ABSTRACT
Athens was expanding its empire, and the ambitious Pericles won wide popularity as a naval commander. Once in power, Pericles launched a program of city construction designed to express patriotism and elevate Athenian power. Pericles also promoted the expansion of the empire, knowing that ultimately this would bring Athens into conflict with Sparta. At first, Pericles rallied Athenians around a patriotic devotion to their city. Such was the fate of Pericles himself, who in 429 perished along with a third of the Athenian population during an outbreak of the plague. The war that Pericles had invited thus destroyed Athenian diplomatic leadership. While the Peloponnesian War caused the civil order created by Pericles to crumble, in subsequent centuries Western civilization would look back to Periclean Athens as a model of enlightened government. In the sphere of culture Pericles's rule established an example of civic consciousness that had lasting consequences.
