Pericles Leadership

In the present day, Barack Obama and many more inspirational individuals possess traits of leadership that influence a multitude of people. Going back even farther, Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., and Rosa Parks were also leaders. In the Ancient World though, people like Alexander the Great, Ramses the Great, and Hammurabi were significant leaders. The one common similarity among all these leaders is that they all influenced their people and revolutionized the world. Pericles is also among this extravagant group. Pericles, leader of Greece in its Golden Age, revolutionized the city of Athens, its government and its people. The life of Pericles was by far very prominent. Born in 495 B.C.E., Pericles was not only a statesman, but also a general

Pericles personally favored democracy, even in a time of universal tyranny. “He was a political genius in that he was about to provide leadership to the Athenian people without being led by them” (The Ancient World 622). Through this, Pericles was able to lead the Athenian government for more than 30 years. As leader of the Athenian government, Pericles achieved many goals. “Pericles’ main achievement as the leader of Athens was the conversion of the Delian League into an Athenian Empire” (The Ancient World 621). Along with this achievement, Pericles expanded the Athenian Empire. He built colonies all over Greece to stretch the influence of Athenian society. Pericles also crushed major rebellions against him as leader. Finally, Pericles opened Athenian democracy to the ordinary citizen (Axelrod and Phillips OL). Evidently, Pericles was a very accomplished leader at the helm of Athenian

By enlarging the Delian League, Pericles was able to increase the power of Athens. He was able to do this because he controlled the Delian League. In the end, the Delian league grew tremendously under the control of Pericles. Through his career, Pericles achieved many goals that led him to be able to have plenty of respect from the Athenian people, but there were also some people who disrespected him. As leader, Pericles attained the confidence of the people. The Athenians respected him because he had proved to e a great leader. Thucydides, Athenian historian, also respected Pericles for his singular control of the Athenian democracy (Fornara OL). Although, Pericles did gain some disrespect from the Athenian citizens. At one point in his life, the Athenians believed of him having affairs with the mistress, Aspasia. As you can see, Pericles was one of the most prominent leaders of the Ancient World. “Pericles, c. 495-429 B.C.E., was the political leader of Athens from about 460 to 429, a time at which Athenian culture and military power were at their height” (Fornara OL). Like Barack Obama of today and Martin Luther King Jr. of the past, Pericles has made his mark on the world. From building the Parthenon, to using his extravagant brain and abilities to hook the Athenians to his plans, Pericles was revolutionary leader of the Ancient