Under Pericles the economy thrived and the government became more democratic. Because of his skill and intelligence his time of rule is often known as the Age of Pericles. (He created direct democracy, jury, and stipend)
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direct democracy.
Pericles died from the plague.
The reality was that Pericles steered Athens into a radical democracy where the people met in assembly and made the decisions. They were the government. Between fortnightly assembly meetings, an elected council of 50 carried out the decisions of the assembly. Pericles called himself 'First Citizen' and had to persuade the people in assembly to approve any proposals he put forward. Others also put forward proposals to the assembly in parallel of competition. Pericles won some, lost some. He did not rule. That's what the democracy was all about - demos = people kratos = power - people power.
There were many - Athens always had 10 generals at any one time, on elected from each of the ten tribes. An early well known one was Pericles, but he died early on from the plague. His son Pericles became a general, and the list goes on - some well-known/notorious ones were Alcibiades, Nicias, Thucydides, Theramenes,
The leader was Pericles.