‘Pericles was both the best and the worst thing to happen to Athens.’ Discuss.

Classical Greece saw the zenith of florescent political, scientific, mathematical and artistic culture that
formed the fundamental attributes of Western Civilisation. Commonly labelled the Periclean Age, the
eponymous eloquent and charismatic aristocrat Pericles (462 to 430) embodied both the ‘best’ and ‘worst’
of Athens’ Golden Age in development and destruction of the Athenian Democracy and, subsequently, the
Athenian Empire. His imperial policies, specifically designed to assert dominance over Greece and
especially Sparta, would unfortunately result in the demise of Athens’ hubristic hegemon in the outbreak
of the Peloponnesian War (431 to 404).
The positives of Pericles influence over Athens was indicative of his extensive investment in massive
building programs and the arts – creating Eunomia ‘good order’ in Athens. Due to these monumental
achievements, Pericles is largely responsible for the “full development” [Lewis] of Athens and the
Hellenistic world as a whole. The gigantic and ambitious building programs he embarked on gave much
empowerment to the lower class thetes from “the quantity of goods was far greater than that which could
have been produced” [Whaples]. Due to the building programs on temples, Pericles was able to hire talented
workmen to oversee a vast developmental project of the Athenian acropolis, which after the devasting
Persian Wars, was in need of great repair. Athenian glory was made manifest by the construction of the
Odeon, the Temple of Poseidon and the iconic the Parthenon (447) built by the famous sculptors Phidias,
Ictinus and Callicrates under the leadership of Pericles. “Thanks to the massive injection of funds
masterminded by Pericles an astonishing programme produced... its massive cult statue” [Cartledge] the
breathtaking ivory and golden Athena Parthenos (447-438). It was these great enterprises that Pericles
sought to complete ultimately solidified Athens at the forefront of architectural achievement and its
hegemon over Greece and head of the Delian League. It was as a result of the subversion of the mutual
defence pact against the Persians of the Delian League that accumulated enough treasure for Athens to take
for herself (454), so the money can influence the expediential growth of Athenian imperial glory. The
building of the quintessential Patheon ultimately was symbolic of the “mutual defence pact” [Hughes]
against Persia, but became indictive to Athenian expression of imperialism. Not only did the building
programs provided for the working class to contribute to the “beautifying of [the] city” [Thucydides],
Pericles was a patron for the arts and education which flourished to great highs making Athens truly “the
school of Hellas” [Pericles]. Athens became a powerhouse of timeless philosophy, mathematics and artistic
achievements embodied by many great due to Pericles being the harbinger. Plays like Sophocles’ Antigone
and Euripides’ Medea (442) subverted form the ritualistic Dionysian entertainment to an emotionally deep
and passionate evaluation on the pollical anxieties of the day. The critical questioning of Socrates saw the
birth of rational inquiry which brought to life a new western mindset of the quest for truth. Such a step
forward in art, theatre and was of thinking was truly a drastic accomplishment in which Pericles was largely
responsible for. Overall, Pericles oversaw a massive expansion of industry and infrastructure and culture
that served as an objective to benefit the polis, making him as the best thing that happened to Athens.
Ultimately, it was Pericles success of democracy and political paradigm that paved the way for the rise of
ultimate demagoguery that will expose the failure of direct democracy. Pericles’s democracy is the
cumulation of the pragmatic progressive evolution was already ushered in throughout the Archaic period
by Dracon, Solon and Clisthenes. With the main intent to rid Athens of stasis (faction fighting), Pericles’s
saw a means to gain power which “is in the hands not of a minority but of the whole people.” [Pericles]
With the ostracism of Cimon – a lover for Sparta, the defence pact of the Delian League saw the end of an
anti-Persian policy and Epilates’ Revolution (462BCE) saw an introduction of ‘radical democracy’, in which
all important matters were voted in the Ecclesia and public figures were chosen randomly by lot. The two
reformers stanched the power away from the Aeropaus and gave it to Athens’ mass population of Thetes
and other lower-class citizens became enfranchised under Periclean democracy (450s BC) they were gifted
the ability to sit on the reformed Boule (Council of 500) and discuss all matters of importance. His election
to the leadership of Athens proceeding Epilates’ assassination (461BC) allowed for him to rule Athens’
democratic party unopposed. Credited with being the “first citizen” (Thucydides) of democratic Athens,
Pericles’ strategic use of an “injection of central funds [allowed him to] mastermind an astonishing building
programme” (Cartledge). Thetes had been becoming vitally important to the power of Athens being rowers
to the navy, and were therefore able to demand more political power, as “military power in Athens came
from the fleet, and the political power followed it” [Strauss]. However, due to this empowerment, the
Thetes in the long term would ultimately hubristically end Athens’ maritime power by the overpowered
acceptance of demagoguery. The overall motives set by Pericles was the belief that “the constitution…
made [Athens] great.” [Pericles], plays out to be both the best and the worst accepts in terms of Athenian
progress.
Conversely, at the crux of Pericles imperialistic foreign policies, demonstrates the worst of his character by
the thirst for wealth, land and ultimate hegemony. Purposefully engendering fear within Greece and
especially Sparta, Pericles’s imperialistic actions proved to be his hubris, and the worst thing he did for
Athens, sparking the occurrence of the cataclysmic Peloponnesian War (431-404), in which Athens lost.
With a sinister intent to aggravate Sparta – who traditionally always saw its self as the liberator of Greece
throughout the Archaic era being a remedy against tyrannical powers and progressive political endeavours,
the Spartans feared the progression in Athens. Under Pericles, Athens knew that by acting with “warlike
deeds … [they] acquired power,” [Pericles] and this would expose the “dark underside of democratic
achievement” [Cartledge]. Pericles’ military leadership was first seen during the Egyptian Campaign [460-
455] against Persia, in which almost the entire Athenian fleet was destroyed because of overreach. It was
from this moment forward that “Pericles… reorientated Athenian policy from conflict with Persia towards
conflict with the Spartans” [McLnerney]. Predominantly, the 9-month revolt of Samos (439 BC) oversaw
Pericles’ sending of a large fleet to Samos whereby he shifty placed a garrison on the island, took hostages
and replaced the Samian oligarchy with “a puppet democratic government” (Xenophon). Following this,
orders declared the crucifixion of ship captains and marines. The combination of these actions was a clear
message to Sparta to “beware the power of Athens” (Tritle), demonstrated by the brutal treatment of the
buffer state Megara with plans to weaken Corinth. Pericles’ ravenous behaviour began by the provocation
of a rival naval power Corinth – a significant ally of the Spartans in order to aggravate the Peloponnesian
League. With no strategy to win a full-scale war, Pericles in great fear of an impervious Spartan land invasion
on his beloved Athens, embarked on the construction of Long Walls (460 – 445), to protect the Acropolis
and the sustaining Piraeus port. Unintentionally, this would be the beginning of the end for the ambitious
Athenian empire, by his ordering of all citizens to abandon their lands and hide behind the narrow walls.
The unsanitary conditions behind the wall caused the outbreak of a plague that would kill 1/3 of Athens’
population including Pericles himself. A self-imposed blow onto himself, Pericles died with his plans
causing massive damage to Athenian power, ultimately contributing to its defeat. Pericles was the worst
thing to happen to Athens because of his military and strategic failures, and harsh forging polices.
Fundamentally, Pericles was both the best and the worst thing to happen to Athens. By contributing both
positively and negatively, he acted to develop Athenian economic growth and cultural expansion, and
elements of the political progression, however was also a negative for the downsides of imperialism , and
the military errors.