{"id":2187,"date":"2026-07-31T17:48:55","date_gmt":"2026-07-31T17:48:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.hsc.edu\/drjclassics\/classics-courses-syllabi\/plutarchs-pericles\/"},"modified":"2026-07-31T17:48:55","modified_gmt":"2026-07-31T17:48:55","slug":"plutarchs-pericles","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/blogs.hsc.edu\/drjclassics\/classics-courses-syllabi\/plutarchs-pericles\/","title":{"rendered":"Plutarch’s Pericles"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Notes\nfrom Plutarch's Life of Pericles<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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by Dr.\nJanice Siegel<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Pericles\u2019 father:\nXanthippus, defeated\nKing of Persia\u2019s generals at Mycale
\nMother: Agariste, grandchild of Cleisthenes,\nresponsible for expelling Athens\u2019 last tyrants<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Pericles\u2019 mother dreamed she would\nbear a lion days before Pericles was born<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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His head is disproportionately long \u2013\ncalled \u201cOnionhead\u201d by contemporary comic authors (which is why he insisted\non having official portraits with helmet)<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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P\u2019s teachers: Zeno of\nElea, student of\nParmenides<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Most influential: Anaxagoras:<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Pericles devoted his early politicking\nto befriending the common man, for he was an aristocrat by birth and feared\nostracism from those who would fear him as a power-seeker.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Known\nfor his oratory skill<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Concerning\nthe conduct of a man in power in regard to sexual pursuits: \u201cA\ngeneral should not only have pure hands, but pure eyes.\u201d<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Pericles used the public treasury to pay\nfor diversions for the people and for jury-duty.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Thucydides (not the historian, another\none) provided the balance the Athenians sought to avoid setting up Pericles as\nan absolute ruler. It became the people\n(Pericles) versus the nobility (Thucydides).<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Things Pericles did:<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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–\u00a0\nsent out shiploads of men on nautical expeditions to improve their\nskills, found colonies (and thereby make Athens look good to her enemies), and\nrid Athens of idle men.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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-public works \u2013 Pericles\u2019 enemies\naccused him of unrightfully removing the treasury from Delos and misusing the\nother cities\u2019 donations to dress up Athens like a vain woman, prancing about\nwanting to be gawked at.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\nPericles responded: the other cities have nothing to complain about since\nAthens is indeed protecting them from the barbarians; the monuments are eternal\nproofs of the glory that is Athens; and every sector of the economy is\nbenefiting.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Pericles\u2019 idea that all members\nof the society thrive equally well: soldiers, mariners, merchants, craftsmen,\nartisans, common laborers as well as wagoners, rope-makers, leather-cutters,\u00a0\n– so the wealth of the public treasury was distributed throughout the\ndifferent populations of the city.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Phidias\n\u2013 superintendent of all building projects<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Kallicrates and Ictinus \u2013 rebuilt\n the Parthenon, destroyed by the Persian sack of Athens in 480.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Coroebus \u2013 began the Temple of\n Initiation at Eleusis and Metagenes finished it.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Odeum\n \u2013 music theater \u2013 a roofed structure<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Pericles started the tradition of\n vying for musical prize during the Panathenea in the Odeum. He paid for the\n prize and he appointed the judge.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Mnesicles:\n in five years built the Propylaia, entryway or vestibule to the Acropolis.\n (workman injured on the job was visited by Athena in a dream and he was\n healed).<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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When\nPericles\u2019 enemies publicly accused him of over-spending, Pericles asked the\npeople \u2013 they agreed. When he said that he would then take the responsibility\nfor the expenditure and put his own name on the buildings instead of the name of\nAthens, the citizens cried out that he should spend as much as he wanted!<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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After\nthe ostracism of his only real political rival (Cimon), Pericles\u2019 power\nsoared. Always the people remembered the tyrants (Plutarch tells us that\nPericles in his features rather resembled the Pesistratid family, to the chagrin\nof his enemies). Eventually, after a certain number of years (unclear), Pericles\u2019\npolitical enemies targeted those around him (says Plutarch):<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Phidias is charged with stealing the\n gold intended for the chryselephantine statue of Athena. Pericles helps him\n disprove this charge (they remove and weigh the gold). Then Phidias is\n accused of sneaking in likenesses of himself and of Pericles onto the battle\n scene with the Amazons on Athena\u2019s shield. Phidias is sent to jail, where\n he dies.
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Aspasia, Pericles\u2019 courtesan, is\n accused of impiety for employing women above the status of slave (acquitted\n of all charges)
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Anaxagoras (natural philosopher\n tutor to Pericles) tried for disputing the existence of the gods (Socrates\n also mentions him \u2013 that he suggested that the sun was not the god Apollo,\n but a white-hot rock about the size of the Peloponnesus.) \u2013 Pericles\n feared he would be found guilty, so abetted his flight from Athens.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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The\nwar begins not soon thereafter, and Pericles takes the people within the walls\nof the city. The plague hits after that. Plutarch suggests that because Pericles\nloses his legitimately born sons to the plague, this is the reason he repeals\nthe law against bastards becoming citizens \u2013 for he feared that he would\nbequeath nothing to posterity. Ironically, it was Pericles who orginally drew up\nthe law to limit Athenian citizenship to those whose parents on both sides were\nalready citizens, causing much hardship at the time.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Plutarch\nconcludes his Life of Pericles by stating that Pericles built no less than nine\nmemorials to the honor of Athens.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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top<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":2167,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2187","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.hsc.edu\/drjclassics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2187","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.hsc.edu\/drjclassics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.hsc.edu\/drjclassics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.hsc.edu\/drjclassics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.hsc.edu\/drjclassics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2187"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.hsc.edu\/drjclassics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2187\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.hsc.edu\/drjclassics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2167"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.hsc.edu\/drjclassics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2187"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}