Claim profile

Pericles

Athenian statesman, orator and general (c. 495 – 429 BC)

  • Fame70.2
  • Momentum0.0
  • Wikipedia57.6K
Source-basedFalling
Lived -494–-429, aged 65
PoliticiansPolitician
  • Wikipedia
    95 languages
    Cross-language footprint
  • Era
    -494–-429
    Aged 65
Summary
Updated 2026-06-08

He turned Athens into an empire, built the Parthenon, and ran the city for three decades during its most brilliant century. Thucydides called him "the first citizen of Athens." The plague that bore the city's name killed him in 429 BC.

Biography

About

Pericles came from the Alcmaeonid family through his mother, one of Athens's old power clans. Between roughly 461 and 429 BC he dominated Athenian politics as its leading orator and general, steering the city through the tail end of the Greco-Persian Wars and into the Peloponnesian War with Sparta. He converted the Delian League—originally a defensive alliance—into an Athenian empire. At home he pushed Athenian democracy so hard that critics accused him of populism. He spent the city's wealth on an ambitious building program that gave Athens the Parthenon and most of the other structures still…

Voice

In their own words

Sourced, dated quotes from Pericles

Pericles
saidundated
Wait for that wisest of all counselors, Time.
— From Plutarch, Lives, Pericles, sec. 18. See also the following source provided by the "1000 Quotes Project": Plutarch. Plutarch’s Lives,
Pericles
saidundated
Trees, though they are cut and lopped, grow up again quickly, but if men are destroyed, it is not easy to get them again.
— From Plutarch, Lives, Pericles, 33
Pericles
saidundated
Freedom is the sure possession of those alone who have the courage to defend it.
— As quoted in Homage to Greece (1943)
Pericles
saidundated
Future ages will wonder at us, as the present age wonders at us now.
— As quoted in Eternal Greece (1961) by Rex Warner, p. 34
Pericles
saidundated
Although only a few may originate a policy, we are all able to judge it.
— As quoted in The Open Society and Its Enemies by Karl Popper (1966). Book II, chapter 40.
via Wikiquote · CC BY-SA
Where to find them

Platforms

No platforms connected yet.

By the numbers

Score breakdown

The six component signals behind the Fame score, and their ranks across the leaderboards.

Fame
Falling
70.2
Composite of search demand, mentions, audience & graph footprint.
Score components
Historical26.1
Now attention15.3
Source confidence60.0
Completeness60.0
Global rank
—
Country rank
—
Category rank
—
Receipts

Sources

  • Wikidata
    wikidata · wikidata.org
    High confidence
  • Wikipedia
    wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org
    High confidence
  • Pantheon 2.0
    database · pantheon.world
    High confidence