How Did Pericles Revolutionize Athens?

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To revolutionize, to completely change a city in the hardest of times is a feat one has to have such extraordinary determination and confidence to do so. In Greece, right after the Battle of Sicily and Thermopylae when the Persians tried to conquer Athens, Athens won, however, Athens was in ruins. Pericles revolutionized Athens with public projects during the Athen’s Golden Age which improved Athenian culture, brought back a strong Athenian government, democracy, and led to a surplus of food.

During Athen’s Golden Age, Pericles shaped Athens into an artistic and cultural place with beautiful buildings, a strong wall for protection, and a place for blossoming thoughts and ideas for all topics. One of Pericles most outstanding works …show more content…

Due to the fact that The Parthenon was located on top of The Acropolis, it was visible to everybody in Athens. Essentially, such a masterpiece would take a very long time yet Pericles critics were amazed at how fast The Parthenon was built. The Parthenon was so important to Athens culture because the temple was built for Athena, the patron goddess of the city (Aird, 58). Now it is a true beauty of Athens and Greece reminding everybody how amazing Athena is just by looking up the Acropolis. Part of Pericles plan was to extend a strong wall out to the Aegean Sea from Athens. Originally, this was just to prevent another attack from the Persians, however, led to an easy access for a navy and cultural diffusion (Armento, Beverly J., and others, 363). By extending this wall, Athens was allowing access from the Aegean Sea and became a major trading port. Due to all of the supplies and goods coming through Athens, Athenian culture began to vary and led to an expansion in cultural thoughts during the Golden Age. Ships from all around the Mediterranean Sea, Mesopotamia, Rome, and Egypt came to Athens. Finally, Athen’s Golden Age was a time when new thoughts and ideas came. …show more content…

Fortunately, Pericles, a great general at war, was also a great government official elected in 460 BCE as one of the ten generals (Armento, Beverly J., and others, 363). Although these generals only serve a one year term, Pericles was elected again and again. At the time, a man named Cimon was the head of the government in Athens. One of Pericles many talents was his persuasiveness. In fact, he was so persuasive an Olympian wrestler once said, “If I wrestle him [Pericles] to the ground he will deny this and deny it so vigorously that he would convince even those who witnessed the fight,” (The Greeks: Crucible of Civilizations). This persuasiveness and help from Ephialtes were what it took to abolish Cimon from Athens and all of Cimon’s allies (“Pericles Biography”)(Aird, 39). This finally led to the start of democracy again in Athens. Additionally, by making Athens fairer for everybody, Pericles balanced and stabilized the amount of power of money one was getting. Pericles would divide sums of money between the rich and poor because as said in his speech, “We regard wealth as something to be properly used, rather than as something to boast about. As for poverty, no one needs to be ashamed to admit it; the real shame is in not asking practical measures to escape from it.” By doing this everybody is equal and much less likely to revolt on Athenian

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