pericles step three exercise
After reading through the description of the plague [20 minutes], write down your answers to the following questions [25 minutes]:
Does Thucydides’ account of the plague suggest any fault in Pericles’ war strategy? His efficacy as a leader? To what extent is he culpable for what happened in the city?
Could Pericles have done better to prepare Athens for what happened? Would a different type of leadership have had more success?
Do the Athenians’ actions show any fault in Pericles’ vision of Athenian democracy as built on a community that privileges civic values?