Boris Johnson said yesterday he had always admired Pericles of Athens, who first said politics was for the many, not the few.
As well as political savvy Pericles, whose large bonce earned him the nickname “sea onion-head”, had some slight less attractive traits.
He divorced his first wife, with whom he had two sons, offering her to another man.
His children Paralus and Xanthippus were nicknamed “cabbage suckers” – Greek slang for the dim.
Xanthippus, who had political ambitions, would often slander his father in debates.
He had another son, Pericles the younger, with his mistress Aspasia of Miletus.
Some Athenians believe that Aspasia had an undue influence on his policies and she was accused of corrupting Athenian society.
