Pericles (ca. 495-429 BC) was the leading statesman of Athens for an unprecedented period and brought it to the height of its political power and its artistic achievement. The years from 446 to 429 have been called the Periclean Age.

Pericles was the son of Xanthippus, a distinguished statesman and general of aristocratic family (probably the Bouzygae), and Agariste, a niece of the famous statesman Cleisthenes, the leader of a powerful clan, the Alcmeonidae. He inherited great wealth; indeed, as a young man, he financed the costly production of Aeschylus's play The Persae in 472. Pericles received the best education available, studying music under Damon and mathematics under Zeno of Elea, a pioneer in theoretical physics.

Eminently fitted for a public career, Pericles chose to follow the example of Cleisthenes and advocate a more advanced democracy.

Champion of Radical Democracy

Pericles became prominent first in the law courts, where he prosecuted...