OCR GCSE Ancient History Athens in the Age of Pericles 462 to 429 BC: a complete depth-study overview

What this option demands

Athens in the Age of Pericles 462 to 429 BC is a popular Greek depth study in OCR's GCSE Ancient History Component 01 (Greece and Persia). A depth study examines a short period in close detail, and the exam rewards knowledge, the ability to explain change, and the ability to evaluate sources (AO3). The story runs from the democratic reforms that made Athens radical, through the workings of the democracy and the empire, to the leadership of Pericles and the war that ended the golden age. This overview ties the dot-point pages together.

The radical democracy

The period opens with the reforms that created a radical direct democracy. In 462 BC Ephialtes stripped the aristocratic Areopagus of its political powers, transferring them to the Assembly, the Council of 500 and the popular courts. Pericles then introduced pay for jurors and office-holders, so that even poor citizens could afford to take part. The democracy ran through the Assembly (sovereign), the Council of 500 (which prepared business) and the courts, with the lot used to fill most offices and ostracism to exile the too-powerful. But it was narrow: women, slaves and metics were all excluded.

The empire

Athens was also the head of an empire. The Delian League, founded in 478/477 BC as a voluntary alliance against Persia, became the Athenian empire as members paid tribute instead of serving, revolts (Naxos, Thasos) were crushed, and the treasury moved from Delos to Athens in 454 BC. The tribute funded Athenian power and the great building programme on the Acropolis, including the Parthenon.

Pericles and the war

The man who gives the period its name, Pericles, dominated Athens from about 461 to 429 BC, not by special powers but by repeated election as general and by persuasion of the Assembly. When the Peloponnesian War with Sparta broke out in 431 BC, he brought the rural population inside the walls and relied on the navy, but crowding the city helped a terrible plague spread, and Pericles died of it in 429 BC. The set debate is whether Athens was ruled by the people or by one man.

Check your knowledge

A mix of recall questions covering the whole option. Attempt them, then check the solutions.

1. What did Ephialtes do in 462 BC? (2 marks)
2. What did Pericles introduce that opened government to the poor? (1 mark)
3. Name the three main bodies of Athenian democracy. (3 marks)
4. Who was excluded from Athenian democracy? (2 marks)
5. When did the Delian League's treasury move to Athens? (1 mark)
6. What was Pericles' only formal office? (1 mark)
7. How did Pericles die, and in what year? (2 marks)
8. Name the three prescribed sources for this depth study. (3 marks)