Pericles Funeral Oration

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What is Pericles Trying to Accomplish in His Funeral Oration? When Pericles delivers his funeral oration he is trying to accomplish two tasks. He is fulfilling an Athenian duty, and he is encouraging the people of Athens to support the war. It is traditional for a chosen representative to give a speech after the first soldiers to die in a war are buried (Pelo. War B2.34). Pericles insists that he doesn’t agree with the custom, arguing that the honor of a fallen soldier shouldn’t be judged on a single speech (Pelo. War B2.35). However, because it is traditional, he proceeds with his speech anyway. His second task, and his primary purpose in giving this speech, is to encourage the people of Athens to support the war campaign. In trying to accomplish

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