Pericles' Funeral Oration
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Pericles' Funeral Oration (Ancient Greek: Περικλέους Επιτάφιος) is a famous speech from Thucydides' History of the Peloponnesian War. The speech was delivered by Pericles, an eminent Athenian politician, at the end of the first year of the Peloponnesian War (431–404 BC) as a part of the annual public funeral for the war dead.
The oration is recorded in History of the Peloponnesian War, and includes a passage praising the equality among the free male citizens of the Athenian democracy:
- If we look to the laws, they afford equal justice to all in their private differences; if to social standing, advancement in public life falls to reputation for capacity, class considerations not being allowed to interfere with merit; nor again does poverty bar the way.--Thucydides, The History of the Peloponnesian War, Written 431 BCE, translated by Richard Crawley (1874)
See also
Epitaph, Gettysburg Address, Idiot, Kerameikos, Peloponnesian War, Public speaking, Thucydides, Pericles, Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Panegyric, Civics, List of Greek phrases, History of the Peloponnesian War, Hoi polloi, List of speeches, Menexenus (dialogue), Roger Kimball, Equality before the law, Great Cities of the Ancient World, Funeral oration (ancient Greece), Equal justice under law, Democracy, Thucydides, Politician, Athenian democracy, Athenian Revolution
