Perikles (2)Pericles

The son of the famous Athenian statesman, Perikles and the courtesan, Aspasia.

Because his father never married Aspasia, the younger Perikles was not automatically a citizen of the city of Athens but in the last year of his father’s life he was granted citizenship as an act of respect for his father’s great contributions to the Athenian empire.

In 406 BCE the younger Perikles was in the sea-battle of Arginusae; although the Athenians defeated the Spartans, the Athenians were outraged that many of the seamen drowned because no effort was made to rescue them; Perikles was sentenced to death with five other generals even though the charges against them were, according to the historian Thukydides (Thucydides), not sufficient to warrant their deaths.