Pericles

Pericles (c.495–429 B.C.), Athenian general and statesman. A strong critic of the conservative and aristocratic council, he obtained (461) the ostracism of Cimon and became supreme leader of the Athenian democracy. The years 462–454 saw the furthering of that democracy, with salaried state offices and supremacy of the assembly. Pericles's expansionist foreign policy led to a defeat of Persia (449), truce with Sparta (445), and the transformation of the Delian League into an Athenian empire. The peace of 445–431 was the height of Athenian culture under his rule. The Parthenon and Propylaea were both built at Pericles's request. One of the instigators of the Peloponnesian War, he was deposed but re-elected in 429; his death in a plague soon after may have lost Athens the war.

See also: Athens; Peloponnesian War.