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Analysis Of Pericles Funeral Oration

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Analysis Of Pericles Funeral Oration
Doth he Speaketh the Truth? Nay say I. While reading the Funeral Oration made by Pericles, son of Xanthippus and a Athenian General, I realized that he made some statements about Athens that did not seem quite right, in fact down right boastful in certain places. So I did some research and found a few other sources that wrote about that same speech to include my history textbook to see if what I was reading/thinking was correct. My objective with this essay is to show three instances of the speech that Pericles exaggerated or flat out lied in.
FIRST EXAGGERATION OR LIE, YOU DECIDE In the Funeral Oration Pericles stated, “Our constitution does not copy the laws of neighboring states…called a democracy” (Kagan, 68). I find that statement …show more content…
I find this to be an exaggeration of what he thinks a proper Athenian woman should do and act. He does not follow his own recommendations because Aspasia his concubine/companion of sorts was talked about all over Athens. She was regarded highly by citizens like Plato and Socrates for being smart and well-read for the times. In fact, I read that Plato in jest gave her kudos for penning Pericles speeches (Kagan, …show more content…
Works cited
“Ancient History: Sourcebook: Thucydides (c.460/455-c.390 BCE): Pericles’ Funeral Oration from the Peloponnesian War (Book 2.34-46).” Fordham University. Web. 31 Aug. 2015.
Blackwell, Christopher W. “The Development of Athenian Democracy,” in Adriaan Lanni, ed., “Athenian Law in its Democratic Context” (Center for Hellenic Studies On-line Discussion Series). Republished in C.W. Blackwell, ed., Dēmos: Classical Athenian Democracy (A. Mahoney and R. Scaife, edd., The Stoa: a consortium for electronic publication in the humanities [www.stoa.org]) edition of January 24, 2003. Web. 6 Sept. 2015
Kagan, Donald, Steven Ozment, Frank M. Turner, and Alison Frank. The Western Heritage Volume 1 (Custom Edition for Columbia College), Boston: Pearson, 2013. Print.
“Pericles” History channel. A & E Networks. 2009. Web. 6 Sept.
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