Perikles/Pericles

(c. 624 - 546 BCE)

Perikles, son of Xanthippos, was a Fifth Century BCE orator and politician of Athens.

Perikles is largely responsible for the transformation of Athens from a nominal democracy under the Kliesthenian constitution to a de facto, direct, democracy. He is also responsible for transforming, or highjacking (depending on your point of view), the Delian League into the short-lived Athenian Empire, and the monumental reconstruction of Athens after the Second Persian War.

The Athens of Sokrates’ youth was, in large part, a product of Perikles’ political vision.