How a 2,400-year-old funeral speech shaped modern democracy
In short: Explore the enduring legacy of Pericles' Funeral Oration. This lecture examines how a single speech delivered in 431 BCE established a blueprint for the most influential political addresses in Western history.
In 431 BCE, during the first casualties of the Peloponnesian War, the Athenian statesman Pericles delivered his Epitaphios. Recorded by the historian Thucydides, who was present at the event, the speech serves as a foundational text for civic identity and public rhetoric.
Professor Edith Hall explores how this specific oration influenced subsequent epoch-making speeches, including those by Abraham Lincoln at Gettysburg, and later addresses by John F. Kennedy and Barack Obama. The lecture provides a historical deep dive into the site and the cultural weight of Pericles' words.
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: The Greatest Speech of all Time: Pericles' Funeral Oration - Edith Hall
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