Pericles (c. 495–429 BCE) brought Athens to its peak, turning the Delian League into the empire of Athens, and so the era in which he lived is named the Age of Pericles. He helped the poor, set up colonies, built the long walls from Athens to the Piraeus, developed the Athenian navy, and built the Parthenon, the Odeon, the Propylaea, and the temple at Eleusis. The name of Pericles is also attached to the Peloponnesian War. During the war, he ordered the people of Attica to leave their fields and come into the city to stay protected by the walls. Unfortunately, Pericles didn't foresee the effect of disease on the crowded conditions and so, along with many others, Pericles died of the plague near the start of the war.
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