Pericles (Greek Περικλῆς) was general or strategos of Athens, statesman and orator. He led the city from c. 461 BC to 429 BC, between the Persian and Peloponnesian wars. This period is known as Athens’ Golden Age or Age of Pericles. He practically ruled as a king over the Athenian democracy, and built the city into a powerful Empire. He was the one who masterminded the building of the Parthenon c. 450. Pericles died in the year 429 BC around the age of sixty-five, from the great plague that wiped out a quarter of the Athenian population. After his death, Athens lost the second Peloponnesian War to Sparta: the city had come to the end of its Empire.