Pericles Timeline

Pericles, alongside Ephialtes, prosecuted the influential general Cimon on charges of bribery after his failed expedition against Thasos. Although Cimon was acquitted, the prosecution demonstrated Pericles' willingness to challenge the aristocratic establishment and assert democratic leadership.

Image source: Cimon

Ephialtes, with the support of Pericles, pushed through sweeping democratic reforms that stripped the aristocratic Areopagus council of most of its powers, transferring authority to the popular assemblies, the Council of 500, and the law courts, deepening Athenian democracy.

Image source: Ephialtes

Ephialtes was assassinated in 461 BC, likely by political enemies angered by his democratic reforms. His death left Pericles as the leading figure of the democratic faction in Athens, paving the way for Pericles' rise to unchallenged political dominance.

Following a dispute over whether to assist Sparta during the helot revolt, Cimon was ostracized in 461 BC. With his chief rival removed, Pericles consolidated power and Athens shifted toward a more democratic and anti-Spartan foreign policy.

Pericles was first elected strategos, one of Athens' ten annually chosen generals, around 454 BC. He would be elected to this position repeatedly for the rest of his life, becoming the most influential statesman of democratic Athens.

In 454 BC, after the disastrous Egyptian expedition, the treasury of the Delian League was moved from the island of Delos to Athens, officially for safekeeping. This gave Pericles and Athens direct control of allied funds, which he later used to finance grand building programs and the Athenian navy.

Image source: Delian League

Pericles proposed a law restricting Athenian citizenship to those with two Athenian parents, both mother and father. The law reduced the citizen body's growth and reinforced the privileges of citizenship, though it later caused personal difficulty when his own sons were affected.

Image source: Pericles

Blamed for the war's hardships and the plague, Pericles was fined and removed from office in 430 BC. However, the Athenians soon recognized his irreplaceable leadership, reinstated him as strategos, and he resumed command of the city's war effort.

The First Peloponnesian War broke out in 460 BC between Athens and Sparta's allies, including Corinth and Aegina. During this conflict Pericles began his military career, serving as a strategos and gaining experience that would shape his later generalship.

Image source: First Peloponnesian War

Pericles led a naval expedition into the Gulf of Corinth around 454 BC, defeating the Acarnanians. He then supported Athenian efforts in Oeniadae, demonstrating his growing competence as a military commander during the First Peloponnesian War.

Pericles led a campaign to the Thracian Chersonese around 447 BC, subduing revolts in the region and re-establishing Athenian control over this strategically vital area guarding grain shipments from the Black Sea to Athens.

Image source: Gallipoli

Athens suffered a defeat at the Battle of Coronea in 447 BC, losing control of Boeotia. The setback forced Pericles and Athens to adopt a more defensive posture on the Greek mainland, concentrating instead on naval power and the empire abroad.

When Euboea revolted against Athenian rule in 446 BC, Pericles personally led forces to suppress the rebellion. He crossed back to Euboea despite threats to Athens itself and subdued the island, imposing harsh terms and securing this critical source of Athenian food and resources.

In 446 BC, Athens and Sparta concluded the Thirty Years' Peace, ending the First Peloponnesian War. The treaty recognized Athenian dominance at sea and Spartan dominance on land, ushering in an era of stability that allowed Pericles to pursue his cultural and building programs.

Image source: Thirty Years' Peace

Pericles led the Athenian fleet against Samos when the island revolted from the Delian League. After a hard-fought nine-month siege, Samos surrendered, dismantled its walls, and paid indemnities, reaffirming Athenian imperial authority in the Aegean.

Image source: Samos

The Second Peloponnesian War erupted in 431 BC when Spartan forces invaded Attica. Pericles' strategy of avoiding land battles, sheltering the population behind Athens' walls, and relying on naval supremacy and the empire's resources defined the war's early years.

Image source: Peloponnesian War

Pericles persuaded Athenians not to fight the Spartan army in open battle, instead enduring annual invasions of Attica while the navy raided the Peloponnesian coast. His cautious grand strategy aimed to outlast Sparta, though it was controversial among Athenians who lost their farms and homes.

A devastating plague broke out in Athens in 430 BC, likely worsened by the crowding of refugees within the city walls. It killed perhaps a third of the population, including Pericles himself, and dealt a catastrophic blow to Athenian manpower, morale, and the war effort.

Image source: Plague of Athens