The golden age of Athens is commonly designated to begin with the accession to the government of Pericles which came from the popular and progressive parties.
With the help of the great sculpler Phidias, it was Pericles who undertook the reconstruction of the monuments of the Acropolis which were destroyed by the Persians. Thus the Parthenon, the Propylaea, the Erechtheion and the "temples of the virgins" dedicated to Athena with an imposing statue of gold and ivory high of 25 meters rise in white marble.
In the lower town, the Agora is enlarged, most of the houses inside the compound are built of brick.
Under the government of Pericles, Athens reached its "democratic" apogee with the institution of the city assembly.
It took on a status as a capital of the Delos League (477 BC), an anti-Persian alliance of many cities of the Aegean, which was transformed into an empire.
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After the brief interlude of the peace of Nicias, they launch in 415 in a military adventure in Sicily. Commanded by Alcibiades, this expedition ended in 413 on a disaster and its discredited leader passes to the enemy.
In 406, Athens finally won a naval victory over Sparta, but the strategists of the expedition, taken by the storm, abandon the sailors who had been wrecked. Many of them die drowned. At the instigation of Theremin, the Assembly begins an action in court against them and six of them are condemned to death. Victory turns into