PERICLES: THIS IS ABOUT DEMOCRACY, THEN AND NOW

Pericles, Περικλῆς

Pericles (Περικλῆς Periklēs, c. 495–429 BC) was a prominent and influential Greek statesman, orator and general of Athens during the Golden Age, specifically the time between the Persian and Peloponnesian wars. He was descended, through his mother, from the powerful and historically influential Alcmaeonid family. 

Pericles had such a profound influence on Athenian society that Thucydides, a contemporary historian, acclaimed him as the first citizen of Athens. Pericles turned the Delian League into an Athenian empire, and led his countrymen during the first two years of the Peloponnesian War. The period during which he led Athens, roughly from 461 to 429 BC, is sometimes known as the Age of Pericles, though the period thus denoted can include times as early as the Persian Wars, or as late as the next century. 

Pericles promoted the arts and literature; it is principally through his efforts that Athens holds the reputation of being the educational and cultural center of the ancient Greek world. He started an ambitious project that generated most of the surviving structures on the Acropolis, including the Parthenon. This project beautified and protected the city, exhibited its glory, and gave work to the people. Pericles also fostered Athenian democracy to such an extent that critics call him a populist. Pericles' most visible legacy can be found in the literary and artistic works of the Golden Age, most of which survive to this day.

More information: History.com

The Acropolis, though in ruins, still stands and is a symbol of modern Athens. Paparrigopoulos wrote that these masterpieces are sufficient to render the name of Greece immortal in our world. In politics, Victor L. Ehrenberg argues that a basic element of Pericles' legacy is Athenian imperialism, which denies true democracy and freedom to the people of all but the ruling state. The promotion of such an arrogant imperialism is said to have ruined Athens. Pericles and his expansionary policies have been at the center of arguments promoting democracy in oppressed countries.

Other analysts maintain an Athenian humanism illustrated in the Golden Age. The freedom of expression is regarded as the lasting legacy deriving from this period. Pericles is lauded as the ideal type of the perfect statesman in ancient Greece and his Funeral Oration is nowadays synonymous with the struggle for participatory democracy and civic pride. 

What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, 

but what is woven into the lives of others.  

Pericles