The ascendancy of the Greek polis in the Ancient World culminated in Athens in the fifth century BC under the leadership of the great statesman Pericles. Never holding an office higher than that of general, Pericles nonetheless dominated the political landscape of Athens for more than forty years. Under his sure hand, Athens became emblematic of all that many in modern times believe to epitomize Classic Greek culture: a shining, glamorous city boasting the acropolis, the Parthenon, and countless other marvels of architecture; a paragon of participatory democracy and the birthplace of the art of rhetoric and oration; a place where city streets teemed with merchants and philosophers and where theaters showcased the talents of the finest tragedians and dramatists of the age (Robinson 51).
Not to be overlooked, however, is that lurking in the shadows of this rosy image of Ancient Greece was a massive slave population, wholly devoid of citizenship in the city-state and therefore, lacking any political rights at all. It would be folly to suggest that Periclean democracy was not founded upon, or could have existed without slavery. Such a statement would be akin to the suggestion that modern American political society does not depend upon the existence of the dollar, or that the Native Americans could have done without the buffalo. As such, it is entirely accurate to observe that without slavery, Periclean democracy could simply not have been.
The above statement may just as easily be made about many other slave-holding societies throughout Ancient Greece. It is well documented in historical accounts dating back from this period that slave populations were nearly ubiquitous in Ancient Greek societies. SpartaÆs own trouble with her helot population was a source of enduring agitation within that city-state, and may have led directly to her eventual undoing (Meltzer 83-84).
What makes the Athenian example under Pericles s...