About the Book
Pericles, Greece's greatest statesman and the leader of its Golden Age, created the Parthenon and championed democracy in Athens and beyond. Centuries of praise have endowed him with the powers of a demigod, but what did his friends, associates, and fellow citizens think of him? In Pericles: A Sourcebook and Reader, Stephen V. Tracy visits the fifth century B.C. to find out. Tracy compiles and translates the scattered, elusive primary sources relating to Pericles. He brings Athens's political atmosphere to life with archaeological evidence and the accounts of those close to Pericles, including Thucydides, Aristophanes, Herodotus, Protagoras, Sophocles, Lysias, Xenophon, Plato, and Plutarch. Readers will discover Pericles as a formidable politician, a persuasive and inspiring orator, and a man full of human contradictions.
Table of Contents
List of Passages Translated xi
List of Illustrations xv
Abbreviations and Primary Sources xvii
Preface xxi
Introduction
A Brief History of Athens in the Fifth Century 1
Chronology 8
The Life of Pericles 14
the primary sources
Pericles’ Writings 27
The Archaeological Evidence
Inscriptions and Ostraca 32
Portrait Busts 35
The Building Program on the Acropolis 40
Thucydides’ Portrait of Pericles I:
Prelude to War 45
Thucydides’ Portrait of Pericles II:
The First Campaign and the Funeral Oration 61
Thucydides’ Portrait of Pericles III:
Plague, Last Speech, and Final Tribute 79
Aristophanes and Old Comedy: Caricature and Personal Attack 96
Herodotus 109
Protagoras 116
Sophocles’ Oedipus: In the Image of Pericles
Lysias, Xenophon, and Plato
Plutarch and the Biographical Tradition
Afterword: The Legend of Pericles
Appendix: The Dryden Translation of Plutarch’s
Life of Pericles
Recommended Reading
Glossary
Index
