ABSTRACT
Greek vases of the Geometric period such as the Dipylon vase were frequently intended to accompany the dead or to stand on top of their funeral mounds. Greeks regarded the Homeric epics as something more than works of literature; they valued them both as recollections of a heroic time when Greeks were united in a single cause, and, even more important, as sources of practical and moral education for their own age. After receiving an excellent education in philosophy, politics, and music, Pericles became prominent in public life. The leader of the democratic party, he won the support and respect of the masses by initiating democratic reforms. A member of the Athenian army during the Persian Wars, Aeschylus was also deeply attached to democratic values. Fortified by Persian money, Sparta built a fleet that strangled the Athenian empire.
