Pericles the Onion-Head

Transcript

Pericles was perhaps the most influential political figure in Athens — and one of the most powerful men in the Greek world. For many years, Athenians repeatedly elected him strategos — one of the city’s ten generals. His political influence was so great that historians sometimes describe him as the ruler of Athens. But that is precisely what he was not. Athens had no throne for Pericles to sit on. His power depended on something far less secure: persuading his fellow citizens and keeping their confidence. Year after year, he had to prove himself again. He helped shape the Athens of the Parthenon, dominated public life for decades, and was celebrated as an extraordinary speaker and statesman. And what did the Athenian comedians call this remarkable man? Onion-head. Plutarch tells us that Pericles had an unusually long head. The comic poets noticed. Of course they did. They compared it to a squill — a Mediterranean plant with a large, elongated bulb. In other words: Pericles the Onion-Head. And they did not stop there. Athenian comedy mocked his appearance, his voice, his power and his ambitions. When he seemed too grand for his own good, the comedians even compared him to Zeus. You could be the most influential man in Athens. You could help shape the fate of one of the most powerful cities in the Greek world. You could help build the Parthenon. And still, the next time you appeared in public, thousands of your fellow citizens might be laughing at jokes about the shape of your head. Power could make you influential. It could never make you untouchable.