Pericles

Pericles (about 495-429 bc), Greek statesman.

Pericles was the leader of the city-state of Athens in Ancient Greece.

He led the armies and the navy of Athens in wars against other states, and he set up city-states in places outside Greece.

He planned to make Athens a city of great beauty and had many new buildings put up. The most important of these was a temple of the goddess Athene called the Parthenon. The remains of the Parthenon are still beautiful and every year thousands of people travel to Athens from all parts of the world to see them.

Essential reading: Donald Kagan Pericles Of Athens And The Birth Of Democracy