What was government like in age of Pericles?

Answer 1

Pericles ruled Greece during its Golden or Classical Age. During his rule, even common Athenians could be elected to public office. He allowed freedom of speech and took Greece through a period of artistic, cultural, economic and democratic supremacy that influenced the world.

Answer 2

Pericles did not rule - Athens had become a radical democracy - the people met in Assembly each fortnight and made decisions of government. The council and generals carried out these instructions. Pericles thought of himself as First Citizen, using his oratory and persuasion to try to steer the decisions.

The regime he helped set up and guide was fed by the empire it had established out of the anti-Persian Delian League when the Persian threat receded. The allies were still milked of their funds, which Athens lavished on itself - on buildings, arts, and half its population on the public payroll. They lived, for the times, a lavish lifestyle.

Unfortunately Pericles urged them into a devastating 27-year war with the Peloponnesian League led by Sparta, which devastated the Greek world. Athens lost, and was stripped of its empire. Pericles died of plague very early in this war so we don't know if he could have steered them to success. But Athens lost its pre-eminence which it never regained.

Answer 3

He expelled his political opposition, and established a radical democracy - all citizens met in fortnightly assembly where they determined laws and directed actions to be carried out by the Council. As long as Pericles lived to influence it from the sidelines, it worked. When he died from the plague, opportunists took over and it failed.