IN THIS MATTER OF JOURNALING, YOU MUST GO WITH WHAT YOU'VE GOT; and what I've got today is a picture of the Davids' water color by Dr. Seuss, a picture of Niki de Saint Palle's sculpture in Balboa Park, a photograph of locks on a building in Mission Valley, and a photograph of a model of Pericles' Acropolis monuments which I took in Athens a couple of weeks ago. I can't pretend they are related in any way except that I like them.
PERICLES
It’s hard to know where to start with a description of Pericles of Athens. Between Cleisthenes and his great-grandson Pericles the history of the ancient world changed with the defeat finally of the Persians. That long story made very short here includes Persian victories that, had they managed to finally subdue Greece permanently, would have developed the Mediterranean region and subsequent world history into a very different story from the one in our history books today. At the turn of the fifth century the Persian Empire dominated the region that Western people all refer to as the cradle of their civilization. Darius came very close to conquering the world. Everybody knows the story of the runner from Marathon who dropped dead after delivering the message, “We have won!” to the people of Athens. The Persian King Darius died before he could mount another campaign. His son Xerxes let some time go by before trying again around 480 BCE. The story of that Persian military campaign and the Greek response to it reads more like fiction than fact, but it really happened. Xerxes pillaged and plundered all the way to Athens, but the Greeks by 479 BCE finally managed to demonstrate to Xerxes that they wouldn’t be conquered finally, so the Great King retreated to his palaces at Persepolis. Perhaps I’ll have a reason to do some journal writing around that story later; but now I want to move on to Pericles.
Athens, the city of the Goddess Athena, developed into the major Greek city after the Persian threat was no longer serious. Revenues from other regions in what was known as the Delian League were funneled into Athens where magnificent temples, theaters, gymnasiums, and other public buildings replaced devastation after the Persians were no longer a threat. A remarkable explosion of enriched culture began what the Western World now refers to as a classical period. Education, art and drama flourished; and for males Athenian democracy continued to be a work in progress. Virtually all free, native-born males were citizens with rights and privileges, including access to public office, which earlier had been open only to wealthier classes. The Areopagus was still dominated by the wealthy, but it was reduced to an advisory role. Citizens were paid for doing public service, the funds coming from league revenues. Then as now, popular generals in the army were favorite candidates for elective office, but even these people could be ostracized by vote of the Assembly if they stepped out of line.
The Assembly worked best when it had capable leadership, and a young land owner from a traditional liberal family stepped up to do civic duty. Pericles helped reduce the power of the Areopagus, and it was he who introduced the policy of state pay for public service. He was in favor of a large navy; he had proved himself as a military leader by commanding a squadron of Athenian ships. Throughout the 440s and 430s, he was elected to the board of generals. He became the foremost political leader of his day, and under his service Athens became an extraordinarily beautiful and livable city. The world today is fully aware of the magnificent temple complexes he built on the Acropolis...the best known of them is the Parthenon. Plutarch, the historian who was a Greek-born citizen of Rome said in 120 A.D. of Athens’ temples and monuments, “Each one possesses a beauty that seemed vulnerable the moment it was born and at the same time a youthful vigor that makes it appear to this day as if were newly built.”
Fourteen hundred years after Pericles temples were finished and a thousand years after Plutarch praised them, the Acropolis monuments inspire awe. The plays of Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides captivate audience today just as they did in Pericles’ Athens. Still today the Festival of Dionysus is still important in Athens’ calendar of events.
It occurred to me as I was writing this that Greece could use a leader like Pericles today. Greek history is full of examples of city-states and nations coming through difficult times with their institutions and monuments intact. It was wishful thinking on my part when Barack Obama was elected President of the United States that he would prove to be our Nation’s Pericles. I haven’t given up hope that my hope was well placed. I haven’t given up my belief that Barack Obama is the right person for the office of President of the United States in these difficult times. I am going to work for his reelection.
PERICLES
It’s hard to know where to start with a description of Pericles of Athens. Between Cleisthenes and his great-grandson Pericles the history of the ancient world changed with the defeat finally of the Persians. That long story made very short here includes Persian victories that, had they managed to finally subdue Greece permanently, would have developed the Mediterranean region and subsequent world history into a very different story from the one in our history books today. At the turn of the fifth century the Persian Empire dominated the region that Western people all refer to as the cradle of their civilization. Darius came very close to conquering the world. Everybody knows the story of the runner from Marathon who dropped dead after delivering the message, “We have won!” to the people of Athens. The Persian King Darius died before he could mount another campaign. His son Xerxes let some time go by before trying again around 480 BCE. The story of that Persian military campaign and the Greek response to it reads more like fiction than fact, but it really happened. Xerxes pillaged and plundered all the way to Athens, but the Greeks by 479 BCE finally managed to demonstrate to Xerxes that they wouldn’t be conquered finally, so the Great King retreated to his palaces at Persepolis. Perhaps I’ll have a reason to do some journal writing around that story later; but now I want to move on to Pericles.
Athens, the city of the Goddess Athena, developed into the major Greek city after the Persian threat was no longer serious. Revenues from other regions in what was known as the Delian League were funneled into Athens where magnificent temples, theaters, gymnasiums, and other public buildings replaced devastation after the Persians were no longer a threat. A remarkable explosion of enriched culture began what the Western World now refers to as a classical period. Education, art and drama flourished; and for males Athenian democracy continued to be a work in progress. Virtually all free, native-born males were citizens with rights and privileges, including access to public office, which earlier had been open only to wealthier classes. The Areopagus was still dominated by the wealthy, but it was reduced to an advisory role. Citizens were paid for doing public service, the funds coming from league revenues. Then as now, popular generals in the army were favorite candidates for elective office, but even these people could be ostracized by vote of the Assembly if they stepped out of line.
The Assembly worked best when it had capable leadership, and a young land owner from a traditional liberal family stepped up to do civic duty. Pericles helped reduce the power of the Areopagus, and it was he who introduced the policy of state pay for public service. He was in favor of a large navy; he had proved himself as a military leader by commanding a squadron of Athenian ships. Throughout the 440s and 430s, he was elected to the board of generals. He became the foremost political leader of his day, and under his service Athens became an extraordinarily beautiful and livable city. The world today is fully aware of the magnificent temple complexes he built on the Acropolis...the best known of them is the Parthenon. Plutarch, the historian who was a Greek-born citizen of Rome said in 120 A.D. of Athens’ temples and monuments, “Each one possesses a beauty that seemed vulnerable the moment it was born and at the same time a youthful vigor that makes it appear to this day as if were newly built.”
Fourteen hundred years after Pericles temples were finished and a thousand years after Plutarch praised them, the Acropolis monuments inspire awe. The plays of Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides captivate audience today just as they did in Pericles’ Athens. Still today the Festival of Dionysus is still important in Athens’ calendar of events.
It occurred to me as I was writing this that Greece could use a leader like Pericles today. Greek history is full of examples of city-states and nations coming through difficult times with their institutions and monuments intact. It was wishful thinking on my part when Barack Obama was elected President of the United States that he would prove to be our Nation’s Pericles. I haven’t given up hope that my hope was well placed. I haven’t given up my belief that Barack Obama is the right person for the office of President of the United States in these difficult times. I am going to work for his reelection.
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