Pericles

Pericles was an essential part of the building of the great city-state Athens. He came up with the Idea for the Parthenon. The Parthenon was a temple that worshiped the goddess Athena. It was built on the Acropolis in 447 BC. The Acropolis was a famous hill in Athens. The Parthenon was entirely made of marble. It took hundreds of people working countless hours to finish it. It had 50 columns. 8 in the front and rear and 17 on either side. Just imagine hundreds of people taking their time to build a beautiful structure that took 15 years. Why use all this time and money to build a beautiful building for a goddess that will not even go there you might ask. It was because the Greeks believed that if you built something for a god or goddess you would gain their favor. The Athenians worshiped Athena because she was the goddess of battle and wisdom. The war part for their navy and the wisdom part for education. Pericles came up with the democracy government. A democracy is a government that had an election. In a way it is ruled by the people. Pericles was also a general that fought in the Battle of Sicyon and Acarnania in 454 BC and he also was a general in The Second Sacred War in 448 BC.

Pericles was born in 495 BC and died in 429 BC. He died of the plague. His parents were Xanthippus and Agariste of Sicyon. Xanthippus is his dad and Agariste of Sicyon is his mom. His children were Pericles The Younger, Paralus, and Xanthippus. His wife was Aspasia.

Themistocles

Themistocles was an Athenian politician. He was born in 527 BC in Athens and he died in 457 BC in Magnesia the Meander. His parents were Neocles and Abrotonum. His wife was Archippe. His children were Polyeuctus, Cleophantus, Asia, Italia, Neocles, Diocles, Mnesitpolema, Nicomache, Archeptolis, and Sybaris.

Themistocles was a general and a politician. As a general he served in the Battle of Marathon, The Battle of Artemisium, and The Battle of Salamis. He is most famous for the second Persian Invasion because he commanded the navy and won. In the second Persian Invasion the Persians fought a group of various Greek city-states that teamed up to fight. Although the Greeks were heavily out-numbered they won under the lead of Themistocles. The Greeks went to both ends of the Salamis strait thus cornering the Persians. Since the Persians were unorganized and were not expecting to be cornered, Themistocles took the opportunity and won. Xerxes the King of Persia and the rest of his fleet retreated back to Persia. Historians believe that this was the most crucial win in Greek history. After the win Themistocles got cocky and wanted a bigger position in the Athenian government. The Athenians said no and he went into exile. A while after that he became governor of Magnesia. That is where he died.