Funeral Oration of Pericles (431 BCE) Commentary by Todd W. Ewing, Williams Baptist College

The Funeral Oration of Pericles of Athens is considered one of the most famous speeches of antiquity. The speech concluded a ritualized ceremony to honor the city's soldiers who had fallen in the first year of the Peloponnesian War. Despite the fact that Athens had secured a strong defensive position that year (431 bce), very little had been accomplished in reducing Sparta's ability to wage war. Moreover, hostilities between Athens and Sparta had not been the result of a unanimous policy. Given that the two cities had been allies in the Persian Wars (490–479 bce), many people objected to a course that caused a disruption of those relations. Pro-Spartan elements existed, albeit in the minority, but their presence was enough to cause tensions.

Furthermore, not all Athenians agreed with the development of democracy, which allowed nonaristocratic elements to control policy. A work known as the Constitution of Athens, assigned to Xenophon (ca. 431–352 bce), suggested a contempt...