Pericles Funeral Oration Analysis

Throughout history, war has shaped, changed, as well as eliminated cultures and civilizations in the world. In the case of Ancient Athens, war was feared as well as respected. Soldiers who have fallen on the battlefield were given honorary ceremonial burials with a member of society conducting a speech in honor of their bravery, and servitude for the city-state. This selected member within society was chosen by the city for his intellectual gifts as well as his reputation within the society. After the first year of the Peloponnesian war, Pericles was chosen to speak at the funeral oration for the men who had died in the first year of combat. He used this occasion to ornate on the different aspects of Athenian democracy and also talks about …show more content…
Pericles believed that decisions in Athens will be made by the people and they will have a say in who will govern and how will it be governed. In Athens every citizen had a right to free speech and was able to state their opinions and present their argument. Therefore, they would participate in the decision making process by placing a valid argument/point/problem in the assembly and then debating about which course of action would best fit the argument/problem. The final decision was taken by vote of the majority and this is were we can see that the citizens of Athens were truly in power and had the ultimate say in what was best for Athens. Pericles states that, “each individual is interested not only in his own affairs but in the affairs of the state as well’ (Pericles.pg147).This shows us that every citizen had a voice in government and that policy making had a proportional representation of its citizens. Unlike other Greek city-states, were the decision making was done by a small group of elites, kings or other authoritative figures. Through this we can see how the decision making process in Athens was different from its neighboring City-States. Pericles also pointed out that Athenians don’t make rash decisions, “into action before the consequence have been properly debated” (Pericles.pg147). This shows that as the process of decision making is collectively done, it therefore eliminates rash decisions and gives room for variety and options. Furthermore, Pericles goes on mentioning that what counts in Athens is actual merit and that anyone in Athens can thrive and prove his point through his own individual merit. That no citizen in Athens shall be held back from making a valid argument of his own and participating in the