A number of well-known Greek men made their outstanding contributions to literature, philosophy, medicine, and politics, and their significant impact is hard to be overestimated. One of these influential and famous persons is Pericles – a Greek orator, general, politician, and patron of the arts who lived in Athens from 495 to 429 B.C. His strategies and policies were aimed at transforming the city’s alliances into a powerful empire and improving civic participation and civil service in Athens.
Pericles introduced many changes to various spheres of life in his city. First of all, thanks to this brilliant politician, Athens became a much more democratic city-state where all people were treated relatively equally (Lewis, 2020). Pericles decided that the best way to achieve that was to appoint citizens to government positions based not on their social class and wealth but their abilities, skills, and readiness to improve the lives of others. According to Lewis (2020), this modification allowed talented people to obtain power and resources to participate in government, and the gap between upper-class and lower-class citizens became less noticeable. Consequently, civic participation and civil service in the city increased significantly.
What is more, Pericles introduced some other modifications that appeared to be effective. The politician offered payments for different civil services, namely, jury duty, and this decision allowed him to enable more substantial civic participation. Poor people got an opportunity to leave their working places and take part in the justice system while still getting paid (Lewis, 2020). Thus, festival-grants, allotments of public lands, and distributions of fees for various public services resulted in citizens’ increased attention to the problems and values of Athens, and citizen participation in politics expanded.
Reference
Lewis, D. M. (2020). Pericles. Encyclopedia Britannica. Web.