These were evidence of his freedom and importance, and so a source of pride. democracy the best source is the series of panegyrics on Athens. As Thucydides recorded with clinical detail, people suddenly felt their heads begin to burn, their eyes redden, their tongues and mouths bleed. . Pericles also elevated Athenss role within the Delian League, a naval alliance of Greek city-states unified to fight the Persians. THUCYDIDES gives Pericles very little to say in his Funeral Oration about the political institutions of Athenian democracy. Pericles Funeral Oration in Depth. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). Pericles' funeral oration was a speech written by Thucydides and delivered by Pericles for his history of the Peloponnesian War. That is why Pericles could make this extraordinary demand on them when the great war came: You must every day look upon the power of your city and become her lovers [erastai] and when you have understood her greatness consider that the men who achieved it were brave and honorable and knew what was necessary when the time came for action. [32], , ' . 13. His approach was an unusual way to give a funeral oration, and as such it has been immortalized and is still deeply valued. Significantly he begins recounting the speech by saying: " ", i.e. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/pericles-funeral-oration-thucydides-version-111998. The Spartans faced this fundamental problem of the polis in its sharpest form. Monoson, Sara (2002). Democracy favors the many instead of the few and Pericles believes justice is achieved when citizens follow those laws in which they have the freedom to participate in public life. It rejected the leveling principle pursued by both ancient Sparta and modern socialism, which requires the suppression of those rights. But the peace of Athens was not to last. . His selection as public orator was thus a tribute to his stature, reputation, and political power. In these ways our city deserves to be admired (2.39). He gave a speech in Athens, a public speech, honoring the many warriors who were killed in battle after the first year of the Peloponnesian War. Leading up to this oration, the people of Athens, including those from the countryside whose land was being pillaged by their enemies, were kept in crowded conditions within the walls of Athens. By sharing in the common responsibility he was able to develop powers and aspects of himself that allowed him to become more fully human than he could have on his own. Thucydides fervently supported Periclesbut was less enthusiastic about the institution of democracy. It was given in the 5th-century by Pericles. The liberality of which Pericles spoke also extended to Athens' foreign policy: "We throw open our city to the world, and never by alien acts exclude foreigners from any opportunity of learning or observing, although the eyes of an enemy may occasionally profit by our liberality"[16] Yet Athens' values of equality and openness do not, according to Pericles, hinder Athens' greatness, indeed, they enhance it, "advancement in public life falls to reputations for capacity, class considerations not being allowed to interfere with meritour ordinary citizens, though occupied with the pursuits of industry, are still fair judges of public mattersat Athens we live exactly as we please, and yet are just as ready to encounter every legitimate danger."[17]. Pericles was not the founder or inventor of democracy, but he came to its leadership only a half-century after its invention, when it was still fragile. Thucydides, who wrote his Periclean speech for his History of the Peloponnesian War, readily admitted that his speeches were only loosely based on memory and shouldn't be taken as a verbatim report. Please select which sections you would like to print: Professor of Ancient History, University of Oxford, 198594. he sponsored the play Persians by the great tragic playwright Aeschylus. Plus: each Wednesday, exclusively for subscribers, the best books of the week. In 430429 B.C.E., Athens was devastated by a mysterious epidemic, which reared its head again a few years later. Pericles stirring funeral oration is among the most famous passages of Thucydides. How could the ordinary man achieve kleos? In the face of this reputation, and in the teeth of its critics, who charged democracy especially with indiscipline and lawlessness, Pericles makes the claim for a higher obedience to law than was characteristic of the Spartans. Gill, N.S. It was a vision that exalted the individual within the political community not by what it gave him but by what it expected of him. Judgment was rendered according to their laws, once again, by courts made up of citizens. The style is deliberately elaborate, in accord with the stylistic preference associated with the sophists. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Cond Nast. It depends. Thucydides' funeral speech about democracy delivered by Pericles. In 431 B.C., Pericles urged the popular assembly to declare war against Sparta. The new democracies will, therefore, need leaders in the Periclean mold, leaders who know that the aim and character of true democracy should be to elevate their citizens to the highest attainable level, and that cutting down the greatest to assuage the envy of the least is the way of tyranny. Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. Next came coughing, stomach pain, diarrhea, and vomiting of every kind of bile that has been given a name by the medical profession. The skin turned reddish with pustules and ulcers, while the stricken plunged into the citys water tanks trying to slake an unquenchable thirstpossibly contaminating the water supply. The Funeral Oration was delivered during a war that was clearly going to continue for some time. "Pericles' Funeral Oration - Thucydides' Version." An even greater substitution for the glories of war could be found in the exercise by each Athenian of his political duties. More fully, and therefore at greater length, Pericles did the same thing. But even in Herodotus tale such glory is for the rare individual who had both the ability and the opportunity to perform a great deed. Updates? Does eating close to bedtime make you gain weight? Pericles' mother was related to the controversial noble family of Alcmaeniode. By John G. Zumbrunnen. Approaching 50, he began a relationship withAspasiaofMiletus. A seasoned, hard-bitten warrior, he was, for once, at a loss: Words indeed fail one when one tries to give a general picture of this disease; and as for the suffering of individuals, they seemed almost beyond the capacity of human nature to endure. Thucydides himself got the plague but survived, as he coolly notes in passing. In a battle between the Athenians and their neighbors near Eleusis, he came to the aid of his fellow-citizens, turned the enemy to rout, and died most nobly. Pericles' funeral oration has exercised a permanent fascination on the political imagination of the West. As for poverty, no one need be ashamed to admit it, the real shame is in not taking . An Aerial View of New York City During a Pandemic. It limited the scope and power of the state, leaving enough space for individual freedom, privacy, and the human dignity of which they are a crucial part. The story of the Athenians in the time of Pericles suggests that the creation and survival of democracy requires leadership of a high order. Pericles. . And in his last recorded speech in 430, although its intention was to persuade the Athenians to keep fighting, he said: For those who are prospering and who have a choice, going to war is folly (2.61.1). What we can learn from Chernobyl's strays. The speech begins by praising the custom of the public funeral for the dead, but criticises the inclusion of the speech, arguing that the "reputations of many brave men" should "not be imperilled in the mouth of a single individual". He advanced the foundations. Only someone of Pericles intelligence and integrity, Thucydides wrote, could respect the liberty of the people and at the same time hold them in check. His death left Athenian democracy in the hands of self-serving scoundrels such as Alcibiades, who later promoted an oligarchic coup, and bellicose demagogues such as Cleon, whom Thucydides scorned as remarkable among the Athenians for the violence of his character.. There, far from exercising a jealous surveillance over each other, we do not feel called upon to be angry with our neighbour for doing what he likes"[15] These lines form the roots of the famous phrase "equal justice under law." Because of a law he supported restricting Atheniancitizenshipto those of Athenian parentage on both sides, marriage was impossible. 208p. [20] He praised Athens for its attributes that stood out amongst their neighbours such as its democracy when he elaborates that trust is justly placed on the citizens rather than relying only on the system and the policy of the city. The words of Pericles clearly show the praise for Athenian democracy and its superiority to others as a model. They did not believe that man was entirely trivial, a mere bit of dust in the vast Cosmic order, such that his passing was a thing of no account. [10] David Cartwright describes it as "a eulogy of Athens itself". Since the time of Homer the Greek thirst for glory had centered on brave deeds in war: What would replace these in a world at peace? Pericles Funeral Oration in Depth. In contrast, Pericles, via his funeral oration speech, believes that democracy is better ruled by many rather than few. Prior to the plague's devastation, Athenians were already dying as a result of the war. An examination of the few successful democracies in history suggests that they need to meet three conditions if they are to flourish. The older ethical tradition came chiefly from the Homeric epic, where the esteemed values were those of heroic individuals. The Athenians gave him a public burial on the spot where he fell [only the men who died at Marathon received the same extraordinary honor] (1.30). There are several different English translations of the speech available. It was written by the Greek philosopher Thucydides (460-395 B.C.E. left his mark on the world in far more ways than the iconic Acropolis that still defines the skyline of Athens. Most of those who have spoken here before me have commended the lawgiver who added this oration to our other funeral customs. He was the son of the politician Xanthippus and Agariste. Its ideas are still important for people living in democractic nations today. Athenians were already packed into the city as a wartime measure, and frightened people fleeing the countryside crowded it even further, creating conditions we now know are ripe for contagion. Politicians in search of scapegoats would be wise to recall Pericles, who said, before the plague, What I fear is not the enemys strength, but our own mistakes.. Cookies collect information about your preferences and your devices and are used to make the site work as you expect it to, to understand how you interact with the site, and to show advertisements that are targeted to your interests. He advanced the foundations of democracy and governed during Athenss Golden Age, when the arts, architecture, and philosophyas well as Athens itselfreached new heights. Work began in 447 B.C. Pericles gave the speech at the end of the first year of the Peloponnesian war (431 B.C.E.). How to see the Lyrid meteor shower at its peak, 6 unforgettable Italy hotels, from Lake Como to Rome, A taste of Rioja, from crispy croquettas to piquillo peppers, Trek through this stunning European wilderness, Land of the lemurs: the race to save Madagascar's sacred forests, See how life evolved at Australias new national park. Pericles approved payment for jury duty and for soldiers, sailors, and administrators. The following excerpt is from a speech known as "The Funeral Oration," delivered by the Athenian general and politician Pericles in 431 BCE. Silence and Democracy: Athenian Politics in Thucydides' History. Like Pericles' Funeral Oration, Cleon's analysis of democracy becomes most interesting when it gives its author's view of the basis of the 11 Thuc. This newfound behavior may offer a clue to how these reptiles will respond to a warming planet. The Athenian democracy, Pericles asserts, far from reducing all to a low common level, raises all its citizens to the level of noblemen by asking them to take part in political life and so to control their own destiny. His position rested on his continual reelection to the generalship and on hisprestige, based, according to Thucydides, on his intelligence and incorruptibility. The policy of war with Persia was abandoned and a formal peace probably made. Excerpt from Funeral Speech for Athenian War Dead Given in the first year of the Peloponnesian War 431/430 B.C. Unauthorized use is prohibited. The French and American revolutions extended citizenship more generously than in Greece, ultimately excluding only children from political participation. In the real world, however, no one would adopt that demanding and perverse way of life except in the unique circumstances that brought it to Sparta. Homeric virtues and values, therefore, were worldly and personal. Corrections? He gave this speech during a funeral for Athenian soldiers who died in the first year of the brutal Peloponnesian War against Sparta, Athens's chief rival. Instead, we put our trust not in secret weapons, but in our own courage when we are called upon to act. 6th ed., vol. to turn the rocky hill known as the Acropolis into a breathtaking temple complex. Pericles begins by praising the dead, as the other Athenian funeral orations do, by regard the ancestors of present-day Athenians (2.36.12.36.3), touching briefly on the acquisition of the empire. You can find out more about our use, change your default settings, and withdraw your consent at any time with effect for the future by visiting Cookies Settings, which can also be found in the footer of the site. 3.38.4. Critics also saw it as a special failure of the Athenian constitution that it did not put a common stamp of virtue on all the citizens, as the Spartan constitution tried to do, and as many Greeks thought proper. Alcohol-free bars, no-booze cruises, and other tools can help you enjoy travel without the hangover. We are superior in this way, too, that we are the most daring in what we undertake at the same time as we are the most thoughtful before going about it, while with others it is ignorance that brings boldness and thought that makes them hesitate. Yet Thucydides swiftly dismissed such speculation. For the whole world is the burial place for famous men; not only does the epitaph inscribed on monuments in their native country commemorate them, but in lands not their own the unwritten memory, more of their spirit even than of what they have done, lives on within each person. [14] This amounts to a focus on present-day Athens; Thucydides' Pericles thus decides to praise the war dead by glorifying the city for which they died. Many Athenians blamed the calamity on their Spartan enemies, spreading dark rumors of poisoned reservoirs. Highlights from the week in culture, every Saturday. Through such a display he hoped to win the kind of fame that would gain him immortality as the memory of his great deeds passed on through the generations, sung and embellished by bards like Homer. . The characteristics of Athenian democracy as presented by Pericles in his funeral oration are that it is an ideal democracy, that it is animated by a shared sense of civic virtue, and that in it . Monarchy and different forms of despotism, on the other hand, have gone on for millennia. Pericles' Funeral Oration - Thucydides' Version. They were a very small minority of the total population over which they ruled. Here Pericles has identified a critical element of his vision for Athens: its commitment to reason and intelligence. Surviving the disease, he carefully set down the symptoms, knowledge of which will enable it to be recognized, if it should ever break out again. His ancient empirical analysis of catastrophe offers a jot of hope, if not wonder: for as long as there have been plagues, there have been people, scared but tenacious, using reason to try to learn from them. This new faith will be especially hard to instill in societies that have learned to be cynical about the use of political idealism. From artistry to politics, ancient Greece left a considerable impression on world history. For Athenians, the individual and familial values sung by Homer remained vital and attractive; yet their polis needed a Spartan commitment and devotion to meet the challenge of the Persian invasions, of the acquisition of the empire, and of the jealousy of Sparta and her allies. In the Athens of Pericles, however, the general prosperity and payment for public service gave the average man a degree of leisure unknown in other states. Socrates and Pericles, two of these philosophers, had polarizing opinions about the city-state and its citizens. Near the start of the Peloponnesian War, a plague swept the city. left his mark on the world in far more ways than the iconic Acropolis that still defines the skyline of Athens. All rights reserved. We can outline the ideology behind democracy from his speech. Around 449 B.C., the Delian League signed the Peace of Callias, which ended nearly 50 years of fighting with the Persians and ushered in two decades of peace. Some were acquired by effort; others were simply a gift of irrational fate. Pericles was born into the first generation able to use the new weapon of the popular vote against the old power of family politics. Twenty-five hundred years later we remember him and his fellow-Athenians precisely because of their devotion to this great civic endeavor. Often regarded as the greatest ruler of Athens and even all of Greece, Pericles fostered the famous democracy of Greece and supervised countless theater, statue, and infrastructure building projects. In 1985, a New England Journal of Medicine article argued that it was a combination of influenza and staphylococcus, dubbed the Thucydides syndrome. A 1994 article in the American Journal of Epidemiology rejected that diagnosis, proposing, instead, typhus, anthrax, or perhaps a potentially explosive respiratory agent.. Our form of government does not enter into rivalry with the institutions of others. Beyond those advantages, its early champions tried to show that the polis was necessary for civilized life, and therefore deserved the highest sacrifice. That conception ran counter to Greek experience, which had always been full of turbulence and warfare. Why Was Athens Defeated? Although all the men of the Spartiate class were called homoioi (peers), the kings had special privileges, and there was a class of noblemen distinct from the others. . That development transformed the character of Athenian democracy and society; lower-class Athenians (called thetes) could now participate as fully as citizens with property. Pericles. The first known date in his life is 472 bce, when he paid for the production of the playwright Aeschylus Persian trilogy. The earliest is known as the Funeral Oration of Pericles. He would not be surprised to find his book being read today, during the coronavirus lockdown. For they gave their lives for the common good. Gill, N.S. Democracys critics also pointed to a perverted individualism that was called liberty but was really license and lawlessness. But the most original aspect of Pericles vision for Athens was its expectation of an enduring peace. . The crisis had only just begun. Among those who died from this plague were Pericles and two of his sons. She has been featured by NPR and National Geographic for her ancient history expertise. Gill, N.S. Most of what we know about the plague comes from the brilliant Athenian historian Thucydides, widely viewed by classicists as the single best source on Athens in the age of Pericles. Pericles: the democrat Traditionally, Pericles was regarded by historians as a great democrat. ThoughtCo, Jul. Most died after about a week. Pericles incorporates obviously corrupt characters that contrast . That if anyone should ask, they should look at their final moments when they gave their lives to their country and that should leave no doubt in the mind of the doubtful. America was a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Victory would mean a new birth of freedom, and would ensure that government of the people, by the people, and for the people, shall not perish from the earth. The fallen soldiers purpose was to preserve a Constitution and a way of life that was unique and worthy of sacrifice. He even asks the gods to aid the enemy so that he may gain vengeance against Agamemnon because, as Achilles himself says, he did no honor to the best of the Achaeans.. Pericles was an Athenian statesman. The theory of democracy Democratic ideas from Pericles to Rawls Pericles. Rats invaded paradise. The upper classes certainly had no prejudice against foreign marriages; the lower classes may well have had more, and, on the whole, it is possible to view Pericles here as championing exclusivist tendencies against immigrants who might break down the fabric of Athenian society. In a democracy, citizens behave lawfully while doing what they like without fear of prying eyes. Millennia later, the plague reminds us that the legacy of the eternal wonder of Athens contains within it a cautionary tale: the failure of democratic society to cope with a lethal epidemic. Therefore, they were willing to run risks in its defense, make sacrifices on its behalf, and restrain their passions and desires to preserve it. The oration articulates ancient democratic theory, and the picture of democracy it describes serves as a model for democratic states even today.1 In a seminal piece of work, Clifford Orwin has argued in his book, The Humanity of Thucydides that Pericles' third speech, delivered to the Athenian populace after the outbreak of the plague represents Herodotus tells a story, metaphorically true even if historically dubious, in which Solon gave some answers. STDs are at a shocking high. Support for Democratic Institutions: Pericles was a strong advocate for democracy and supported the . To revisit this article, select My Account, thenView saved stories, To revisit this article, visit My Profile, then View saved stories. The bustling main thoroughfare was the Panathenaic Way. In the climax of his praise of Athens, Pericles declares: "In short, I say that as a city we are the school of Hellas; while I doubt if the world can produce a man, who, where he has only himself to depend upon, is equal to so many emergencies, and graced by so happy a versatility as the Athenian. Why did Pericles think Athens could live in peace after so many years of continuous fighting? "For the love of honor alone is ever young, and not riches, as some say, but honor is the delight of men when they are old and useless." - Pericles, 'Pericles' Funeral Oration'. He gave a speech in Athens, a public speech, honoring the many warriors who were killed in battle after the first year of the Peloponnesian War. He says that Athens's democracy ensures justice for all its citizens but also encourages excellence in individuals. In 451 or 450 Pericles carried a law confining Athenian citizenship to those of Athenian parentage on both sides. Ancient Philosophy. His father, Xanthippus, a typical member of this generation, almost certainly of an old family, began his political career by a dynastic marriage into the controversial family of the Alcmaeonids. This ordinary woman hid Anne Frankand kept her story alive, This Persian marvel was lost for millennia. Pericles. "[18] Finally, Pericles links his praise of the city to the dead Athenians for whom he is speaking, "for the Athens that I have celebrated is only what the heroism of these and their like have made hernone of these men allowed either wealth with its prospect of future enjoyment to unnerve his spirit, or poverty with its hope of a day of freedom and riches to tempt him to shrink from danger. Greeks deprived of the political life felt the loss keenly. Far from eulogizing Pericles in the Funeral Oration, Pericles is subtly depicted as a tyrant, a demagogue, a despot who became a despot by his exploitation of the erotic character of humansan erotic character which the Athenians unleashed in the Persian Wars and then unleashed over the Mediterranean in a vain and tyrannical bid for an empire. Pericles. They excluded money, the arts and sciences, philosophy, aesthetic pleasures, and the life of the mind in general, for all these things might foster individualism and detract from devotion to the polis. We regard wealth as something to be properly used, rather than as something to boast about. A woman's greatest glory is to be little talked about by men, whether for good or ill. Why was Pericles talking about democracy during this speech? Thus, choosing to die resisting, rather than to live submitting, they fled only from dishonour"[19] The conclusion seems inevitable: "Therefore, having judged that to be happy means to be free, and to be free means to be brave, do not shy away from the risks of war". The rewards conferred by these aristocratic virtues are precisely those sought by the epic heroes: greatness, power, honor, fame. The historian Thucydides admired him profoundly and refused to criticize him. The catastrophe was so overwhelming that men, not knowing what would happen next to them, became indifferent to every rule of religion or of law, Thucydides wrote. The Lydian ruler Croesus, the richest man in the world, expecting to hear his own name, asked the Athenian sage, Who was the happiest of mortals? And with the spectre of mortality looming at all times, they lived only for the pleasure of the moment and everything that might conceivably contribute to that pleasure.
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