 On April 17, 2024, the National Hellenic Museum (NHM) presented the Trial of Pericles as part of the NHM Trial Series, which reenacts ancient disputes in contemporary settings. Held at the Harris Theater in Chicago, the event focused on Pericles, an Ancient Greek statesman of the 5th century BC who helped establish a flourishing civic democracy and an incipient Athenian empire.
Historian Thucydides documented the career of Pericles. He witnessed many of his achievements and became an unreserved admirer of the statesman. Among his accomplishments, Pericles leveraged a pathway of popular vote to ascend to power and employed legal prosecution as a political tool. Pericles made numerous controversial decisions during his lengthy career, including supporting a new citizenship law that changed the rules of the Athenian Constitution in 451 BC. It barred citizenship for anyone who did not have two Athenian parents. Previously, any person with an Athenian father could gain citizenship. While Pericles’ camp claimed the law protected the city-state from foreign influences and preserved democracy, many did not agree. They saw the law as tyrannical and a direct attack on their civil liberties. Some historians opine that Pericles would have undergone trial over the law if he had survived the plague that ravaged Athens in 430 BC. Bringing together three prosecutors, including two lawyers, one Department of Homeland Security member, and three defending attorneys, the NHM event presented a “what if” trial to answer the age-old question of whether Pericles was a hero or a tyrant. The trial featured testimony by a retired Illinois judge (playing Pericles) and a current Illinois judge, who appeared as prosecution witness Olympia (a non-Athenian mother and wife residing in Athens). The unanimous verdict, handed down by three Illinois current and retired judges, found Pericles guilty.
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