Pericles was the leader of Athens at the height of it's power. He was born in one of Athens's most elite families. He knew that the people wanted a city built to fit an empire. He created a Parthenon, a enormous building with a statue of Athena in the center. It cost more $1 billion and used than 20,000 tons of marble. The statue of Athena was very tall and made of gold, silver, and ivory with jewels. Friezes were narrow pieces of marble about 2/3 inches thick. This statue is no longer in existence. There was a wall of carved marble on the outside.
Aspasia was the 2nd wife of Pericles. She was smart, well spoken, and beautiful, but she was pretty much a prostitute. She wasn't from Athens, but was allowed to participate in actual conversations. This sparked a lot of drama in Athens.
The home of popular entertainment was the theater. Athenians invented drama and theater. There were two types of plays: drama and comedy. The drama plays were typically called tragedies. Theaters were built in every great city.
Pericles wanted to make Athens the leader of the Mediterranean. Sparta was the only other Greek state that could still match Athens in power. Victory over Sparta would make them the undisputed leader. Huberis is a Greek word that means an excessive pride and arrogance to be the best and do it all. The Athenians were not one to turn down a fight, so they went to fight Sparta.
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