Summary: The End Of The Athenian Golden Age
The End of the Athenian Golden Age
The Athenian Golden Age began with the defeat of the invading Persians and ended shortly after the fall of Athens to the Spartans, in 404 BCE. The age saw numerous advances in art, philosophy, drama, literature, and government. Also known as the “Age of Pericles,” after the Athenian statesman responsible for the direction of the city at the height of its achievements (Canadian Museum of History, n.d.). Scholars seem to have different theories and opinions as to what caused the decline of the Golden Age. Was it the war with Sparta? A war that devastated both sides of the conflict. The Plague, of 431 BCE, that not only changed the demographics of the city state but also the moral compass of its citizens? …show more content…
The historian Thucydides, (460-395 BCE), recorded his interpretation of the speech in his book of the war, known simply as History of the Peloponnesian War. In the speech Pericles praises the lifestyle of the “international” Athenians, who enjoy the imported luxuries of other countries, as their own (Thucydides, book 2, chapter 38). Contrasting the Spartan lifelong harsh training regiment with the life of the cosmopolitan Athenians, who are always prepared to fight off danger. Pericles brags of how Athens can invade their neighbours, defeating with ease men defending their homeland. Whereas the Spartans need assistance from their allies to attack Athens (Thucydides, book 2, chapter …show more content…
They approached the world around them with an arrogant, self-centered confidence that in turn led to a moral decline, made evident by the words of Pericles as Thucydides recorded them: “For we have opened onto us by our courage all seas and lands and set up eternal monuments on all sides both of the evil we have done our enemies and the good we have done our friends” (book 2, chapter 41).
Within the next three years Athens would be devastated by a plague that will leave twenty-five percent of the population dead (Littman, 2009). In the only known historic account, Thucydides describes how the citizens, of once proud Athens, faced with an uncertain future and witnessing wide-scale death, become morally degenerate, engaging in behaviour they otherwise would condemn (book 2, chapter 53).
In conclusion I would have to agree with the opinion of the Canadian History Museum website; in its series, Greece Secrets of the Past, (n.d.), the Athenian Golden Age fell not so much from external forces but from
The Athenian Golden Age began with the defeat of the invading Persians and ended shortly after the fall of Athens to the Spartans, in 404 BCE. The age saw numerous advances in art, philosophy, drama, literature, and government. Also known as the “Age of Pericles,” after the Athenian statesman responsible for the direction of the city at the height of its achievements (Canadian Museum of History, n.d.). Scholars seem to have different theories and opinions as to what caused the decline of the Golden Age. Was it the war with Sparta? A war that devastated both sides of the conflict. The Plague, of 431 BCE, that not only changed the demographics of the city state but also the moral compass of its citizens? …show more content…
The historian Thucydides, (460-395 BCE), recorded his interpretation of the speech in his book of the war, known simply as History of the Peloponnesian War. In the speech Pericles praises the lifestyle of the “international” Athenians, who enjoy the imported luxuries of other countries, as their own (Thucydides, book 2, chapter 38). Contrasting the Spartan lifelong harsh training regiment with the life of the cosmopolitan Athenians, who are always prepared to fight off danger. Pericles brags of how Athens can invade their neighbours, defeating with ease men defending their homeland. Whereas the Spartans need assistance from their allies to attack Athens (Thucydides, book 2, chapter …show more content…
They approached the world around them with an arrogant, self-centered confidence that in turn led to a moral decline, made evident by the words of Pericles as Thucydides recorded them: “For we have opened onto us by our courage all seas and lands and set up eternal monuments on all sides both of the evil we have done our enemies and the good we have done our friends” (book 2, chapter 41).
Within the next three years Athens would be devastated by a plague that will leave twenty-five percent of the population dead (Littman, 2009). In the only known historic account, Thucydides describes how the citizens, of once proud Athens, faced with an uncertain future and witnessing wide-scale death, become morally degenerate, engaging in behaviour they otherwise would condemn (book 2, chapter 53).
In conclusion I would have to agree with the opinion of the Canadian History Museum website; in its series, Greece Secrets of the Past, (n.d.), the Athenian Golden Age fell not so much from external forces but from