenian identity and civic ideology. Edited by A. Scafuro and A. Boegehold, 205–238. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Univ. Press.
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Wallace reinforces the arguments of Dover 1976, adding material especially on Damon and Sokrates.
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Early Political Career

In 462 Perikles was co-prosecutor of Miltiades’ son Kimon, leader of the conservative aristocrats in Athens. Most sources ([Arist.] Ath. Pol. 27.1–4, Plut. Per. 9.2–10.5, Athenaeus 589e-f) stress their enmity. By contrast, Plutarch Cim. 14.5 indicates that Perikles “went easy” on Kimon at his trial, and other sources seem to indicate a subsequent rapprochement. Connor 1971 (pp. 58–64) illustrates how Perikles continued an older style of family-and-friends politics with Kimon and others down to Kimon’s death in 450. By contrast again, Finley 1985 stresses how far Perikles resembled the later “demagogues,” with his mastery of rhetoric, administrative expertise (see also Rhodes 1986), and generosity (jury pay) to the masses, reportedly an idea of his adviser Damon (Wallace 2015 [pp. 58, 118–19, 192–193], cited under Early Years and Family Life). The purposes of Perikles’ law in 451/0 requiring future citizens to have two citizen parents are debated by scholars. Patterson 2005 (pp. 278–283) argues that these will have included limiting access to imperial and citizens’ household wealth in Athens, and for Blok 2009 also to city and family cults. Osborne 1997 argues that this law also elevated the status of Athenian women in Athens, while reflecting the perennial dislike of foreigners in the Athenian democracy. From the contradictory representations of Perikles in Thucydides (aristocratic leader of the people) and Plato (demagogue), Breebaart 1971 argues that Plutarch (Per. 9) has inferred a “change,” not of personal character but of political policy, following Perikles’ defeat of his last significant rival, Thoukydides son of Melesias.

Blok, J. 2009. Perikles’ citizenship law: A new perspective. Historia 58:141–170.
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Blok includes a useful critique of earlier explanations for this law, including that of Aristotle.
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Breebaart, A. 1971. Plutarch and the political development of Pericles. Mnemosyne 24.3: 260–272.
DOI: 10.1163/156852571X00587Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Breebaart argues that Plutarch was interested in the relationship between Perikles the politician and Perikles the statesman, but he was not concerned with his nearly monarchical powers in the democracy, thus failing to understand Athenian politics.
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Connor, W. R. 1971. The new politicians of fifth-century Athens. Princeton, NJ: Princeton Univ. Press.
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Connor develops the thesis that the basis of politics in 5th-century Athens changed from family and upper-class friends to direct appeal to the masses. Reviewers point out that direct appeal to the masses also occurred earlier in the century.
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Finley, M. 1985. Athenian demagogues. In Democracy ancient and modern. Edited by M. Finley, 38–75. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers Univ. Press.
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A celebrated article on direct democracy, ideologies and practices, and leaders in 5th-century Athens, not distinguishing the supposedly later demagogues from Perikles, who also appealed directly to the people and needed to win their support in every assembly. Reprinted from Past & Present 21 (1962): 3–24.
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Frost, F. J. 1964. Pericles, Thucydides son of Melesias, and Athenian politics before the war. Historia 13:385–399.
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Frost argues against Plutarch’s ideological descriptions of war between demos and aristocracy, and of “the welfare state,” as accurate characteristics of politics during the later Periklean period.
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Osborne, R. 1997. Law, the democratic citizen and the representation of women in classical Athens. Past & Present 155.1:3–37.
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Osborne argues that Perikles’ citizenship law of 451/0 reflected and enhanced the improved status of women in Athenian art that is evident on vase paintings and in sculpture, and the more exclusive attitude to citizenship that resulted from the Athenian “empire.”
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Patterson, C. 2005. Athenian citizenship law. In The Cambridge companion to ancient Greek law. Edited by M. Gagarin and D. Cohen, 267–289. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Univ. Press.
DOI: 10.1017/CCOL0521818400.015Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
A compact presentation of Perikles’ law together with other citizenship provisions by the best known student of this measure.
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Rhodes, P. 1986. Political activity in classical Athens. Journal of Hellenic Studies 106:132–144.
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A current historian’s take on how politics worked in ancient Athens, from the dark ages through the 4th century; also includes critiques of Frost 1964, Connor 1971, and work by John Davies. The place of Perikles is discussed on pp. 138–142.
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Opposition with Thoukydides Son of Melesias

Little is known of Perikles’ political activities before his contest in the 440s with Thoukydides son of Melesias, Kimon’s successor as conservative leader. For Plutarch (Per. 11–12, 14) the immediate issue in this struggle was Perikles’ building program, allegedly paid for by allied money. Andrewes 1978 shows that Perikles’ opponents are not likely to have objected to this use of allied money; Kallet-Marx 1989, Giovannini 1990, and Giovannini 1997 argue that the Athenians spent little allied money on this program; and Osborne 1999 argues that the allies seem to have regarded the new buildings in Athens as theirs also. Frost 1964 (cited under Early Political Career) and Hölkeskamp 1998 argue that the political struggle in Athens in the 440s was not one of “oligarch” versus “democrat,” a later development. Andrewes 1978 suggests that the issue between Perikles and Thoukydides concerned making peace with Persia (Thoukydides was related to Kimon) and the failed Boiotian land empire, which, however, Ste. Croix 1972 (in appendix 10) argues Perikles had nothing to do with.

Andrewes, A. 1978. The opposition to Pericles. Journal of Hellenic Studies 98:1–8.
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A concise dismantling of Plutarch’s testimony regarding Perikles and Thoukydides, with a three-page discussion of the foundation of the Greek colony at Thouria.
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Giovannini, A. 1990. Le Parthénon, le trésor d’Athènes et le tribut des alliés. Historia 39:129–148.
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A fine analysis of Athenian and “imperial” finance. The author defends Athens against the charge (not in Thucydides but only in later writers) of taking allied contributions for its own purposes and of Perikles’ cautious and responsible engagement defending the Greeks. Translated in Low 2008 (pp. 164–184).
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Giovannini, A. 1997. La participation des alliés au financement du Parthénon: aparkhè ou tribut? Historia 46:145–157.
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Giovannini agrees with Kallet-Marx 1989 (which takes a similar approach to Giovannini 1990), adding further analysis of the tribute lists, the dedications to Athena, the Hellenotamiai, and other officials, sometimes inconsistent with 4th-century Athenian literary accounts. This article includes a fine discussion of what happened when the league treasury moved from Delos to Athens in 454.
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Hölkeskamp, K. 1998. Parteiungen und politische Willensbildung in demokratischen Athen: Perikles und Thukydides, Sohn des Melesias. Historische Zeitschrift 267:1–27.
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Plutarch’s description of Athenian political strife in the 440s, between democrats and oligarchs, was derived from Aristotle in the 330s. Strife in the 440s centered on the role of the Assembly and the powerful politicians who were active there.
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Kallet-Marx, L. 1989. Did tribute fund the Parthenon? Classical Antiquity 8:252–266.
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A careful analysis of epigraphic evidence disconnects surplus league contributions from the treasury of Athena (mostly derived from war booty) which paid for the building program. Plutarch’s Perikles, the main source that tribute funded the Parthenon, is variously problematic.
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Low, P., ed. 2008. The Athenian empire. Edinburgh Readings on the Ancient World. Edinburgh: Edinburgh Univ. Press.
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This volume provides an abundance of material on the topics it covers, including an English translation of Giovannini 1997 and a reprint of Ste. Croix 1954 (cited under Military Career and Athenian Imperialism).
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Osborne, R. 1999. Archaeology and the Athenian empire. The American Philological Association 129:319–332.
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The shortage of archaeological remains in 5th-century Ionia may indicate that the allies of Athens accepted its building program as their own.
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Ste. Croix, G. E. M. de. 1972. The origins of the Peloponnesian War. London: Duckworth.
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See appendix 10, “Pericles and the Athenian ‘land empire.’” According to Thuc. 1.144.1 and 2.65.7, Perikles did not recommend in the later 430s that Athens not extend its empire. Ste. Croix offers a fine, concise history of Perikles’ military career, showing no evidence that he was implicated in the expansion of Athens into Boeotia in the 450s.
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Military Career and Athenian Imperialism

Perikles had an active military career as a naval commander “beyond the Chelidonian Isles” in southern Asia Minor in the 460s (Plut. Cim. 13.4); in a major naval expedition from Pagai to Sikyon and Oiniadai, probably in 454 (Thuc. 1.111.2–3); and from 448 to 431 (as Plutarch Per. 18–28 reveals but Thucydides partly conceals), in the Sacred War of c. 448 (Plut. Per. 21), against the Euboeans in revolt in 446, in the war waged by Athens with Samos between 440 and 437, and then against Thracians, Peloponnesians, and Akarnanians as well as in the Black Sea (Per. 20.1–2), as Braund 2005 well shows. Was Perikles an active promoter of Athenian imperialism as the inscriptions studied in Mattingly 1996 may suggest? Did the behavior of Athens toward its allies degenerate after his death, under the “demagogues,” Alkibiades, and those responsible for the massacre at Melos? From the moderate tone of his and other Athenian speeches in Thucydides books 1–2, many works including Giovannini 1997 (cited under Opposition with Thoukydides Son of Melesias) and Kagan 2010, have judged Perikles only a moderate imperialist, compared with later politicians. Quite possibly inspired by Thucydides (see, e.g., Per. 28.1) against more hostile sources, Plutarch (Per. 18–28) also portrays Perikles as a cautious and prudent general, unwilling to take risks and acting reasonably toward Athens’ allies. Beginning in the 1930s, however, a number of mostly German scholars beginning with Vogt (a member of the Nazi Party from 1940 to 1945, which colored his judgment) viewed Periklean imperialism as essentially similar to what came later. Kallet 2009 supplies a balanced analysis of scholars’ estimations of Athenian imperialism. Mostly unheard in this debate is the judgment of Ste. Croix 1954 and also Low 2005 that the Athenian “empire” was far from being so abusive and hated as its critics (and most modern scholars) charge. Rhodes 1987 sensibly explicates most especially Thucydides’ treatment of the causes of the Peloponnesian War, but Aristophanes’ Acharnians and Clouds, Plutarch in his Life of Perikles, Diodoros, and, toward the end of Book 1, Thucydides himself say that Perikles “ever urged the Athenians on to war” (Thuc. 1.127.3).

Braund, D. 2005. Pericles, Cleon and the Pontus: The Black Sea in Athens c. 440–421. In Scythians and Greeks: Cultural interactions in Scythia, Athens and the Early Roman Empire, sixth century BC—first century AD. Edited by D. Braund, 80–99. Exeter, UK: Univ. of Exeter Press.
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Braund sets in context the successful major expedition c. 437 led by Perikles to bring much of the Black Sea into the realm of the Athenian league (Plut. Per. 20), in violation of the Peace of Kallias of 449.
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Cohen, B. 1991. Perikles’ portrait and the Riace bronzes: New evidence for “schinocephaly.” Hesperia 60:465–502.
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In portrait representations, Perikles’ helmet symbolized his civic office, strategos (general), rather than a covering for a deformed head, as parallels from the 5th-century Riace bronzes confirm.
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Kagan, D. 2010. Pericles, Thucydides, and the defense of empire. In Makers of ancient strategy: From the Persian wars to the fall of Rome. Edited by V. D. Hanson, 31–57. Princeton, NJ: Princeton Univ. Press.
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Given that Athens needed its empire to protect itself against Persia and Sparta, Kagan’s argument is consistent with Thucydides’ position (which he attributes to Perikles) that Perikles ended the imperial expansion of Athens, moderated its ambitions, and justified its empire.
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Kallet, L. 2009. Democracy, empire, and epigraphy in the twentieth century. In Interpreting the Athenian empire. Edited by J. Ma, N. Papazardakas, and R. Parker, 43–66. London: Duckworth.
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Kallet explores various claims (few well founded) concerning the question whether the Athenian empire was a good thing.
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Low, P. 2005. Looking for the language of Athenian imperialism. Journal of Hellenic Studies 125:93–111.
DOI: 10.1017/S0075426900007126Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Fundamental for its analysis of inscriptional evidence shedding light on the Athenian “empire” (which she argues was not so tyrannical).
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Mattingly, H. 1996. Periclean imperialism. In Athenian empire restored: Epigraphic and historical studies. Edited by H. Mattingly, 147–179. Ann Arbor: Univ. of Michigan Press.
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A detailed analysis of the epigraphic evidence for Athenian imperialism, tending toward dating the developed form of that phenomenon to Perikles’ later years in the 430s. Reprinted (minus an appendix) in Low 2008 (pp. 81–112) (cited under Opposition with Thoukydides Son of Melesias).
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Rhodes, P. 1987. Thucydides on the causes of the Peloponnesian War. Hermes 115.2: 154–165.
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A sensible, responsible treatment of the causes of this war by a typically cautious Greek historian, although more could be said for the thesis that Thucydides mostly conceals Perikles’ responsibility for the war because Perikles was supposedly gifted with foresight but the war turned out disastrously for Athens.
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Ste. Croix, G. E. M. de. 1954. The character of the Athenian empire. Historia 3:1–41.
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A brilliantly deployed and still unrefuted argument that many of the allies of Athens were happy to be a part of the Athenian league. Reprinted in Low 2008 (pp. 232–276) (cited under Opposition with Thoukydides Son of Melesias).
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Vogt, J. 1956. Das Bild des Perikles bei Thukydides. Historische Zeitschrift 182:249–266.
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An admiring portrait by a former Nazi. Available as “The Portrait of Perikles in Thucydides” in Rusten 2009 (pp. 220–240) (cited under Thucydides).
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Building Program

The Parthenon has received its own detailed bibliography in Oxford Bibliographies in Art History, which readers should consult (see “The Parthenon”. Mention is made here of Hurwit 2004, a fine comprehensive treatment, the lively but more speculative Mosconi 2000 on Perikles’ music hall the Odeion, and Pollitt 1972, a well-known but dated cross-disciplinary study.

Hurwit, J. M. 2004. The Acropolis in the age of Pericles. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Univ. Press.
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A classic treatment. A revised and abridged work of J. M. Hurwit, The Athenian Acropolis: History, Mythology and Archaeology from the Neolithic Era to the Present (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1999).
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Mosconi, G. 2000. La democrazia ateniese e la “nuova” musica: L’Odeion di Pericle. In Synaulía: Cultura musicale in Grecia e contatti mediterranei. Edited by A. C. Cassio, D. Musti, and L. E. Rossi, 217–305. Naples, Italy: Istituto Universitario Orientale.
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A detailed, although sometimes adventurous, study of Perikles’ music hall.
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Pollitt, J. J. 1972. Art and experience in classical Greece. London: Cambridge Univ. Press.
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Pollitt seeks to correlate Athenian artistic developments with literature and history, including the empire, Perikles’ Funeral Oration in Thucydides, and the Parthenon. Reflecting a common problem of interdisciplinary work, Pollitt’s competence in art history is superior to (but see, e.g., R. M. Cook, CR 24 [1974]: 149: “largely unconvincing”) his fairly elementary knowledge of Greek history.
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Later Reception

Because 5th-century sources provided little information on Perikles beyond his importance, traditions about him grew fanciful and corrupt. Banfi 2003 discusses Perikles’ assessment in the later 5th and the 4th centuries (for the orators, see briefly also Nouhaud 1982), with final chapters on Plutarch and Aelius Aristeides. The last two chapters of Azoulay 2014 (cited under General Overviews) trace Perikles’ passage from “disgrace” in the late medieval period through the 17th century and then to “the fabrication of the Pericles myth” in France, Britain, and Germany. (Azoulay quotes Schachermeyr in 1933 that Perikles arose during a crisis in the democracy “exactly similar to that which we experienced before Adolf Hitler came upon the scene” (Azoulay 2014, p. 218.) Dabdab Trabulsi 2011 assesses the different portraits of Perikles by six 20th-century historians, each reflecting his or her different times.

Banfi A. 2003. Il governo della città: Pericle nel pensiero antico. Bologna, Italy: Il Mulino.
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On the representations of Perikles’s personality by 5th-century critics, which in turn influenced 4th-century critiques of polis democracy, and his complex and ambiguous representations in the Roman period.
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Dabdab Trabulsi, J. A. 2011. Le présent dans le passé: Autour des quelques Périclès du XX siècle et de la possibilité d’une verité en histoire. Besançon, France: Presses Universitaires de Franche Comté.
DOI: 10.3406/ista.2011.1810Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Compares two Italian, French, and English treatments of Perikles, as influenced by recent history: De Sanctis’s anti-fascist Péricle (1944); Attilio Levi’s elitist Pericle: Un uomo, un regime, una cultura (1980); Romanist Léon Homo’s Thucydidean Périclès: Une expérience de démocratie dirigée (1954); Marie Delcourt’s Périclès (1940); Kagan 1991 (cited under General Overviews), praising Perikles’ (and America’s) democracy as world-ruler; A. R. Burn’s Pericles and Athens (1948), that Perikles alone, not his successors, could govern Athens.
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Nouhaud, M. 1982. L’utilisation de l’histoire par les orateurs attiques. Paris: Les Belles Lettres.
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As Banfi 2003 also notes (pp. 169–176), 4th-century orators were not especially interested in Perikles. Nouhaud covers this material on pp. 221–223.