Pericles was born in 495 BC in Athens, Greece. He was born into a wealthy family. His father was Xanthippus, and his mother was Agariste. His father was an Athenian general and statesman, so it is said that Pericles gained an understanding of the city and its people from his father. When he was younger his father made sure he had a great education. He learned music from the tutelage of Damon. He also learned math from the theoretical physicist Zeno of Elea. Pericles was a great leader of Athens and the people of the city thought so as well. He strived to make Athens a better place with more peace, and he encouraged education which helped Athens become even better. Pericles should be most remembered by his political career, military achievements, and the reforms he made for Athens. …show more content…
He first entered into politics in 470 BC. He entered into politics by joining the Assembly. The Assembly was the opportunity for male citizens to say what was on their minds and to exercise their votes concerning the government of their city. Upon joining the Assembly, Pericles supported major reform of the Athenian constitution and was outspoken about his hostility towards Sparta (Biography.com Editors). Cimon, who was the conservative Athenian leader at the time, wanted to remain friendly with Sparta, but he was soon exiled. Once Cimon was gone, Pericles saw a chance to become leader of Athens, and he began organizing institutions and taking charge. Many people saw how good of a leader he was and how he cared for the city, so they elected him leader in 461
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.
To continue, another important funeral oration is by Lysias, speech writer in Ancient Greece. The speech intends to re-count the Athenians who died in the Corinthian war. Most of these speeches were usually delivered in Athens. The Corinthian War occurred from 395 BC to 387 BC, setting Sparta against an alliance of the allied states of, Thebes, Athens, Corinth, and Argos, who were originally supported by Persia. The cause of the war was a local fight in northwest Greece in which Thebes and Sparta to interfered. However, the real cause that led to the war was the opposition concerning Sparta triggered by that city's colonialism in central along with northern Greece. Lysias starts out by saying that he believes that people who are present at
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.
As a leader, Odysseus was a failure, because of the unnecessary death of his crew. Odysseus would not be considered a strong leader because he did not try to help his crew, he ignored the issues he faced. When trying to defeat enemies, such as the Cyclops, he became cocky and inconsiderate to his crew and himself which could have got him in trouble, then he was not being truthful to his men. Odysseus was not a strong leader and ultimately contributed to the destruction of his own men because he was not careful of how he was interacting with his enemies and not respecting his crew, by not being honest with them.
First similarity we can discuss between Pericles and Odyssey is, at some point in their stories, they were both a castaway, meaning, they both found themselves in a place where they had no power nor shelter. Pericles, who ran away from king Antiochus, lost his pride and status when he found himself surrounded by people from lower classes. He was wet, angry and had no where to go: “Wash 'd me from shore to shore, and left me breath nothing to think on but ensuing death”. What we can analyze from this quote is that Pericles feels kind of betrayed by how bad his life turned out at the moment. We as a reader can think that this might be indeed the worst thing that could happen to Pericles, a prince. We can sympathize with him. It is a state of
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...
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.
The oath of Plataea no longer seemed necessary, and a popular Athenian politician, Pericles, began advances to persuade the Athenians to rebuild the temples of Athens. Pericles wanted to discuss rebuilding the temples and guarding the oceans with the other states in the Delian League. Howeve... ... middle of paper ... ... after so many violent wars, their city was still here.
Although, Pericles was originally elected as a strategos and was only expected to serve one term his popularity led him to be re-elected multiple times. His take on the government brought new economic stability to Athens, and benefited its people. Some may have thought that he was greedy liar, but they hadn't considered the fact that unlike other leaders and politicians of the time he never excepted gifts from the aristocracy in exchange for favors. He made sure that all government officials were payed for their jobs. He also allowed all citizens of Athens which was about 20% of the population, to participate in the government and politics through voting, which was more than any other civilization in the ancient world. He spoke straight, in fact it was his talent as a speaker that impressed people the most. His talent as a speaker got people to agree to many of his proposals. One of these many proposals was to strengthen the Athenian military mainly its
In Democracy in America, Alexis de Tocqueville writes that, “equality of conditions is the fundamental fact from which all others seem to be derived” in America. With the Gettysburg Address, President Abraham Lincoln rededicates America to this fundamental creed, holding the Declaration of Independence’s claim that “all men are created equal” as the nation’s ideological foundation. Lincoln’s speech evokes Pericles’s Funeral Oration, which similarly flaunts equality as the bedrock of Athens. By linking the two speeches and states, Lincoln expands America’s national duty in demanding that the country provide an example to the world like Athens. Lincoln uses this duty as a reason to continue the war effort, following Pericles’s example of protreptikon. Most importantly, the linkage draws a contrast between the two states: Athenian exceptionalism is based on realized cultural values, while Lincoln’s American exceptionalism is purely doctrinal. In comparing the two, Lincoln displays that America must follow through on past intentions in order to realize its greatness.
However, in regard to the matter of empire, Socrates criticism of Pericles’ instigation of lack of self restraint is unfair in that Pericles cautions the people of Athens that, while pursuing war, they should abstain from endeavoring to expand their empire further. During his discussion with Callicles, Socrates describes a metaphorical scene in which two men have jars and the man who represents self-restraint stops filling his jar before it overflows and is content, while the other man who represents self-indulgence must continually attempt to contain the liquid in his flawed, cracked jars to prevent his discontentment (493e). In this metaphor, Socrates denounces self-indulgence by illustrating that in attempts to avoid suffering through self-indulgence,
Colonialism has a severely negative impact on those being affected due to unknown cultures and systems being infiltrated in their country. In the first chapter of “The Complete Persepolis” by Marjane Satrapi, the author starts off with the Islamic Revolution and the changes it brought to her immediate surroundings. This reminds me of colonialism and the changes it brings to the colonized country. Colonialism started with the expedition of the Portuguese and Spanish to discover new wealth. Since then, the drastic after effects of colonialism are still felt today by the affected group. In the 20th century, colonialism plays a part in why some cultural groups are the way they are today. In conclusion, the change the Islamic Revolution did to Marjane’s immediate surroundings is similar to how colonialism affected the colonized countries.
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 ...
“I do believe and hero is a person that can be knocked down. A failure isn’t a person who gets knocked down; a failure is a person who stays down, and to me, the great heroes take the beating, get knocked down and stand back up again. Perseus is defined as one of the great heroes in literature, so you gotta take that on board.” Said Sam Worthington talking about the hero Perseus. Perseus was the best greek hero. He slayed Medusa, he saved Andromeda from a sea monster, and his own grandfather put him and Danae, his mom, in a chest and threw him into the sea when he was a baby!