Pericles’ father was an aristocrat and soldier. This would enable Pericles to see how the government worked during the times of Draco and Solon. He would learn the higher standards that were expected of him as the son of an aristocrat and soldier.  Perhaps of more influence was that Cleisthenes was his mother’s uncle. He would have learned the ways of democracy by living under the laws established by Cleisthenes and perhaps may have learned about him from his mother. His position as a general may have helped develop his leadership skills and his solitary life would have given him time to think about democracy but neither of these would be as great an influence as his family life and relationship to Cleisthenes. Pericles could not expect to attain to a leadership position in Athens simply because he was the son of an aristocrat. The thought that a general could use the army to enforce democratic ideas is contrary to the concept of democracy and Pericles own ideas about democracy.

Athens needed a strong navy to guarantee the security of the Empire. The city had a strong army to protect it on land but needed a defensive force to protect it from attack by sea and to protect its trade routes. Athens prosperity depended on safe access to the waterways and trade routes of the Mediterranean. From its earliest days, Athens needed to obtain grain and raw materials from trading partners in the Mediterranean. Therefore a strong navy was required. There is no evidence to support a plan to explore East Asia and after the Persian Wars, this would not have been of vital importance to Pericles.  Nor did he plan to invade Sparta or the other city states that did not join the Delian League. He had no intention of plundering neighboring countries. Again, that would be contrary to his personality and the ideas of democracy. Finally, while a great navy may have added to the reputation and by extension to the glory of Athens that was not the reason Pericles sought to build the Athenian navy.

Cleisthenes’ motivation was to bring democracy to Athens. To do so, it would be necessary to encourage the older families of the city to look to the future rather than live in the past. It was his goal to improve the Solonian code with more democratic concepts. This required the destruction of hereditary privilege and determination of citizenship by clan. His family had been exiled and threatened with death as a result of a plan conceived by the archon of Athens and the Spartan army. When the plan failed, the Spartan army withdrew from Athens. It was common for all Greek leaders to turn to Delphi for advice and counsel. This would not be out of the ordinary and but it was not part of Cleisthenes’ reforms.

Demeter is one of the more important Greek Goddess’ who we do not hear very much about in contemporary reimaginings of ancient Greek mythology. Demeter was the Goddess of fertility and the harvest, and was credited with introducing agriculture to the Greek people. She was revered in many Greek city-states and was the subject of cult-like worship. In Athens especially, there were dozens of all-female cults dedicated to serving the Goddess Demeter.

Pisistratus is most notable for ruling Athens as a tyrant for several decades in the sixth century BCE. Pisistratus is a classic example of an ancient Greek tyrant who ruled by revoking the power and privileges of the aristocracy and granting increased rights to the poor and common people. Notably, Pisistratus confiscated lands for the aristocracy and redistributed those lands to the poor.

Demes were village communities or neighborhoods of Athens that were united by their geographical proximity. When Cleisthenes reformed Athenian democracy in the late sixth century, he made demes the primary constituent unit of Athenian politics. Athenian citizens were organized according to their demes, and all adult male citizen members of the demes participated in Athenian government.

After the discovery of a rich vein of silver at Lavrion, Themistokles convinced the Athenians to invest the new wealth in the construction of a navy. This helped to put the military power in the hands of the people (the rowers) rather than the wealthy who could afford hoplite arms and armor. As a populist, the politically benefited Themistokles. It also led to the Athenian thalassocracy that dictated Athenian foreign and military policy for centuries to come. With the construction of the long walls, Athens could withstand sieges indefinitely by remaining within the walls and importing food. 

Pericles knew that the Athenians could not defeat the Athenians in open battle. Instead, he had all citizens move inside the long walls in order to withstand any Spartan aggression. The navy was used to raid Spartan territory and bring supplies to the Athenian citizens

Thrasybulus was an Athenian general who defended democracy when oligarchy was established on two separate occasions. Most significantly, he led an attack against the Spartan puppet government in Athens, the Thirty Tyrants. Defeating these and the Spartan forces, he helped to restore democracy to Athens after their defeat in the Peloponnesian War. The Battle of Sybota led to the outbreak of the war in 433 BCE when Thrasybulus was only a child.

In ancient Greek society, the Helots were agricultural slaves (or serfs) who were tied to the land and did all the hard labor in Spartan society. Helots made up the vast majority of the inhabitants of Spartan territory.