Ancient Greece had many ups and downs in it's very long history. As a growing civilization it earned numerous allies as well as enemies. One of these great enemies were the Persians. Although the Persians were very powerful adversaries, the Greeks defeated them and at that point the era of classical Greece began. The Delian league which was created to unite all states and protect them from intruders had turned into an empire. This empire was governed by Athens. As peace and harmony was restored in Greece, the city of Athens was about to experience it's greatest epoch. A time filled with power and great social and political wealth. All of which was the product of a great man's work. His name was Pericles.
             Pericles was born in the year 495 B.C. into a very noble family. He was the nephew of Cleisthenes who founded Athenian Democracy. Pericles lived his whole life in a political environment. When he became involved in Athenian affairs, he received a very good reputation. In 462 B.C. he began to dominate the politics in Athens as a key leader in the democratic movement. Not only was he a great orator, Pericles was a patriot to his country. He had two main plans: to produce a strong democratic reform and an even stronger empire. Under the guidance of Pericles Athens was mainly governed by the democratic assembly and by the council. This assembly was not just a group of people who represented the government, thus it consisted of all male citizens. The citizens of Athens were the democracy. Although she still wasn't a full democratic state because women, foreigners, and slaves were not included. Pericles also changed the rules of citizenship. Before, anyone who was born of at least one Athenian parent was known as an Athenian citizen, but Pericles changed that. He established laws which demanded that a child can only become a citizen if both of his parents were full Athenian citizens.
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