Pericles as Founding Father: Democracy from Athens to America
To mark our 25th anniversary, we invited Joanna Kenty–classics scholar, civic educator, and contributor to Danielle Allen’s The Renovator–to explore the legacy of Pericles in his full complexity and in direct conversation with the democratic challenges of our present moment. This article is the first of a two-part essay series that brings rigorous classical scholarship to bear on questions that feel anything but ancient: What does it mean to inherit a democracy? Who gets to belong? What happens when democratic ideals and democratic practice diverge? Together they offer a reading of Periclean Athens that is neither nostalgic nor dismissive. We hope they can be instructive for anyone trying to understand, and sustain, democratic life in 2026.