Features: 1. People’s sovereignty and governance by turns.

2. The Citizens’ Assembly, the Council of Five Hundred and the People’s Court are the full manifestations of democratic government.

Pericles (Greek: Περικλ?, English: Pericles, approximately 495 BC - 429 BC), an outstanding representative of slavery and democracy in ancient Greece, and one of the famous politicians in the ancient world . Pericles devoted his life to running the democratic politics of slavery and expanding the power of Athens. He promoted the economic, political, military and cultural prosperity of Athens' slavery and occupied a relatively important position in history. The activities he advocated for the Panhellenic cause and the establishment of Athens hegemony were extortion and oppression of the allies, but they were also conducive to the economic development and political unification of the Greek world. However, the historical conditions for realizing the political unification of the Greek world were not yet mature at that time. It was difficult to complete the great cause of unification with the power of a single city-state in Athens and maintaining the original city-state system. After his death, Athens lost its strong leadership. After a long period of repeated battles, it was finally defeated by the combined power of Sparta and Persia.

Pericles represented the interests of Athenian industrial and commercial slave owners and middle- and lower-class free people, especially fourth-class citizens such as sailors and servants. His domestic policy centered on strengthening democratic politics. Starting from the reforms in 462 BC, the Athenian Citizens' Assembly, driven by Pericles, gradually passed a series of decrees and measures, mainly in four aspects:

Deprivation of power

< p>Deprive the Ares Mountain Council of its political power and assign it to the Citizens' Assembly, the Assembly of Five Hundred and the Jury Court respectively. From then on, the Ares Mountain Council only heard cases and matters of a religious nature. The citizens' assembly, the jury court and the meeting of five hundred people got rid of the constraints of the Mars Hill Council and became the highest authority and executive agency of the Athenian state.

Official positions are open

Official positions at all levels are open to the general public. After 457 BC, citizens of the third estate were qualified to serve as consuls, and citizens of the fourth estate were actually later allowed to hold this position. As a result, all male citizens of Athens basically obtained the rights and opportunities to hold official positions at all levels through lottery, election and rotation without property restrictions.

Public salary system

A public salary system is implemented. Initially, the state provided daily living allowances to associate judges, and the post-salary system was extended to most public offices, which provided a certain material guarantee for poor citizens to participate in political power management.

Restrict the scope of identity

Restrict the scope of obtaining Athenian citizenship. In 451 BC, it was stipulated that only those whose parents were Athenian citizens could obtain Athenian citizenship.

After Pericles’ painstaking efforts, Athens’ slave-owning democratic government became increasingly complete.

Foreign Action

Fundamental Principles

Pericles’ foreign policy was based on the fundamental principle of expanding the power and interests of Athens, and tried to strengthen control over the Delian League. Basically, it became an enemy of the Peloponnesian League headed by Sparta, and established Athens' superiority and hegemony in the Greek world on land and sea.