The first year of fighting between Athens and Sparta is drawing to a close. As is customary during war, Athens holds a public funeral to both celebrate and mourn their fallen soldiers. Such ceremonies typically featured an oration given by a respected Athenian – with this year’s coming from renowned statesmen Pericles. Previous orations had focused on celebrating the Athenian military by recounting their trials and accomplishments. Pericles decided to depart from this convention, believing it was no longer novel, nor necessary, “That part of our history which tells of the military achievements which gave us our several possessions, or of the ready valor with which either we or our fathers stemmed the tide of Hellenic or foreign …show more content…
Pericles takes time to laud democracy as a form of government. He believes the division of political power equally amongst citizens inevitably leads to laws that benefit the Athenian people as a whole. This in turn increase overall equality, and by extension, social mobility. Such a government is a just government in the eyes of Pericles, and thus, a shining example of Athenian superiority. “[Athens’] administration favors the many instead of the few; this is why it is called a democracy. If we look to the laws, they afford equal justice to all in their private differences; if no social standing, advancement in public life falls to reputation for capacity, class considerations not being allowed to interfere with merit; nor again does poverty bar the way, if a man is able to serve the state, he is not hindered by the obscurity of his condition.” (2.37.1).
Though a democratic government is great in theory, without educated and capable voters it’s potentially inefficient and incompetent. However, Athenian democracy thrives due to an informed public. Accordingly, so does the society it governs. “Our public men have, besides politics, their private affairs to attend to, and our ordinary citizens, though occupied with the pursuits of industry, are still fair judges of public matters; for, unlike any other nation, regarding him who takes no part in these duties not as unambitious but as useless, we Athenians are able to judge at all events if we cannot
The freedom which we enjoy in our government extends also to our ordinary life” (Pericles’ Funeral Oration, Thucydides). In other words, it doesn’t matter what your social rank is, if you are a citizen of Athens, you have a right (and duty) to serve in the government. This is known as a direct democracy today, and it is where we, citizens of the United States, took inspiration for our current system of government. Pericles is right to praise the city-state in this regard, as its legacy still has effect on the world millenniums after its time.
“Because of the greatness of our city the fruits of the whole earth flow in upon us; so that we enjoy the goods of other countries as freely as our own.” First it can clearly be noted that Pericles is talking on behalf of the city-state of Athens, rather than on behalf of himself. This is demonstrated by his use of “ us”, “our” and “we” signifying the democracy of Athens as a whole. Secondly, Pericles continues to demonstrate a great deal of pride. He is acknowledging the success and excellence of Athens and uses a metaphor to describe the result of Athens’ greatness when he says “the fruits of the whole earth flow in upon us”. He goes on to say that “…. so that we enjoy the goods of other countries as freely as our own.” This is important, because Pericles is using this statement to argue that there is no need to change the style of government Athens has. Furthermore he is using logos and logical reasoning as if to say: Athens is doing great, and we are reaping the benefits of other countries as a result of the greatness of Athens. Why should Athens change the system of government when it favors everyone and is being carried out successfully?
Pericles continues even further, explaining that this sacrifice was an example of Athenian greatness. His speech discusses further that Athenians would rather die resisting than to live submitting. They fled only from dishonour but never from their enemies intent on destroying them. Pericles words further praise there brave soldiers who perished in battle. Pericles goes on to say that Athenians vengeance upon their enemies was to be desired more than any personal blessings. He says that war with Athens’ enemies was to be the most glorious of hazards. They had accepted the honorable risk again and died a glorious death. He conveys again to the Athenians citizens that destroying their enemies was the highest honor an Athenians could hope to obtain. Pericles encourages the audience to live up to the standards set by their fallen Athenians. Pericles offered his comfort but didn’t express condolences to the families of the fallen who were present in the crowds.
A reading of Thucydides’, Pericles’ Funeral Oration and The Melian Dialogue uncovers both contrasting and comparable viewpoints on Athenian politics, power, aims of war, and empire. Thucydides presents two differing characteristics of Athens, one as the civilizer in Pericles’ funeral oration and the other as an tyrant in the Melian dialogue. In the funeral oration delivered by Pericles during the first year of the war, the Athenian leader emphasizes the idealized personal image of the Athenians in regard to their constitution and good character. Pericles goes on to praise the Athenian democratic institution of Athens that contributes to their cities greatness; in Pericles’s own words, “The Athenian administration favors the many instead of few… they afford equal justice to all of their differences” (112, 2.37). This quote emphasizes the good character of the Athens’ to coax and encourage the Athenians to preserve and better their great empire into the future. On the other hand, in the Melian dialogue, this notion of justice and equality is irrelevant; one, because Athens compared to Melos, is the stronger of the two and thus, is more powerful. Further, Athens, will continue to acquire absolute power and build its empire by conquering Melos and whomever else stands in its way. Through Pericles’ funeral oration and the Melian dialogue, the following conclusions/themes will demonstrate both the changing and somewhat stable nature of Athenian policy with regards to empire,
Pericles’ profound rhetorical skills were displayed within his Funeral Oration honoring Athenian soldiers who demonstrated extraordinary valor. Although the subject of his speech was in honor of the fallen soldiers who died gloriously defending Athens, he primarily praised Athens and everything it stood for. Within his speech, Pericles focuses on acting for the greater good of the city, which included sacrificing oneself much like the modeled sacrifice the dead had displayed through their valor. Through praising Athens and the fallen soldiers Pericles idealized the dead, showing their modeled behavior as honorable and glorious, which further appealed the sacrifice of dying for Athens. Pericles idealized motives continuously praised Athens: the dead, ancestors, and the city. Theses motives were intended to explain why Athenians should love their city and willingly sacrifice to ensure continued happiness and freedom.
The Athenians democracy was the pride and jewel of their nation. It created confidence, security, and patriotism, however, it also created an arrogant mindset which eventually leads to the downfall of their nation. Pericles states that the Athenian government was unorthodox because it was a government of the whole people rather than a minority (Thucydides 1). In addition, all Athenian citizens had the right to be apart of the government and administer justice. However,
Pericles's speech first gave praise to the ancestors, for which they are the people who built the city from the ground up and fought for democracy. He speaks of the ancestors with great honor and valor and that it was them who gave birth to Athens. He perceives Athens as a city with virtue, modesty, and modernization. It is a city who doesn't isolate itself from other governing states. Pericles announce that they aren't afraid to show their culture to the world and any foreigners may come and learn or observe from them. He suggests Athens is a country that welcomes foreigners and they
Athens and Sparta were two powerful city-states, different from each other where Athenian democracy focused on economic advancement, while Sparta oligarchy focused on military force. Democracy is a system of government where citizens have the right to vote, whereas oligarchy is a system of government where only a group of people is in control and only their opinion or decision that were taken into consideration. Leading to the thesis statement that people are better served by Athenian democracy than the Spartan oligarchy, supported in three evidence points. Firstly, Athenian democracy allowed citizens participation in government that gave them freedom to vote and take part in legislation. Secondly, the Athenian government provided Athenian men better education, by being taught how to read and write to reach their academic advancement. Lastly, the Athenian democracy’s contribution to Athens military advancement that protected its citizens.
Pericles was known for being a powerful speaker and in the end, the Athenians took his advice and war soon followed. A year after war broke out, Pericles was once again invited to speak, this time at the customary public funeral for those who had fallen in combat. What follows is arguably the best eulogy in history. For the families of the fallen soldiers he states that they did not truly die, for “famous men have the whole earth as their memorial…not in any visible form but in people’s hearts, [where] their memory abides and grows.” Of Athens he says, “Future ages will wonder at us, as the present age wonders at us now.” Pericles is able to remain optimistic of Athens’ victory and
Most Greek city states were ruled by a small elite group, also known as an aristocratic oligarchy (cite text book). Pericles explains that the Athens government is a democracy because the administration is in the hands of many and not just a few people. This will cause the government to have equal justices exist for all people. This is confirmed by Pericles stating, “When a citizen is in any way distinguished, he is preferred to the public service, not as a matter of privilege, but as a reward of merit”. This means that a citizen has to earn their privileges, they don’t just get things because of who they are in society. Athens not only takes pride in their government, but is also very proud of their military. Athens considers their military training to be better that their enemies in many ways. The people never try to hide anything from enemies or prevent them from seeing or learning anything that might benefit them. While their enemies are undergoing difficult exercises to make them brave, the people of Athens live the easy life. Although they live the easy life, the people of Athens are equally ready to face the challenges which their enemies face. The people of Athens would rather meet danger with a light heart and not intense training like their neighbors. They also want to do this with courage not enforce by law, but instead gain by habit. When the Lacedaemonians come into Athenian territory they bring their whole confederacy,
Furthermore, in the mind of Pericles, any citizen who did not take some part in the realm of politics was not just missing the core of Athenian democracy, but was essentially useless. This is so because Athenian democracy stood on the idea that people would take an active role in the government that represented them in order to protect their freedoms, and anyone who shunned that responsibility was a detriment to society. The arguments that Pericles puts forth are persuasive in the sense that theoretically in order for a democracy to survive as intended (which is self-representation and majority rule) then people must take politics sincerely.
On the other hand, athens was a democracy which meant ruled by the people. In athens they usd a thing called lot voting. Which is basically voting. In the passage “ athens and sparta” it states “ Each would take a charge for a month, and ten generals were automatically elected due to experience.” Likewise, different people would get a chance to make a change or to do something they believed was helping athens.
Funeral Oration of Pericles is an excerpt written by Thucydides. Thucydides, a historian for Athens during the time of the Sparta and Athens war, recorded the speech delivered by Pericles at the end of the first year of the war for the purpose to maintain it in history for the athenians of the city and show how strong the people became during this time. This is a primary source that served as a speech in which Pericles praised the city of Athens and the deceased they are holding the funeral for. He praised the city that they defended and died protecting.
Greek democracy was best developed in the city-state of Athens from where the very word “democracy”, meaning “the rule of the people” stems. People ‘ruled’ by electing officials through lot and making important decisions by majority rule. Democracy was direct, meaning that the Athenians “allowed the whole citizenry to assemble in the central eklisia, or the equivalent today of the main city hall, to vote on important issues” (Makedon 1995). In this sense, Athenian democracy differed from representative democracy that is currently prevalent in most states, in which officials are elected through democratic vote and then given authority to make decisions for the people. In Athens, elected officials were paid, but the pay was very low so that it compared with the wages of the poorest citizens and only covered the compensation of their time and effort.
Pericles spends most of the speech praising Athens. Pericles’ emphasis on democracy is very clear. He began his speech addressing the significance of the ancestors of Athens. Pointing out their sacrifices for their city and which directly correlates to the fairness and freedoms of the current Athenian democracy. Pericles’ spoke about separation of class of people is not tolerated and if anyone can serve the state they are not judged by their livelihood. He also advocates this position by returning briefly, at the end of the speech, to the fallen soldiers and their families, rather than merely promising glory to those who lose what is most their own (their lives) in defense of their own, Pericles presents glory itself as that