Was Pericles famous for tyrant of Athens?

Answer 1

Pericles was not a tyrant. Athens was a radical democracy and Pericles was variously a magistrate and general but had to justify his actions to the popular Assembly. He gained ascendency by arranging the banishment of his main political opponent Thucydides son of Melesias, but preferred to think of himself as 'first citizen' and had to influence his people by persuasion. His influence was, unfortunately too great, and led his people into a disastrous war imagining that Athens could use its empire to dominate the Greek world. He died of the plague before seeing the catastrophe that this war brought to the Greek world in general and Athens in particular.