In the 5th century BC, Pericles was a central figure of Athens’ Golden Age. He guided the development of democracy and shaped the ancient city’s art and culture in ways that still resonate today.
We sat down with Dr. Paul Cartledge, one of the world’s foremost scholars of ancient Greece, to get to know the real Pericles behind the public persona—and to discuss his new book, Pericles: Statesman, Demagogue, Eccentric.
“What I try to do with this biography is a bit of a balancing act. On the one hand, Pericles was rational and reasonable—not a crowd-pleaser or a rabble-rouser. But in order to persuade the masses to vote for him, he had to be eloquent and persuasive, and therefore he needed to use rhetorical tricks. So he was both a statesman and a demagogue.”
Who Was Pericles, and Why Does He Still Matter?
As the cultural and intellectual center of the Greek world, Athens was home to figures such as Socrates, Sophocles, and Phidias during its golden age—an era known as the Age of Pericles.
Pericles was Athens’ most famed political figure, strengthening democracy, expanding its naval empire, and overseeing monumental projects like the Acropolis of Athens. He shaped policy, culture, and power in ways few individuals ever have within a democratic system.
Pericles still matters because the world he helped build endures. The democratic ideals refined in his time, the art and architecture he sponsored, and the cultural legacy of Athens still shape how we think about politics, citizenship, and civilization.
Pericles: Statesman, Demagogue, Eccentric
Pericles: Statesman, Demagogue, Eccentric is a “nuanced portrait” of Athens’s most famous leader. It paints a fascinating, threefold picture of him as a brilliant politician, visionary patron of the arts, and a man with an idiosyncratic personal life.
Dr. Paul Cartledge is Emeritus A. G. Leventis Professor of Greek Culture at the University of Cambridge. He holds the Gold Cross of the Order of Honor of Ancient Greece and is an Honorary Citizen of Sparta. His latest book, Pericles: Statesman, Demagogue, Eccentric, is now available for pre-order via the University of Chicago Press.
