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Pericles of Athens and the Birth of Democracy

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Donald Kagan offers here a well-written popular account of the birth of democracy in ancient Greece. This book represents the capstone to a lifetime of research, reflection, writing (just check Amazon's list of his books; Kagan is perhaps the top writer in English on the Peloponnesian War), and teaching on classical Greece and illustrates both Kagan's eloquence and his belief that we can learn from the successes and failures of democracy in Ancient Athens. His Pericles is a hero but a tragic hero; his attempt to educate the entire population of Athens to achieve excellence reached an impressive level of success, but his relentlessly rational moderation refused to take into account emotional reactions of both individuals and states abroad and at home and helped bring on an unnecessary and disastrous war. His portrait of Periclean Athens offers many valuable analogies with contemporary democracy - and many warnings for us as well. Along with W.G. Forrest's The Emergence of Greek Democracy, sadly out of print, this is the best account of Greek History for the general reader, for its substance is intriguing, and it is a "great read."

Donald Kagan of Yale university is perhaps the foremost authority on Periclean Athens in the world today. As such, it is only natural that he should write a treatise on the life of the great man known as Pericles.

All of the major facets of Pericles' life are brought together in this edition, from his rise to prominence to his scandalous affair with Aspasia to his strategy of fighting the Peloponnesian war against Sparta and her allies. The latter topic, of course, will gather the most interest to modern readers.

While I have read Thucydides, I felt that Kagan did a wonderful job of elaborating on a lot of details of the Peloponnesian war that were a bit unclear in primary sources. The problem with historical primary sources is that they many times take as a given the reader knows all the background information behind specific events. Kagan makes no assumptions and walks the reader through the various political and social aspects that underlie sundry events of 5th century Greece.

One of the more surprising elements of this book is that Kagan is not reticent in his criticisms of many Periclean policies and war strategies. While moderation is typically seen as a positive thing (just ask Aristotle!), Kagan points out how Pericles could over-rely on human reason and be moderate to a fault. In short, this book is NOT an encomium on the Greek leader. Rather, it is an open an honest examination of his life & times. Kagan disinters both the best and the worst in Pericles' character and foresight.

This book is highly recommended to all persons who are interested in Greek history. For those who wish to become more acquainted with Athens in the turmoil of war, this book is a can't miss.

In reading Kagan's epochal Peloponnesian War series (if Amazon had a six-star rating that series would deserve it) one is struck by the relative paucity of material present on one of the central characters of that period, Perikles of Athens. While Kagan gives his usual detailed treatment of events, what led up to many of Perikles' attitudes and intellectual precepts is left untreated.

A reader lucky enough to possess this volume will find the time spent in reading it in parallel with the four-volume magnum opus to be well spent. It supplies a view of the great man and his city with a color and richness that truly makes the reader's cup overflow, and might, if treated in this detail in the larger series, have slowed the latter's breakneck pace to a crawl. It is, of course, wonderful as a standalone reference.

Readers unfamiliar with Professor Kagan are missing a real treat. His prose is lean and concise, and its vividness lights the sometimes bland subject material of ancient Greek history with clarity and a contemporary relevance that is always illuminating and occasionally breathtaking. This is not "pop" history, but it is so well-written that it achieves the latter's accessibility without its superfluity. If more ancient history were written this way it would a much more popular subject of study.

When I was just a youngster I remembered reading about the "Golden Age of Pericles". What was this "golden age"? Who was Pericles? What impact did he have on the world today?

To begin with, the "golden age" marked the beginnings of the Athenian Empire. Athens became the Mecca for the world, attracting the greatest minds. It became an important trade center. With this, Athens became one of the greatest cities in the mid-Fifth Century BC world. At the center was Pericles.

Pericles rose to prominence under less than favorable circumstances. He came from an old family that was involved in a sacrilege to the gods about one hundred years earlier. His family was cursed and expelled from Athens. When Pericles came of age he neglected politics, as the Athenian aristocracy was firmly entrenched. When his opportunity finally came Pericles was able to win over the citizens to his way of thinking by the power of his oratory.

Pericles didn?t invent democracy but under his leadership democracy flourished. He firmly believed that when the opportunity for power belonged to all the citizens, instead of only a few, that the best people would rise to leadership roles. This was democracy?s strength. The critics?and there were many?feared mob rule. For that reason it would be a long time before democracy rose to prominence in the world again. Even our own founding fathers feared mob rule, but representative democracy would prevent that while preserving democracy?s strength.

The legacy of Pericles was that he was a true statesman. He understood the ramifications of the peace with Sparta and what would happen to Athens if she caved into the demands of Sparta. The result was a great Peloponnesian war that would eventually cost Athens her empire. It was faulty strategy, wrong assumptions, and a lack of strong leadership after Pericles died that did Athens in. Donald Kagan mentions the connection with Winston Churchill, who found his country facing a great danger from Germany because its prime minister backed down. Like Pericles, he knew Great Britain would have to stand and fight. One can only wonder what the world would be like if Pericles? Athens had won as Churchill?s Britain had?

Donald Kagan is one of the foremost historians on the Greece during the time of Pericles. This book is a skillful demonstration of his command of the history and historical texts combined with the story-telling aspect that makes history three dimensional. Pericles is a brilliant character in the history of the world, and Kagan is able to convey every aspect of his brilliance. A wonderful book for both the history buff and the simply curious

Kagan's Pericles of Athens and the Birth of Democracy is an extremely well-written book on a remarkable statesman who lived nearly twenty-five hundred years ago. The historian Thucydides called him Athens's `first citizen'. During his thirty years of near dominance as that city-state's leader, Athens enjoyed great wealth, a democratic form of government, and gloried in the arts and building projects that reflected that city's heightened status. Kagan's defense of Pericles (though not without criticisms) and the form of government he helped implement are admirably and ably argued.

Kagan's sources are fairly limited, which is to be expected. He relies mostly on the famed account of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides, the later writings of Plutarch, and the works of some of the famed literary figures of the day. Perhaps the greatest surviving symbol of Pericles's influence in Athens is the Parthenon. Democracy in Athens began under Cleisthenes, as Kagan mentions, but Pericles advanced this system by opening political participation and voting to more of that city's citizens. He also promoted a paying system for public service. It is tempting to try to compare our political system with the system in Athens (though quite different) and say that ours is more inclusive, which though true technically doesn't mean that the political system in Athens is any less deserving of a certain amount of admiration.

Athens was also an empire, though Pericles could persuasively argue its merits despite the seeming contradictions. Athens's wealth and prestige did not come without costs. Sparta and various other Greek people were suspicious and resentful of the growing influence of Athens. The Spartans, as Kagan claimed later in the book as the Peloponnesian War began, would claim the mantle of liberators of the Greeks. Pericles's policies were seemingly always guided by an intelligent, rational way of thinking. He tried to pursue the moderate course between the extremes, as Kagan states. This seems to become most evident in the opening scenes in the war against Sparta.

I find that moderation to be very admirable, even if his policies could be wrong on occasion, as the Peloponnesian War would prove. He was perhaps too stubborn in adhering to certain strategies, but he did what he believed was right for Athens. His ability to influence his fellow citizens was indeed quite remarkable. But even Pericles had enemies and for a while even he was cast out of office when things weren't going well for Athens in the early stages of the conflict. Pericles died in 429 BC, only two and a half years into the war that would last twenty-seven years. His military strategy had not worked, though very clearly thought out and believed by its architect. But one thing was sure, after his death, Athens would sorely lack that high-minded and able leadership that he represented so well.

This is the second book by Kagan I've read and he doesn't disappoint. He makes a strong case for Pericles and Athenian Democracy, though he can be critical, especially of Pericles's strategy for fighting and winning the war with Sparta. Then again, what if Pericles had lived longer? Makes for a great what if, but then again maybe it wouldn't have changed the ultimate outcome of the war. A fascinating period, but a tragic one.

Donald Kagan's knowledge of the subject is likely unequaled. Having essentially written the premier history of the war Pericles hoped to avoid, The Peloponnesian War, Kagan was in the unique position to write a similarly authoritative biography of this classic statesman. And that he has.

The book is well-written, thoroughly readable, and tells the story of Pericles better than its predecessors. That said, those who've read Kagan's four volume series on the Peloponnesian War will find that most of the text in this book has already been covered. This is not to say that new insights and clever evaluations are not to be found, for they are, but only that the author is, unfortunately, a victim of his own superb and exhaustive account of Pericles' life in prior works.

Also note: this is an excellent history of the political framework of early Athens. If you require an introduction to Athens' early democratic structure, including a wonderful description of the Assembly (a fusion of legislative and judicial branches into an open forum), this is the book.

Those who are new to the author and/or the subject will not encounter an issue with the text and, indeed, could not ask for a better biography.

Because Donald Kagan is one of the acknowledged leading scholars on Pericles and the Peloponnesian War, I have a hard time saying anything negative about the book. But most information we have regarding Pericles is second hand from Thucydides and Plutarch, and Professor Kagan seems to take everything they say at face value instead of telling us how these sources may be inaccurate or biased. I am sure Professor Kagan knows this, but in order to write a more readable book for the general public he takes what the ancient sources say at face value.

Additionally, the title of the book is a little misleading. The book doesn't really focus on the "birth of democracy", but on the "political world of Pericles".

Nevertheless, I enjoyed reading the book. At the end, Professor Kagan spends some time drawing analogies with 20 th century history and how studying the lead up to the Peloponnesian holds lessons for today.

This is a good biography of a great man. Kagan not only distills a great deal of information into a very accessable book, he also manages to impart understanding and insight about Pericles and his Athens. This book is valuable to anyone interested in classical Greece. With particular emphasis - anyone contemplating an attack on "The Peloponnesian War" by Thucydides would do well to get "Pericles" as a companion. Even if you already have Thucydides under your belt, you will probably gain fresh insight into that famously difficult work through Kagan's lucid exposition.

An great book for understanding about leadership in ancient Athens. Since Pericles was elected to the position of general once a year he was required to walk a political tightrope. This book will give you a good feel for the difficulties of yearly elections. You will not get great detail for the life of Pericle beyond Plutarch. Fans of leadership, democracy, warfare and international relations this book is a must!