The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 8 letter word PERICLES
I've seen this crossword clue in The Times
P
E
R
I
C
L
E
S
More clues leading to the result PERICLES
- Greek statesman has page and two men following
- Greek statesman, caught in danger, gets tips from Eurocrats
- ‘Prince of Tyre‘, almost priceless bust
- Finally, lunar eclipse affected Shakespearian
- Athenian statesman replies unexpectedly about leader of country
- Old politician's dodgy replies about corrupt leader
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Greek statesman" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case greek statesman = pericles.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.