Pericles

Hello! My name is Pericles, and I was a leader in a city you may have read about in your history books: the great city of Athens in Ancient Greece. I was born around the year 495 BCE into a noble family. My father, Xanthippus, was a celebrated war hero, so I grew up wanting to serve my city, too. My childhood was filled with learning. I studied music with a teacher named Damon and philosophy with great thinkers like Anaxagoras. They taught me to listen carefully, to think deeply about the world, and to always ask questions. From a young age, I felt a deep love for Athens. I dreamed of making our city the most respected, the most beautiful, and the most powerful in the entire world.

I worked hard to earn the trust of the people, and in 461 BCE, I was elected to be a 'strategos,' which is a word that means general. But I wanted to be more than just a military leader; I wanted to be a leader for all the people. My most important idea was something called democracy. I truly believed that every citizen, not just the rich and powerful, should have a voice in how our city was governed. Before my time, it was difficult for a poor farmer or a craftsman to leave his work to serve the city. I helped pass laws that paid citizens for serving on juries or holding a public office. This meant that for the first time, everyone could afford to participate. My goal was simple: I wanted Athens to be a city ruled by the many, not just by the few.

During my time as a leader, I wanted to show the world the greatness of Athens. Years before, invaders from Persia had damaged our city, and many of our sacred buildings were in ruins. Around 447 BCE, I convinced the citizens to begin a great project to rebuild our city to be more magnificent than ever before. We started with the Acropolis, the tall, sacred hill that overlooked Athens. On its peak, we built an incredible temple to honor the goddess Athena, called the Parthenon. Its columns were grand, and its sculptures were breathtaking. I asked my dear friend, the brilliant sculptor Phidias, to oversee the art that would decorate the temple. This enormous project was about more than just beauty. It gave jobs to thousands of people—stonemasons, carpenters, artists, and laborers—making Athens a busy center for creativity and work. This period of art and learning became known as the 'Age of Pericles.'

As a leader, I knew that building with stone was important, but building hope with words was just as powerful. I often gave speeches to inspire my fellow Athenians and remind them of what we stood for. My most famous speech is now called the Funeral Oration. I delivered it in the year 431 BCE, just after a terrible war had started between Athens and our rival city, Sparta. Many of our first soldiers had been lost in battle, and people were sad and scared. I used my speech not only to honor the brave soldiers who had fallen, but to remind everyone what made Athens worth fighting for. I spoke of our freedom, our democracy, and the courage that lived in the heart of every citizen. I wanted to fill the people with hope and strength, even during such a dark and difficult time.

Legacy & Remembering
The war with Sparta was long and hard. In 430 BCE, something even more terrible happened: a plague, which was a very bad sickness, spread quickly through our crowded city. I also became ill from the plague, and my life came to an end in 429 BCE. I lived to be about 66 years old. Although my life ended during a time of sadness and war, the ideas I worked for did not. The democracy we built in Athens became a model for governments thousands of years later, inspiring countries all over the world. The beautiful Parthenon still stands on the Acropolis today, a lasting reminder of the Golden Age of Athens and the incredible things people can achieve when they work together.