Thucydides (son of Melesius)

Born in the deme of Alopec in Attica . After the death of Cimon during the siege of Kitia, Thucydides became the leader of the aristocratic group ^[1] . To counter the influence of Pericles, he created an aristocratic heterology , in which there were uniform organizational principles, purposefully acting against Pericles ^{[1] [2]} . Thucydides relied only on the aristocracy, while Pericles acted as the spokesman for the interests of the entire policy ^[3] .

Thucydides created and strengthened heteria; Pericles acted by opposite methods. Plutarch wrote:

“Pericles has changed his whole way of life. In the city he was seen walking along only one road - to the square and to the Council. He refused invitations to dinners and all that kind of friendly, short relationship, so that during his long political career he did not go to any of his friends for dinner; only when his relative Euriptol married, he stayed at the feast until libation and immediately then got up from the table. ” ^[4]

Pericles began to position himself as a “purely public” person who under no circumstances would give up the law and interests of the state for the sake of any friendly or family ties ^[5] . Therefore, he began to shun his fellow citizens, first of all, Alkmeonids, so that no one would even think that he was on friendly terms with this or that Athenian, and the Meteks Anaksagoras, Protagoras , Herodotus and others became his friends ^[6] . In the same years, Pericles divorced his wife, who belonged to the genus Alkmeonides.

Clashes between Pericles and Thucydides occurred regularly, and Pericles most often won. During the Lesser Peloponnesian War, the confrontation temporarily stopped. Plutarch conveys Thucydides's joke regarding the eloquence of Pericles:

“Once the Spartan king Archdeam asked him who is more skilled in the struggle, he or Pericles. “When I bring him down in the fight,” Thucydides answered, “he says that he didn’t fall, through this he turns out to be the winner and convinces those who saw it”. ” ^[7]

After the war ended, the internal political struggle intensified again. Thucydides accused Pericles of exploiting the Allies very toughly and wasting public money on construction programs ^[8] . But the influence of Pericles was very significant, and Thucydides could not equal him in authority in the Athenian demos ^[8] . In 444 or 443 BC. e. ^[9] Pericles initiated an ostracophoria and secured the expulsion of Thucydides. ^[10]

The first foreign policy action of Pericles was the foundation of the Furies. Furies were founded, most likely, in 443 BC. e. ^[11] But the Furies, dominated by the Dorian population, very soon got out of Athenian control, an internal political struggle began ^[12] . There is an assumption that in the disruption of the plans of Pericles, Thucydides, expelled from Athens and possibly arrived in Furies, played a role ^[13] .

• Plutarch . Comparative biographies . Pericles
• Surikov I.E. Pericles: the man who gave the name to the era // Ancient Greece: politics in the context of the era: the heyday of democracy. - M. :: Nauka, 2008 .-- 383 p. - ISBN 978-5-02-036984-9 .