age of athens
Definition. by Joshua J. Mark. Pericles (495–429 BCE, whose name means surrounded by glory) was a prominent statesman, famous orator, and general (in Greek 'Strategos’) of Athens during the Golden Age of Athens. So profound was his influence that the period in which he led Athens has been called the 'Age of Pericles’. This statesman’s influence on Athenian society was so great that Thucydides, his contemporary admirer and historian, called him the first citizen of Athens. The Athenians. The primary rivals of the Spartans were the Athenians who were founded by Theseus around 1300. Theseus was from the city of Troezen across from the Saronic Island of Poros and was said to have been born in the union of Aegus, king of Athens, and the daughter of Troezen's King. Among the dwellers of Athens during its Golden Age is the philosopher Socrates. Though he left no writings of his own, he is mostly known through the work of his student Plato in the form of written dialogues which are conversations with other learned and un-learned men on a variety of topics. The Classical Period or Golden Age of Greece, from around 500 to 300 BC, has given us the great monuments, art, philosophy, architecture and literature which are the building blocks of our own civilization. In previous ages they had been the heads of the Athenian state, but in the Age of Pericles they lost their influence and power, although they still presided over tribunals. Every year the citizens elected ten strategoi (singular strategos) , or generals, who served as both military officers and diplomats. With the death of Pericles, his 'age’ ended and Athens fell into an intellectual, cultural, and spiritual darkness which the Athenians would struggle with over the next 30 years. It culminated in the execution of Socrates in the year 399 BCE. Theseus was to the Athenians what George Washington is to Americans today. The Athenian democracy was reformed by King Solon in 594. Solon was to Athens what Lycurgus was to Sparta and his reforms paved the way out of a volatile period and into the Golden Age. Contact: Media Relations. media@umm.edu | 410-328-8919. Another medical mystery -- the Plague of Athens, which contributed to the end of the Golden Age of Greece -- may have been solved at the fifth annual medical conference dedicated to notorious case histories of the past. (November 2013). Fifth-century Athens is the Greek city-state of Athens in the time from 480 BC-404 BC. This was a period of Athenian political hegemony, economic growth and cultural flourishing formerly known as the Golden Age of Athens with the later part The Age of Pericles. Both of his children by this marriage, sons aged 30 and 25 years, have died recently of illnesses similar to the patient's. Another son (by his mistress), aged 10 years, is alive and well. The patient's father died in battle at 47 years of age.
Age of Pericles