The Age of Pericles

The war industry, combined with the Delian League's treasury, made Athens wealthy. The shrewd Pericles ensured his people's allegiance by sharing the wealth. In 453 b. c., he established pay for jurors, which made it possible for the poor to take part in the legal system just as his early reforms had opened up public offices to them. He also instituted a state-sponsored arts system, which ensured that everyone could attend the theater.

The latter move could be seen as a foreshadowing of the Roman Empire's policy of “bread and circuses,” whereby it controlled the poor by putting them on the equivalent of welfare. Pericles's aims, however, were much more noble. He believed that Athens should be an example to all of Greece, which would seek to imitate its glory—and its democratic government.

The Athenian leader sought to give that glory a physical form, and he commissioned a number of building projects.

Dozens of great structures came into being under Pericles's guidance. None was more spectacular than the magnificent Parthenon. The Parthenon, a temple to the goddess Athena, stood on the Acropolis overlooking the city. It would become as much a symbol of Greece as the Great Wall was of China.

Pericles's encouragement of the arts gave a great boost to the careers of playwrights such as Sophocles, Euripides, and Aristophanes. Philosophy flourished as well, thanks to the influence of this educated leader. The roster of influential figures in Periclean Athens, including Socrates and Herodotus (see entry) is long and glorious. Truly if any time deserved to be called a “golden age,” it was this one.