Pericles and the Conquest of History
A Political Biography

Loren J. Samons, II examines the events of Athenian history to understand the actions and legacy of this pivotal historical figure.

Loren J. Samons, II (Author)

9781107110144, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 5 January 2016

346 pages, 8 b/w illus. 3 maps
23.6 x 16 x 2.4 cm, 0.61 kg

'The Pericles Samons offers the readers of this book - the figure usually hailed as Athens' greatest statesman - was rather the best-ever rodeo rider of the vast brutal conglomerate beast formed by the reeking mass of his cruel and hungry Athenian countrymen. I do not imagine that I will ever read another book about classical antiquity at once as elegant in its learning, as pleasing in its prose, as pregnant with ideas, and as shocking in its conclusions.' J. E. Lendon, University of Virginia

As the most famous and important political leader in Athenian history, Pericles has featured prominently in descriptions and analysis of Athenian democracy from antiquity to the present day. Although contemporary historians have tended to treat him as representative of values like liberty and equality, Loren J. Samons, II demonstrates that the quest to make Athens the preeminent power in Greece served as the central theme of Pericles' career. More nationalist than humanist and less rationalist than populist, Pericles' vision for Athens rested on the establishment of an Athenian reputation for military success and the citizens' willingness to sacrifice in the service of this goal. Despite his own aristocratic (if checkered) ancestry, Pericles offered the common and collective Athenian people the kind of fame previously available only to heroes and nobleman, a goal made all the more attractive because of the Athenians' defensiveness about Athens' lackluster early history.

1. To be an Athenian
2. Curses, tyrants, and Persians (c.500–479)
3. The dominance of Kimon (c.479–462/1)
4. The democratic revolution (c.462/1–444/3)
5. A Greek empire (c.460–445)
6. Pericles and Sparta: the outbreak of the Great War (444/3–431)
7. Pericles and Athenian nationalism: the conquest of history
8. Athenian culture and the intellectual revolution: Pericles and the people
Epilogue: the Periclean tradition.

Subject Areas: Comparative politics [JPB], History of ideas [JFCX], Western philosophy: Ancient, to c 500 [HPCA], Classical Greek & Roman archaeology [HDDK], Ancient history: to c 500 CE [HBLA]