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Demos: The Men Who Made and Perfected Ancient Athenian Democracy

Khalid Elhassan January 13, 2025 16 min

Democracy - Ancient Athens — Ancient Athens. Imgur

3. The Aggressive Expansion of Democratic Athens

Democracy - Pericles' Funeral Oration, by Philipp Foltz, 1858 — Pericles’ Funeral Oration, by Philipp Foltz, 1858. Rijks Museum, Netherlands

Inheriting his father’s democratic leanings, by the 460s BC Pericles had become the deputy and right hand man of Ephialtes, Athens’ radical democratic leader. When Ephialtes was assassinated in 461 BC, Pericles stepped into his shoes. He completed Ephialtes’ reform agenda, and dominated Athens until his death in 429 BC. A hawk, Pericles was a proponent of expanding Athens’ power abroad. Throughout his years in power, he aggressively advocated the expansion of Athenian dominance in the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.