The "glory that was Greece" reached its height in the 5th century BC, in
Athens, under the leadership of the statesman Pericles. He opened Athenian
democracy to the ordinary citizen, he built the magnificent temples and
statues on the Acropolis, and he created the Athenian empire. Pericles was
first elected strategos, or general, in 458. Generals were elected yearly
to devise and carry out the strategy necessary to manage the affairs of
state at home and abroad. Pericles won reelection frequently for about 30
years. In a time of kings and tyrants as rulers, his policy at home was to
place the state in the hands of the whole body of citizens under the rule
of law. The Assembly made the laws, the Council of 500 executed them, and
popular courts judged those who broke them. About 451 a law restricting
Athenian citizenship to those of Athenian parentage on both sides was
passed with Pericles' support. About this time the war with Persia finally
ended.
The Delian League, a confederation of Greek
city-states, had been formed against Xerxes and the Persians. Each of the
states was assessed according to its ability to pay. Some of the larger
islands, such as Naxos, were able to contribute their own ships, but most
could not. Instead they contributed money, and Athens built the ships in
its shipyards and recruited crews. Pericles increased the size of the navy
and instituted payment of wages to crewmen. In 454 the treasury of the
league was transferred from Delos to Athens. Pericles used the defense
money to rebuild the temples of the gods that had been destroyed by the
Persians in 480. Pericles argued that the allies were paying for their
defense and, if that were assured, Athens did not have to account for how
the money was spent. In 447 work started on the Parthenon, and the
sculptor Phidias began work on the statue of Athena.
Pericles realized his
ambition to make Athens, "the queen of Hellas," not only the most
beautiful but the most powerful of the Greek states. He lived also to see
the states of the Peloponnesus, under Sparta's leadership, rise against
Athens' overgrown power in the Peloponnesian War. The closing years of his
life were times of storm and trouble. While Athens was besieged by the
enemy outside the walls, a terrible plague raged within. For the first
time Pericles fell from popular favor and was deposed from office. He was
even fined 50 talents on a charge of embezzlement. Only a few weeks later
the people repented and reinstated him with greater powers than before.
But weakness from an attack of plague killed Pericles the following
autumn.
