Pericles of Athens by Vincent Azoulay

Abstract

Pericles of Athens, by Vincent Azoulay, translated by Janet Lloyd. Princeton, Princeton University Press, 2014. xiv, 291 pp. $35.00 US (cloth). Pericles of Athens is Janet Lloyd's fluid translation of the French original, Pericles: La democratie athenienne a l'epreuve du grand homme (Paris, 2010), into the English language. In this book, Vincent Azoulay offers a sensitive and wide-ranging treatment of the scant evidence for the life of the Athenian statesman. Azoulay uses the biographical tradition to discuss not only Pericles but also the period in fifth-century Athenian history that has come to be associated with his name. Azoulay begins with an overview of the political advantages Pericles enjoyed, both those he was born with, like family wealth, and those he acquired, like oratorical skill (chapters one to three). He then describes Athens in the fifth century, focusing on imperial policy and the economy, and probes the extent to which these spheres were Periclean (chapters four and five). Pericles' political liabilities are considered, including reciprocal ties of philia, hierarchical ties of eros, and his relationship to state religion (chapters six to eight). Azoulay next tests the idea of an Age of Pericles, showing that the death of Pericles did not constitute a definitive historical break, and he outlines the extent to which Pericles as a politician was constrained by the Athenian democratic construct (chapters nine and ten). Finally, Azoulay enters into territory that will likely be less familiar to scholars in the field, and moves rather quickly through six hundred years of post-classical reception, documenting periods of obscurity, disrepute, and renown in Pericles' nachleben (chapters eleven and twelve). As Azoulay himself says at the beginning of his study, A project centered on Pericles has to walk a tightrope (4), and indeed this one does. Azoulay's book offers a portrait of Pericles that is balanced almost to a fault. Azoulay scrupulously reveals both sides of every issue he examines--for example, the benefits and pitfalls of being politically connected, or that Pericles both was and was not responsible for the conception and execution of Athens' imperial policies--to the point that it is difficult to draw any conclusions based on what is presented. Indeed, at times this book can feel formulaic. Most issues are discussed by first rejecting one unlikely extreme and then its opposite, only to arrive at the inevitable conclusion that the truth must lie somewhere in the middle but is, in most cases, impossible to specify. While some readers will be frustrated by the conspicuous absence of definitive assertions, this approach does have its merits. …