Pericles On Democracy

Although the people of Athens clearly knew and recognized that they lived in a democracy, Pericles goes out of his way to remind them of this as a means of praising and extolling the uniqueness of Athens and its system of government. It also supports the argument that Athens has a way of life that is superior to other poli within Greece, and its people must therefore fight for it and the values it upholds as a democracy. In fact, one way of looking at Pericles’ ancestor reference in the previous section could be as build up to this next point - the role Athens plays in the rest of Greece. In his on Democracy, Pericles wishes to convey the idea that Athens is a great and noble city which serves as a template of inspiration for all others as the first true democracy. In this type of direct democracy, citizens of Athens were given
Pericles glorifies the “equal justice to all” under the law that all men of Athens share and glorifies their superiority over their peer poleis. It is clear that Pericles views democracy as the best form of government and having adopted it, he views Athens as superior to their fellow city states. In fact, Pericles sees Athens as having the ultimate possible government; the one most conducive to freedom, liberty, courage, honor, and justice – values honored by the Athenians. Pericles extolls several of the virtues of Athens, most of them centered on the then-unique form of democracy, depicting that Athens’ administration “favors the many instead of the few; this is why it is called a democracy.” Although Athenians recognize that they live in and participate in a democratic government system, Pericles’ reminder serves to enhance the uniqueness of Athens and provide reasons as to why Athenians should be motivated and inspired to defend their city-state as they honor the fallen in the