Pericles was mocked as a sea onion head, yet he came to define the golden age of Athens. This deep dive explores how a shy student of the philosopher Anaxagoras turned emotional calm into a political superpower and aligned himself with the working class by funding The Persians by Aeschylus.

We examine ostracism, paid jury service, the strict citizenship law of 451 BC, and how he turned the Delian League into an Athenian empire to fund the navy and the Acropolis. We also cover the attacks on Phidias, Anaxagoras and Aspasia, the Megarian Decree, his strategy of retreating behind the walls against Sparta, and the plague that took his sons and his life.

• How an introvert broke into loud Athenian politics
• Paying jurors and why it mattered for democracy
• Radical democracy at home and imperialism abroad
• His bluff over the Parthenon spending and the trials of his inner circle
• The war strategy that bred a plague and the irony of his citizenship law