Pericles
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My name is Pericles, I was born on 495 B.C. I was born into a wealthy family of the Alcmaeonids. My father Xanthippus, was also a military commander for Athens as well, so at a young age I was trained by him. There is nothing else I need to say, even my name in Greek means “Surrounded by Glory”. I started my political career in the law courts and I was the leading prosecutors for Athens. I had many political opponents, but I all don’t matter because I soon took care of them. Soon after, I was able to consolidate my position as leading statesmen for Athens. The people of Athens loved me. I gave the poor citizens of Athens to be able to go to theatrical performances for free, so instead of making them join the army like the Spartans did, I gave them free entertainment. I also let them vote for the laws that they would like, so this is why people say Athens was the birth place to democracy. Not only that I made the people happy. I made the Delian League, allies of Athens to pay tribute to us, so I took the money of the Delian League to rebuild Athens. I used it to build the Parthenon and other sculptures to show off the true glory of Athens. Doing all of this showed to the Athenians allies what a beautiful and powerful city Athens was but also gave work to Athenians. The one law that I believed that was the greatest one I made was a law which stated the jury service. I was also in charge of the military during the Peloponnesian Wars. With me in charged the Athenians were winning, but when I got sick from the plague that hit Athens. Soon, the plague got to me and I died on 429 BC.