Pericles' Funeral Oration

In 431, shortly after the Peloponnesian War had broken out, Pericles delivered his famous Funeral Oration to commemorate those troops who had already fallen in battle. Recorded, and probably rewritten by the historian Thucydides, it is one of the primary sources on which our understanding of ancient Athens is based and provides a unique insight into how Athenian democracy understood itself. The idea that the Athenians are able to put aside their petty wants and strive for the greater good of the city is a central theme of the speech.

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