The Age of Pericles

Sir Richard Claverhouse Jebb (1841-1905) was a British classical scholar and Member of Parliament for Cambridge University. He was acknowledged to be one of the most brilliant classical scholars of his time, a humanist and an unsurpassed translator from and into the classical languages.

The Jebb’s essay The Age of Pericles, which we propose to our readers today, was written in Glasgow in March 1889 and was included in 1907 in the collection Essays and Addresses, published by the Cambridge University Press.

Pericles (Περικλῆς; c. 495-429 BC) was a Greek politician and general during the Golden Age of Athens. He was prominent and influential in Ancient Athenian politics, particularly between the Greco-Persian Wars and the Peloponnesian War, and was acclaimed by Thucydides, a contemporary historian, as "the first citizen of Athens".