Cimon and Pericles: Authority and/or dominance in democratic Athens

We focus here on two powerful Athenians, Cimon and Pericles, whose position and great personal influence were an obvious departure from democracy. Thus here I discuss what their dominance (or one-man rule) was based on and why it became possible in democratic Athens. Perhaps their influence can be partly explained by the fact that they were repeatedly elected as generals (στρατηγοί). But the question r ema i n s whether the dominance of these men was only formal, i.e. rooted in some office (such as the στρατηγία), or informal and based on patron-client relations and personal charisma.