Fifth-century Athens

After peace was made with Persia in the mid-5th century BC, what started as an alliance of independent city-states became an Athenian empire after Athens abandoned the pretense of parity among its allies and relocated the Delian League treasury from Delos to Athens, where it funded the building of the Athenian Acropolis, put half its population on the public payroll, and maintained its position as the dominant naval power in the Greek world.

With the empire's funds, military dominance and its political fortunes guided by statesman and orator Pericles, Athens produced some of the most influential and enduring cultural artifacts of the Western tradition.

The playwrights Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides all lived and worked in 5th-century BC Athens, as did the historians Herodotus and Thucydides, the physician Hippocrates and the philosophers Plato and Socrates.

These strategoi were given duties which included planning military expeditions, receiving envoys of other states and directing diplomatic affairs.

Pericles was a great speaker; this quality brought him tremendous success in the Assembly, presenting his vision of politics.

Another success of his administration was the creation of the misthophoria (μισθοφορία, which literally means paid function), a special salary for the citizens that attended the courts as jurors.

As Athens' ruler, he made the city the first and most important polis of the Greek world, acquiring a resplendent culture and democratic institutions.

To avoid this, Athenian democracy applied itself to the task of helping the poorest in this manner: Most importantly, and in order to emphasize the concept of equality and discourage corruption and patronage, practically all public offices that did not require a particular expertise were appointed by lot and not by election.

Among those selected by lot to a political body, specific office was always rotated so that every single member served in all capacities in turn.

Every year the citizens elected ten "strategoi" (singular "strategos"), or generals, who served as both military officers and diplomats.

There were also more than forty public administration officers and more than sixty to police the streets, the markets, to check weights and measures and to carry out arrests and executions.

These were chosen by chance, using the system described earlier, from which they were familiarly known as "councillors of the bean"; officially they were known as prytaneis (πρύτανις, meaning "chief" or "teacher").

The council members examined and studied legal projects, supervised the magistrates and saw that daily administrative details were on the right path.

It is believed that rich Athenian men saw it as an honor to sponsor the triremes (probably because they became leaders of it for the period they supported it) or the festivals and they often engaged in competitive donating.

Boys also had to take part in physical education classes where they were prepared for future military service with activities such as wrestling, racing, jumping and gymnastics.

In addition to these compulsory lessons, the students had the chance to discuss and learn from the great philosophers, grammarians and orators of the time.

[10] After divorce, the husband was required to return the dowry or pay 18 percent interest annually so the woman's livelihood would continue and she could remarry.

Like slaves and metics, they were denied political freedom, citizenship and voting rights,[14] being excluded from the law courts and the Assembly.

[18] Women's responsibilities would have forced them to leave the house frequently – to fetch water from the well or wash clothing, for example.

[19] The cult of Athena Polias (the city's eponymous goddess) was central to Athenian society, reinforcing morality and maintaining societal structure.

He created colossal gold-plated ivory statues ("chryselephantine statues"), generally face and hands, which were highly celebrated and admired in his own time: Athena, situated in the interior of the Parthenon, whose splendor reached the faithful through the open doors, and Zeus in the Sanctuary of Olympia, considered in its age and in later ages to be one of the marvels of the world.

According to Pliny the Elder's Natural History, in order to conserve the marble of these sculptures, oil receptacles were placed in the temples so that the ivory would not crack.

While the decor of the provisional theatres was very simple, the permanent theatrical venues of ancient Athens eventually became more sumptuous and elaborate.

The dramatic poets from this era whose plays have survived are: The Golden Age featured some of the most renowned Western philosophers of all time.

Other notable philosophers of the Golden Age included Anaxagoras; Democritus (who first inquired as to what substance lies within all matter, the earliest known proposal of what is now called the atom or its sub-units); Empedocles; Hippias; Isocrates; Parmenides; Heraclitus; and Protagoras.

Pericles and his mistress Aspasia had the opportunity to associate with not only the great Athenians thinkers of their day but also other Greek and foreign scholars.

Among them were the philosopher Anaxagoras, the architect Hippodamus of Miletus, who reconstructed Peiraeus, as well as the historians Herodotus (484–425), Thucydides (460–400), and Xenophon (430–354).

From 461 until his death in 429 BC Pericles was active in the government of Athens, an era of splendour and a standard of living higher than any previously experienced.

The foreign affairs policies adopted by Athens did not produce the best results; members of the Delian League were increasingly dissatisfied.

Taking advantage of the general dissent of the Greek city-states, this Peloponnesian League began to confront Athens.