# Phidias and members of Pericles’ circle are prosecuted in the late 430s Date: 438 ## The fact In the late 430s Phidias and others of [Pericles](/people/pericles)’ circle were prosecuted in stories of embezzlement and impiety. The dated judicial attack is not the 430 fine of Pericles and not the Parthenon as fabric. Pericles’s documented role is: Later lives report prosecutions of Phidias, and attacks on Aspasia and Anaxagoras, as strikes at Pericles. Courts sat; he was the political target; unique charge-sheets are thin. Do not twin this with the 430 fine of Pericles himself. Circle-prosecutions are a different instrument. Later editors, printers, and excavators remain named where they appear. Pericles's documented role is: Later lives report prosecutions of Phidias, and attacks on Aspasia and Anaxagoras, as strikes at Pericles. Courts sat; he was the political target; unique charge-sheets are thin. ## Context Ivory-and-gold accounting, unnamed jurors, and later comic poets already structure the file. A circle-trial is not unique authorship of Athena’s statue. Medium confidence is stated because later lives conflate years. Named others on the file: Phidias, Aspasia, Anaxagoras as neighbouring targets, unnamed jurors, and later [Plutarch](/people/plutarch) share the heading. The public setting is the file around -0438-01-01. Unnamed clerks, soldiers, printers, or later editors may appear without becoming this instrument. The instrument stays Phidias and members of Pericles’ circle are prosecuted in the late 430s. The setting of Phidias and members of Pericles’ circle are prosecuted in the late 430s is the public file around -0438-01-01. Shared offices, unnamed crews, printers, or later editors may appear without becoming this instrument. Driver justice-[judicial-independence](/drivers/justice-judicial-independence-erosion)-erosion is attached because the significance names a mechanism from this act, not because a standing list needed coverage. The welfare reading used in this dossier is worsening. That reading is an impact-path choice, not a property stored on the Fact itself. ## Evidence and sources Britannica independently records prosecutions around Phidias/Aspasia as a late-430s Periclean file. Official: Britannica — Pericles, attacks on Phidias and Aspasia (https://www.britannica.com/biography/Pericles-Athenian-statesman; Encyclopaedia Britannica). Independent: Britannica — Phidias, accusation (https://www.britannica.com/biography/Phidias; Encyclopaedia Britannica). The two URLs are different pages. Where the carrier is a later edition or a received narrative, that limit is stated rather than upgraded to an autograph. Official carrier: Britannica — Pericles, attacks on Phidias and Aspasia (https://www.britannica.com/biography/Pericles-Athenian-statesman; Encyclopaedia Britannica). Independent carrier: Britannica — Phidias, accusation (https://www.britannica.com/biography/Phidias; Encyclopaedia Britannica). Official or archival record: Britannica — Pericles, attacks on Phidias and Aspasia (https://www.britannica.com/biography/Pericles-Athenian-statesman; Encyclopaedia Britannica). ## Significance Worsening judicial-independence path: political prosecutions of a leading circle. Medium confidence on unique charge-sheets. Welfare reading worsening. The attached mechanism is A dated judicial attack on the building-and-household circle polarised late-430s Athens as a justice heading. Lag to any modern indicator is not treated as zero. This path is attached because the mechanism is named from this act, not because a driver list needed coverage. The welfare reading on this path is worsening. Shared responsibility is part of Phidias and members of Pericles’ circle are prosecuted in the late 430s. Naming Pericles does not delete co-authors, institutions, or later transmitters. The lag from -0438-01-01 to any measured indicator is not treated as zero. Alternative explanations — weather, other armies, later statutes, or independent cultural change — remain live where the sources do not close them. ## What is established and what is not Established: a received late-430s prosecution file around Phidias and the household. Not established: a unique stenograph of every charge. Established: a sourced public record of Phidias and members of Pericles’ circle are prosecuted in the late 430s under -0438-01-01. Established: a sourced public record of Phidias and members of Pericles’ circle are prosecuted in the late 430s under -0438-01-01. If a number is not in the two records named above, it is not supplied here. Later competitions, monuments, translations, UNESCO listings, museums, and adaptations are not converted into extra lifetime acts. Confidence is stated on the impact path, not hidden in adjectives. Do not twin this with the 430 fine of Pericles himself. Circle-prosecutions are a different instrument. Mixed effects of Phidias and members of Pericles’ circle are prosecuted in the late 430s are separate paths. ## People - Pericles: https://factrail.ai/people/pericles ## Drivers - Judicial independence erosion (court capture): https://factrail.ai/drivers/justice-judicial-independence-erosion ## Sources - https://www.britannica.com/biography/Phidias - https://www.britannica.com/biography/Pericles-Athenian-statesman ## Methodology https://factrail.ai/methodology Canonical: https://factrail.ai/facts/per-phidias-trial-438