The Museum Will Be Closed Today, Saturday 1/18/25. We apologize for the inconvenience. Thank you.
This is the latest installment of NHM’s Trial Series that takes legal cases and controversies from the pages of history and tries them before an audience to demonstrate the enduring relevance of these ancient disputes. You will witness talented legal minds litigating the fate of Pericles, known as the great hero of Athenian democracy.
In 451 B.C.E., Pericles dramatically changed the Athenian Constitution to revoke the citizenship of those without two Athenian parents, claiming this was necessary to protect Athens from foreign influence. Many viewed his actions as tyrannical because citizens lost their civil liberties, including the right to vote.
Sponsorships help underwrite the costs of hosting this event, allowing us to make it broadly accessible through discounted tickets to students and to others in the community. Sponsorships provide you or your firm with many attractive benefits to recognize your generous support.
Although Pericles is known as a great Athenian statesman and a guardian of Athenian democracy, the truth is more complicated. As leader of Athens, Pericles made many controversial decisions that complicated his legacy.
None of those decisions is more controversial than the 451 B.C.E. Citizenship Law, which changed the Athenian Constitution to revoke the citizenship of those without two Athenian parents. Previously, citizenship had been granted to anyone with an Athenian father.
Pericles and his allies claimed that the law was necessary to protect Athens from dangerous foreign influences and maintain the integrity of their democracy. Others viewed it as tyrannical because they lost their previously held civil liberties, including the right to vote. Some believe Pericles would have been tried had he survived the plague of 430 B.C.E. The National Hellenic Museum will now litigate this long-imagined case.
Diamond Sponsors
Silver Sponsors
Bronze Sponsors
Vranas Family Foundation
In Memory of Paul and Lola Vranas
Friend Sponsors
Corporate Partner
Judge Paul C. Lillios (Ret.)
Paul C. Lillios began his career in the legal profession with a prestigious appointment as a law clerk to a federal judge. Following completion of his one-year clerkship, he received an appointment as an Assistant United States Attorney, where he represented the United States and numerous federal agencies in both criminal and civil cases. In 1994, Paul was appointed as a United States Administrative Law Judge in Chicago. Serving on the bench for over twenty years, Paul’s final position was as the Associate Chief Administrative Law Judge of the United States Social Security Administration where he gave administrative guidance and oversight to Social Security judges and attorneys across the country, directed internal investigations, and provided advice and counsel on a wide range of ethics and compliance issues.
Following his retirement from the bench, Paul returned to the practice of law counseling corporate executives in complex business, ethics and compliance matters, conducting internal and EEO investigations, and presiding over commercial arbitration hearings. Paul maintains his law licenses in Illinois and Iowa and is a certified ethics and compliance professional. Apart from the law, Paul has also served on the board of directors of the League of Chicago Theatres, Victory Gardens Theatre, and Chicago Dramatists Theatre. In 2008, after having spent several years of part-time evening training an actor, Paul’s first feature film premiered in 2011, and he has subsequently appeared in several feature films thereafter.
Judge Megan Goldish
Judge Megan Goldish graduated with honors from Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law, and was a graduate of distinction, magna cum laude, of the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. She also studied law at Emmanuel College, University of Cambridge, England. Judge Goldish was an Assistant State’s Attorney for 16 years and was elected as a judge in 2014. She currently sits in the Domestic Violence Division.
Judge Goldish is the President of the Decalogue Society, past president of the North Suburban Bar Association, and the Recording Secretary of the Women’s Bar Association of Illinois and of the Jewish Judges Association. She is co-president of the Chicago Lighthouse Junior Board. Judge Goldish is on the boards of the Wiesenthal Center, Lynn Sage Foundation, the Abolition Institute, the Women’s Committee of the Illinois Holocaust Museum, Bright Star Community Outreach, and Trinity Irish Dance Company. Judge Goldish serves as an adjunct faculty member at Northwestern University School of Law and at Chicago-Kent.
Megan is a graduate of the Second City Conservatory and the Second City Musical Improv Conservatory. She regularly performs with the Old Town School of Music’s Theater Ensemble. Megan also performs annually in a sold-out musical parody, called a shpiel. She has performed all over the world in improv festivals, has taught at Second City, and has conducted workshops on improv for lawyers. Megan has performed at the Annoyance Theater, IO and at Victory Gardens, and acted in short movies for the Second City Film Festival and for film students at Columbia College. She has been in beginning guitar forever, plays tennis (badly), and loves studying languages.
Konstantinos Armiros
Hon. Anna H. Demacopoulos (Ret.)
Attorneys who attend The Trial of Pericles will qualify for 1 ½ hours of continuing legal education (CLE).