Pericles of Athens - Hardcover

Azoulay, Vincent

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0691154597 ISBN 13: 9780691154596

Publisher: Princeton University Press, 2014

Synopsis

The definitive biography of the legendary "first citizen of Athens"

Pericles has the rare distinction of giving his name to an entire period of history, embodying what has often been taken as the golden age of the ancient Greek world. "Periclean" Athens witnessed tumultuous political and military events, and achievements of the highest order in philosophy, drama, poetry, oratory, and architecture. Pericles of Athens is the first book in decades to reassess the life and legacy of one of the greatest generals, orators, and statesmen of the classical world. In this compelling critical biography, Vincent Azoulay takes a fresh look at both the classical and modern reception of Pericles, recognizing his achievements as well as his failings. From Thucydides and Plutarch to Voltaire and Hegel, ancient and modern authors have questioned Pericles’s relationship with democracy and Athenian society. This is the enigma that Azoulay investigates in this groundbreaking book. Pericles of Athens offers a balanced look at the complex life and afterlife of the legendary "first citizen of Athens."

About this title

From the Back Cover

"This is a wonderful book, a must-read for anyone who cares about ancient Greece and its legacy. Vincent Azoulay gives us the complete Pericles--clever general, brilliant orator, crafty politician, cruel imperialist, and passionate lover. He offers us an eye-opening tour of Pericles' city of Athens in all its classical glory and with all of its ancient horrors intact. And he shows us why Pericles and Athens have never been forgotten. The scholarship is up to the minute and the story is told with great panache. Whether he is viewed from the perspective of ancient evidence or modern reinvention, Pericles of Athens will never look the same."--Josiah Ober, Stanford University

"Azoulay's book is highly accessible to the general public, yet stimulating to the scholar for its insightful interpretations of the complexity of Pericles' relationship to the Athenian people. Azoulay hews a middle road between traditions that idealize Pericles and others that vilify him. Painting a subtle portrait of a man who was a key player in the most glorious years of the Athenian democracy, Azoulay succeeds in evoking both the man and the era."--Sara Forsdyke, University of Michigan

"Azoulay follows the many lives of Pericles--Athenian aristocrat, bruising young man in a hurry, charismatic and lonely democratic politician, visionary, confidence man, man with a plan at the start of an ultimately uncontrollable world war, and cipher for the Athens of our desires or our fears--in an extraordinarily surefooted, accessible, and shrewd work of deep history that has much to tell us about Pericles, ancient Athens, democratic politics, and our investment in ancient Greek history."--John Ma, University of Oxford

"This impressive book successfully strikes a critical balance between the excessive praise and hypercriticism that have dominated scholarship in recent decades. Pericles of Athens is accessible to a broad readership including students and nonspecialists, but will be of interest to scholars as well."--Kurt Raaflaub, author of The Discovery of Freedom in Ancient Greece

About the Author

Vincent Azoulay is assistant professor of ancient Greek history at the Université Paris-Est Marne-la-Vallée and a leading expert on the politics of classical Greece.

About this edition

• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 0691154597
• ISBN 13: 9780691154596
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 312