In the original dust jacket. Purple cloth binding with gilt title on the spine.

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Please view the photographs. Hardcover. Condition: Good. Dust Jacket Condition: Good. 1st Edition. First edition: Some edge wear, internally clean tight and square, overall in vg condition. 303pp. Sir Maurice Bowra’s (1898-1971) classic text on Pericles the Athenian statesman, and the nascent Athenian democracy, published in the year of his death. Quite a rare book.

The Age of Pericles refers to part of the Classical Age of Greece, when the dominant polis—in terms of culture and politics—was Athens, Greece. Most of the cultural wonders that we associate with ancient Greece come from this period. The Dates of the Classical Age: Sometimes the term “Classical Age” refers to the entire expanse of ancient Greek history, from the archaic period, but when used to distinguish one era from the next, the Classical Age of Greece begins with the Persian Wars (490-479 B.C.) and ends with either the empire-building or the death of the Macedonian leader Alexander the Great (323 B.C.). The Classical Age is followed by the Hellenistic Age that Alexander ushered in. Besides war, the Classical era in Athens, Greece, produced great literature, philosophy, drama, and art.

There is a single name that signifies this artistic period: Pericles. The Age of Pericles runs from the middle of the 5th century to either his death at the start of the Peloponnesian War or the end of the war, in 404. While he was not a king or dictator in charge of Athens, Greece, Pericles was the foremost statesman of Athens from 461-429. Pericles was repeatedly elected to be one of the 10 strategoi (generals). Pericles was strongly influenced by Aspasia, a female philosopher and courtesan from Miletus, who lived in Athens, Greece. Because of a recent citizenship law, Pericles couldn’t marry a woman who wasn’t born in Athens, so he could only cohabit with Aspasia.  Pericles introduced payment for public offices in Athens.

Pericles’ Building Projects: Pericles initiated the building of the Acropolis structures. The Acropolis was the high point of the city, the original fortifiable area before the city of Athens expanded. Temples topped the Acropolis, which was behind the Pnyx hill where the assembly of the people gathered. Pericles’ preeminent building project was the Parthenon (447-432 B.C.), on the Acropolis. The famed Athenian sculptor Pheidias, who was also responsible for the chryselephantine statue of Athena, supervised this project. Ictinus and Callicrates served as architects for the Parthenon.

Delian League: Pericles is credited with moving the treasury of the Delian League to Athens, Greece, and using its money to rebuild the Acropolis temples that the Persians had destroyed. This was an abuse of the treasury funds. The money was supposed to be for the defense of Athens and its Greek allies.