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pericles' funeral oration

Now, therefore, that you have all wept as it becometh your kinsmen, sons, and mourners, return to your homes. Prior to the plague's devastation, Athenians were already dying as a result of the war. Pericles’ Funeral Oration (Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War, translated by Rex Warner, Penguin Books, 1972, pages 144-150.) Pericles Funeral Oration (Rex Warner Translation) - YouTube Leading up to this oration, the people of Athens, including those from the countryside whose land was being pillaged by their enemies, were kept in crowded conditions within the walls of Athens. The same winter the Athenians, according to their ancient custom, solemnized a public funeral of the first slain in this war in this manner. Pericles' Funeral Oration by Philipp Foltz (1852) When the bodies had been buried, it was customary for some wise and prudent notable and chief person of the city, preeminent in honor and dignity, before all the people to make a prayer in praise of the dead, and after doing this, each one returned to his House. Pericles' emphasis on sacrifice for freedom is echoed in the famous words, blood, toil, tears and sweat, from Winston Churchill to the British during World War II in his first speech as Prime Minister. In the end, Sparta prevailed, but its hegemony would not last long, since first Thebes and then Macedonia, would end up imposing themselves on the Greek world. In his funeral oration of 431 BC, the Athenian leader Pericles discussed this concept. When the bodies had been buried, it was customary for some wise and prudent notable and chief person of the city, preeminent in honor and dignity, before all the people to make a prayer in praise of the dead, and after doing this, each one returned to his House. Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War II.34. Gill is a Latinist, writer, and teacher of ancient history and Latin. The goal that Pericles achieved through this speech was to make the people feel proud to be Athenians. But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. And we are the only ones who, without anguish, seek to benefit someone not so much by calculating the right moment as by trusting our freedom. As Thucydides recounts, it consisted of a procession that accompanied the ten coffins (cypress coffers, one for each Athenian tribe, plus one always empty in memory of the disappeared) to their burial place in the Ceramic, the most important cemetery in Athens, which can still be visited today. Pericles praises the achievements of the fallen, but ignores the military victories of the past and focuses on highlighting how Athens got to the present moment, and the form of government they were so proud of, democracy. Photo: markara/Shutterstock.com. Ancient Philosophy. The narrator, Gower, explains the story's setting in Antioch, where Pericles goes in search of a bride. During the a lot of the conflict, there was an annual public … There, a speaker chosen from among the leading men of the polis, gave a complimentary speech. And in the climax of the speech Pericles links the greatness of the city with the deceased heroes, and expresses the inevitable conclusion that happiness is based on freedom, and freedom on courage. Thucydides: Pericles' Funeral Oration Thucydides, Pericles' Funeral Oration Most of those who have spoken here before me have commended the lawgiver who added this oration to our other funeral customs. Pericles' Funeral Oration (Perikles hält die Leichenrede) by Philipp Foltz (1852) " Pericles' Funeral Oration " (Ancient Greek) is a famous speech from Thucydides ' History of the Peloponnesian War. By using ThoughtCo, you accept our, The Thirty Tyrants After the Peloponnesian War, Political Aspects of the Classical Age of Greece. Many of those who before now have made prayers in this very place and seat, praised in great measure this ancient custom of praising before the people those who died in the war, but it seems to me that the solemn funeral rites which we publicly make today are the best praise of those who by their deeds have deserved it. Pericles is speaking at the funeral for the dead of Athens, standing in front of the tomb in which they are interred. Pericles was a famous Greek general. This article was originally published in La Brújula Verde. Plato, for example, in his Menexenus , attributes it to Aspasia, the companion of Pericles. He then goes on to highlight how Athenians are magnanimous towards others, generous in their help and confident in the validity of their institutions. Pericles' Funeral Oration is sometimes compared with Lincoln's Gettysburg Address. He was so important to Athens that his name defines the Periclean age ("The Age of Pericles"), a period when Athens rebuilt what had been destroyed during the recent war with Persia (the Greco-Persian or Persian Wars). c.490 BCE from Thucydides, The Peloponnesian War. Pericles uses his speech to calm anxious Athenians and sway them to support the war with Sparta. And it is that many later speeches of politicians of the culture that emanates from Ancient Greece, were inspired or directly copied parts of the funeral oration of Pericles. © Amusing Planet, 2021. That time to report the praises of the first who were killed in the war, Pericles, son of Xanthippus, was … Quizlet flashcards, activities and games help you improve your grades. The institution of democracy of Thomas Cahill and many other scholars, the longest prayer was given by Pericles! The democratic form of government follows the English Translation of the War custom the... 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