Pericles (c. 495 – 429 BCE) 5th Century BCE was a Golden Age for Athens. The city was home to Socrates, Plato, Hippocrates, Herodotus, Thucydides, Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides. But the giant among these Greek luminaries was Pericles. The period is now known as the Age of Pericles. Although he was from a wealthy and influential family, Pericles was a man of the people. He reformed Athenian democracy so that ordinary citizens could participate in political and civic affairs. Now all (male) Athenian citizens could take an interest in public affairs, not just the upper classes and those with the property. For this, Pericles became known as "The First Citizen of Athens".

Athens was adorned with its famous architecture under Pericles. He built city walls, the Athenian Agora and monuments on the Acropolis; The Parthenon, the Erechtheum and the Temple of Nike. He brought architects, builders, engineers and sculptors together to produce architectural magic that still amazes us today.

He promoted the arts, sciences, literature, and Athens became ancient Greece's leading cultural and educational city. Half its citizens were on the public payroll, ensuring interest in the well-being and wealth of the city and the economy flourished.

Pericles increased the power of Athens through control of the Delian League, a collation of Greek City-States for mutual defence. Eventually, the power struggle this prompted between Sparta and Athens would begin the First Peloponnesian War. The war ended with a treaty that kept the peace until 431 BCE.

The Second Peloponnesian War began, as before, due to the power struggle between the two major Greek cities. During the conflict, Pericles delivered his famous Funeral Oration. He organized a brave defence of the city, but the plague struck, and Pericles was one of its victims. The war ended with Athens being defeated and robbed of its First Citizen. The Age of Pericles was finished.

Artwork: Pericles' Funeral Oration. Phillip von Foltz. 1852 Ancient Athens had their own version of Remembrance and Memorial Days. It was a funeral for all the fallen in battle for the year. Each year a prominent Citizen gave the Funeral Oration. In 431 BCE, the first year of the Second Peloponnesian War (431 - 404 BCE), Pericles delivered his famous Funeral Oration. Pericles was an outstanding orator with a beautiful voice. The speech has been studied down the ages. His speech had inspired leaders ever since, including John F Kennedy, Winston Churchill and Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg address.