Definition for Pericles
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Pericles (495 B.C.E. to 429 B.C.E.): General and statesman, of the aristocratic Alcmaeonid family, who presided over the "Golden Age" of Athens, and was virtually its uncrowned king. Politically a radical, he helped push through the constitutional reforms that brought about full Athenian democracy. A staunch opponent of Sparta, it was his unremitting hostility to her and her allies that brought about the Peloponnesian War. Renowned for his oratory, his Funeral Speech, as recorded by Thucydides, is an impassioned apologia for Athens' democratic principles and system of government.