I am here to praise the man Pericles. He was an amazing leader, and he played a major role in shaping the constitution of ancient Athens. The historian Thucydides even calls him “the first Citizen” of democratic Athens, because of his role in forming its democracy. He was also a primary leader during Athens’ “Golden Age.” He was a respected general, and statesman. And he was an exceptional Orator, perhaps the best in his city. Whenever he talked, everyone listened.
Pericles comes from Acamantis tribe, in Athens, Greece. He was born around 495 BC, to Xanthippus (A war hero, and prominent politician), and Agariste (from the powerful and noble family, Alcmaeonidae). One of Pericles’ most notable ancestors was Cleisthenes, the reformer, who helped
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Rather, he must be hospitable, one who loves what is good, who is self-controlled, upright, holy and disciplined (Titus 1:7-8). Pericles models many of these virtues. He was known especially for his calm demeanor, gentle attitude, prudence, and exemplary self-control. He demonstrated great wisdom as he made plans to defend the city against Sparta, and in his war strategies. He had a great love for his city, and its people, and put great effort into beautifying and strengthening it. In his guidance Athens became the greatest city in the Peloponnesus, it was Athens’ “Golden Age.” Even when plague struck Athens, he held his calm composure, even when the people were angry at him, through his amazing ability to speak, he changed their minds. Pericles last speech was one of encouragement to his people; chiding them to persevere through this calamity. After his death, Athens only went downhill, and eventually fell, showing just how much Pericles’ influence had helped the city; Athens needed him. Pericles made a real impact on his
Pericles’ Funeral Oration is a speech given by the Athenian leader Pericles, at a funeral, after the first battle of the Peloponnesian war. Pericles used this public funeral to make a statement and praise the Athenian people. “Our constitution does not copy the laws of neighboring states; we are rather a pattern to others than imitators ourselves”. Pericles believes Athens is original. They do not have to conform, they make the rules and other countries follow. “Its
In Athens, there were two wise men named Socrates and Pericles. In the short story "Plato's Apology", Socrates is on trial, and is speaking before his peers so that he may be judged. In "Pericles's Funeral Oration", Pericles himself is giving a speech at a funeral on behalf of the fallen soldiers of Athens. In both speeches, Socrates and Pericles believe it will be hard to talk about the subject because the people listening might not believe what they say to be the truth or the whole truth. Both men were considered wise, but Socrates believed men were not virtuos, and Pericles believed that man does strive to become virtous. I believe that Socrates's arguments are a rebuttal to Pericles's Funeral Oration, and although they are both wise, only Socrates has true wisdom.
There are two important matters that the "Funeral Oration of Pericles" proves, these two matters are, the great respect that Athenians have for their warrior class and how the Athenians were exceedingly proud of their city and its customs. The following paper discusses the way of life of Athenians and how the Funeral Oration of Pericles influenced it.
Pericles did not wish to simply reiterate what Athens had achieved, but rather he wanted to address how and why Athens achieved. He believed that Athenian politics, culture, and character were more relevant to the deceased soldiers than their ancestor’s military successes. Accordingly, he praised these elements of Athenian society and in the process justified the soldiers’ sacrifice. He spoke “but what was the road by which we reached our position, what the form of government under which our greatness grew, what the national habits out of which it sprang; these are the questions which I may try to solve before I proceed to my eulogy upon these men; since I think this to be a subject upon which on the present occasion a speaker may properly dwell, and to which the whole assemblage, whether citizens or foreigners, may listen with advantage.” (2.36.4).
Inevitably, when you are talking about leaders, the questions arise: is he or she good or bad? What is the metric and what is your method of evaluation? In this case, we’ll look at Odysseus’ performance through a modern leadership lens, while keeping in mind that Homeric Greek culture might have motivated him to act differently than he would have today.
The owner of a show horse has many tasks to keep her horse fit and beautiful. She must spend time cleaning, stroking, and combing his hair to keep its gleaming shine. She must make good choices time after time for her horse, allowing him to be in his best condition. She must also train with him day after day and spend hours after hours with her baby, giving him her unconditional love. Like the dedicated owner to her horse, Odysseus shows wonderful leadership skills towards his men with his wily intelligence, warm compassion, and vast bravery.
Athens government and military is considerably different from their neighbors. According to Pericles, Athens government is not a copy of our neighbors...
Imagining a general with great wealth, integrity, and great perverseness can only begin the learning of Pericles and his ways of being a leader of Athens. His risk-taking, leadership, and his intelligence truly show what type of person he was. Although there were people that thought he was not worthy of his position, he had many supporters and people that idolized, admired, and trusted him, making him one of the most brilliant people ever to step foot in Athens.
The Peloponnesian War was fought from 431-409 BC. It was a civil war between the Greek city-states and was lead by Sparta and it’s allies against the dominating Athenian government. The Athenian leader, Pericles, was a learned scholar and an ingenious military general. His speeches were known for their ability to motivate and give courage to a crowd whether it was to his soldiers in the final moments right before a battle or to a gathering in the streets of Athens. After the first few battles of the Peloponnesian War, Pericles was asked to give the funeral oration for those that were slain in defense of Athens. He did not offer his condolences to the families of those that died, but he offered them comfort. He did this because the men that died in those battles did not do so in vain, for dying in defense of one’s city-state had nothing to do with vanity in the eyes of the ...
For Pericles, Athenian values are realized through culture and “daily devotion.” He claims that Athenian citizens obey both “the laws themselves” and “agreed-on social values (which need no specific legislation),” not requiring legislation to uphold their values. Accordingly, Pericles views exceptionalism as intrinsic to Athenians. Boasting about the city, Pericles questions “how else did she become great but by this genius in her citizens?” A recommitment to civic values, therefore, is simple to Pericles: Athenians are exceptional at the moment of his speech, and must simply continue their past conduct in order to achieve future
He says "..... The Lacedaemonians do not invade our country alone, but bring with them all their confederates; while we Athenians advance unsupported into the territory of a neighbour, and fighting upon a foreign soil usually vanquish with ease men who are defending their home". Pericles is telling the funeral audience that just because we sit here at a funeral we are winning easily against Sparta. They need help even on land they are more familiar with and we still defeat them. So not only does Athens have the better form of government that was passed down from generation to generation but we also obviously have better war tactics than Sparta in which that is supposed to be their specialty. He says this to distraught funeral crowd who deep in their mind are questioning if they could win this war and Pericles is giving them a sense of hope and a sense that they could win this war with
In the first of the two texts, Pericles is making a very bold statement on the state of the Athens. “Our constitution does not copy the laws of neighbouring states; we are rather a pattern to others than imitators ourselves.” In his speech, Pericles is trying to rally the Athenians to support the new democracy and to make them feel important by being associated with
The Peloponnesian War and the Decline of Leadership in Athens Thucydides set out to narrate the events of what he believed would be a great war—one requiring great power amassed on both sides and great states to carry out. Greatness, for Thucydides, was measured most fundamentally in capital and military strength, but his history delves into almost every aspect of the war, including, quite prominently, its leaders. In Athens especially, leadership was vital to the war effort because the city’s leaders were chosen by its people and thus, both shaped Athens and reflected its character during their lifetimes. The leaders themselves, however, are vastly different in their abilities and their effects on the city. Thucydides featured both Pericles and Alcibiades prominently in his history, and each had a distinct place in the evolution of Athenian empire and the war it sparked between Athens and Sparta.
The death of Pericles was a significant event in the course of the Peloponnesian War; however, even without Pericles' leadership the Athenian Assembly had countless opportunities to prevent their loss and chose not to take them. The fickleness and inefficiency of democracy ('the mob') allowed the Athenians to be easily influenced and therefore electing populists such as Cleon, Lysicles and Hyperbolus into dominant leadership roles. Election, via democratic means, of such populists, meant that the Athenians would take a much more aggressive approach to the war and therefore abandon the policies that Pericles had previously established. So in turn, democracy the institution for which the Athenians fought tirelessly to protect, rather than the death of Pericles, ironically became the dominant factor influencing the final outcome of this Ancient Greek civil war.
No one would deny that Pericles was the most prominent Greek statesman and spokesperson during the Golden Age. His contribution was largely felt during the Persian and Peloponnesian Wars having obtained power from his family link to the Alcmaeonid family. He commanded a lot of respect to from the Athenian citizens with Thucydides describing him as "the first citizen of Athens” . He was born at around 495 BC north of Athens in the ...