The funeral oration of Pericles was a speech that Pericles gave about democracy. The speech was for those who had died during the first year of the war. Pericles tried to honor those who had fought for their city, those who had been brave enough to leave their souls and hearts in the battlefields and those who were proud of being Athenians. Pericles not only was the leader of Athens in that era (431/430 B.C.) but also a great supporter of democracy. He was very popular, many citizens followed him with loyalty and devotion. The period of governance of Pericles was one of the most envied moments in history and his speech is until now, one of the most influential and prominent discourse about democracy.
The people of Athens submitted to the laws and obeyed the public officials not because they had to, as it was in other cities, but because they wanted to. Athenians had thus achieved something quite unique, being both ruled and rulers at one and the same time. The Athenians were the new ideal of the Greek world in that era. The funerals were public rituals in Athens and usually the ceremony lasted
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three days. The Pericles’ speech was about the special qualities of the Athenians, their values, their virtues, their generosity.
He talked about the dead as if they were heroes, who were willing to die for their nation. Idols that should be admired by all Greek population and by all the world, as role models and as winners even though they had fallen. He reaffirms freedom as the perfect ideal; freedom to speak, to think, to take decisions. He embraced the equality, the rights and the tolerance. He said that they did not break the law, not because their obedience to the men who hold public office, but the deep respect they had for them. Athenians had to feel safe due to they were together and protected. He also talked about all growth opportunities within the nation, all the hard work done by its citizens. Their festivals, the improvements of the city, its beauty and its good
taste. The speech was full of national pride, optimism and positivism. Pericles addressed important commercials points. Such as, their open market, which made them able to enjoy good products imported from all over the world and in the same manner were able to enjoy their own products, the ones produced by themselves. They could choice, they could take decisions, and they were able to select the right path of their own lives. He talked about the envy, the anger and wrath. He pointed the quality and efficiency of its military troops. Finally, he talked about love, kindness and the willingness to help others. Pericles asserted that the city of Athens, its population, its system, its art, its traditions, taken all together, was a model for all Greece. Each Athenian was self-sufficient, with the ability to achieve any purpose, goal or dream. They were individuals able to behave with exceptional versatility and grace in the more varied forms of activity. According to Thucydides, who readily admitted his speeches were only loosely based on memory, he put in Pericles' mouth three important aspects that took my attention. First, “Democracy allows men to advance because of merit instead of wealth or inherited class”. Second, “In a democracy, citizens behave lawfully while doing what they like without fear of prying eyes”. And third, “In a democracy, there is equal justice for all in private disputes”. In my personal opinion I support everything that he said and it would be great to put the theory in practice in this new globalized world. Many people argue how far Thucydides recorded Pericles’ exact words, and how far he offers rather paraphrase or even invention, is as always a matter of dispute. But something that cannot be denied, is that Pericles words were an inspiration to many people, even in this era. I read it, and I see hope, faith and motivation. But in the reality, Pericles wanted to persuade its listeners. Therefore people were going to keep fighting as he praised the sacrifices of the dead so that others would imitate them. Then where is the justice? this started to look like dangerous propaganda to me.
Lincoln’s “Gettysburg Address” and Pericles “Funeral Oration” are both speeches that clearly portray similar and diverse components.
His thoughts of being virteous had more to do with examining yourself and becoming a better person and in that way, you benifit society. He did not believe Athens to be virtuos at all, and that they relied on materail things and reputation rather than finding happiness by searching for it deep within
Athens government and military is considerably different from their neighbors. According to Pericles, Athens government is not a copy of our neighbors...
We can learn several things from the “Funeral Oration of Pericles“. Two of these things are, the Athenians respect for their warrior class and how the Athenians were exceedingly proud of their city and its customs. The Athenians respected the warrior class and placed them among the top members of their society. They were seen as the top portion of their classes. They are classified as heroes or idols. The Athenians are extremely proud of their city and its traditions. To the people of Athens their country was at the top and there was no other country that could top them off. The purpose of the funeral oration is not only to respect the departed but, but also to instill the citizen’s national pride and a passion to fight for Athens.
Spoken at the public funeral of the fallen Athenian soldiers, Pericles gave his words of remembrance in a largely indirect manner by referencing Athens. Through the assistance of Thucydides, we have a written record of the words that Pericles may have spoken over 2,400 years ago. Similar to the work from Herodotus, Pericles’ Funeral Oration is a commemoration speech by Pericles and historical documentation / journalism by Thucydides. Pericles’ indirect commemoration of the fallen is best demonstrated at 2.42: “I have dwelt upon the greatness of Athens … [it is] a higher prize … and to establish by manifest proof the merit of these men whom I am now commemorating”. Here Thucydides writes that Athens was the “higher prize” meaning that the democracy and their freedom was worth fighting for. Pericles spoke that “these men nobly fought and died; they could not bear the thought that [Athens] might be taken from them” (Thucydides, 2.41). Pericles after saying this then urges the living citizens of Athens to “toil” on the behalf of their democracy which their fallen valiantly paid for with their lives. Pericles then wraps back around to explain why speaking about Athens commemorates the fallen best – “Their loftiest praise has been already spoken. For in magnifying the city I have magnified them, and men like them whose virtues made her glorious” (Thucydides, 2.42). Therefore, by speaking of
Thucydides’ version of Pericles’ “Funeral Oration” can be read as more of an ironic rendering of Pericles’ original speech since The History of the Peloponnesian War is not just considered to be a historical account but also a “highly imaginative piece of work” in which Thucydides made characters involved in the war say what he believed they actually meant instead of what they might have originally said (Thucydides Introduction pg. x). In the “Funeral Oration”, Pericles praises certain
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.
...y from the war, as their main reason for not declaring peace. Pericles would also deny the fact that leaders of Athens are unfit for leadership, since he believes that “no subject can complain of being governed by people unfit for their responsibilities” (Pericles Funeral Oration, Perry pg. 64). Aristophanes plays The Acharnians and Lysistrata both expose leaders as corrupt and unable to do what is necessary for peace, such as the lack of negotiations by The Assembly and Lamachus in The Acharnians and the failures of men and political leaders to stop the war in Lysistrata. Overall Pericles Funeral Oration was meant to install morale, heighten spirits, and lift the Athenian people in a time of crisis. Aristophanes goal was to send a message of peace by exposing flaws in Athenian society, which I believe Pericles would not have taken kindly too during a time of 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 ...
First to glorify Athens, Pericles states in his speech, that it is a head for other city states to follow by saying, "Our constitution does not copy the laws of neighboring states; we are rather a model for others than imitators ourselves. Its administration favors the many instead of the few; this is why it is called a democracy." Pericles would continue on to say that Athenians are law abiding people. He said in his speech in the Document, "We obey the magistrates and the laws, particularly those for the protection of the injured, whether they are actually on the statute book, or belong to that code which, although unwritten, yet cannot be broken without acknowledged disgrace.
Pericles, one of the more influential political figures in Athens at that time, makes a speech that acts as a eulogy to mourn and honor fallen soldiers who were killed in the first year of the Peloponnesian War. Instead of comforting the families of the dead, he uses his speech to increase support for Athens and their ongoing war with Sparta which he convinced them to fight in the first place.
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.
It is widely known that the Athenians highly valued their warrior class, and they saw the warriors as a ring of the higher circle of the society. The Athenians were very proud of Athena and its traditions, as well. Athenian’s thought that Athena was the best, none could be better. The funeral oration was aimed to respect the fallen as well as to keep up the national pride and its passion to protect their nation. The speech was a eulogy which focused on the eminence of Athens and its predecessors. Usually a son was chosen to give the eulogy. The law required the speech to have several essential components. The speech had to concerning the lives of the deceased. At his eulogy’s end, Pericles spoke in regard to the soldiers. The speech talked about the life that the departed lived and the achievements which they gained. Pericles wanted the citizens to recall the soldiers but to forget about the tragedy that had occurred. He wanted the departed’s lives to be remembered, but not their demise. The speech helped the Athenians appreciate what their ancestors had died for and how they shou...
Pericles (495–429 BCE, whose name means "surrounded by glory") was a prominent statesman, famous orator [speaker], and general of Athens during the Golden Age of Athens. So profound was
Many of the literary, artistic and architectural works of Greece’s Golden Age still exist today and are part of Pericles' legacy. The Acropolis, though in ruins, still stands and is a symbol of modern Athens. The form of democracy championed by Pericles was built upon by the Romans and serves as the basis of modern democracy. But what made him a great man in his time were his skills and instincts as a leader in military, political, and cultural