ASPASIA OF MILETUS
Aspasia of Miletus (c. 470-410/400 BC) was an erudite woman of great eloquence and intelligence, who influenced many of the writers, philosophers and statesmen of her time, and particularly influenced her consort, the well known Athenian statesman Pericles.
She was a metec (a person not born in Athens) and, as a result, was not allowed to marry and had to pay a fee to live in the city. Due to her status as an outsider, however, Aspasia was not included in Athenian customs regarding female behavior. She had a son (Pericles the Younger, c. 440-406 BC) out of wedlock, taught men and women and lived freely according to her tastes.
It is not even certain whether "Aspasia" was her real name or a "professional" pseudonym, as she was famous as a hetaira (high-class courtesan). Her name means "to greet with affection" or "welcome" or "desired", according to the translation.
Ancient writers, from Aristophanes (c. 460-c. 380 BC) to Plato (428/427-348/347 BC) and Plutarch (c. 45/50-c. 120/125 AD) make reference to her eloquence and ability to control men, which became part of his reputation, since none of his works have survived to this day. In the 19th and 20th centuries, mainly due to the literary works of Walter Savage Landor (1775-1864) and Gertrude Atherton (1857-1948), respectively, Aspasia began to be seen as a romantic heroine of the Golden Age of Athens and, together with Pericles, as an example of a romantic couple in which gender equality prevailed.
She is recognized for challenging Athenian society's restrictive customs toward women (who were considered second-class citizens) by living up to her own standards. In the modern era, she is seen as an incredibly skilled intellectual and teacher, with significant influence on famous male writers and philosophers of her time.
Scholar Madeleine M. Henry highlights that Aspasia is described by ancient writers according to each one's individual biases and, therefore, a clearer portrait of who she was and what she accomplished is almost impossible to outline. Henry comments:
When we need Aspasia to be a chaste muse and teacher, she is there; when we need a woman dedicated to pleasures, she is there; when we need a proto feminist, she's there too.
Aspasia of Miletus boldly surpassed women's limited expectations by founding a renowned girls' school and a popular salon. She lived free from female isolation and conducted herself as a male intellectual while discussing contemporary events, philosophy, and rhetoric. Her fans included the philosopher Socrates and his followers, the teacher Plato, the orator Cicero, the historian Xenophon, the writer Athenaeus, and the statesman and general Pericles, her adored consensual husband. (The Oxford Classical Dictionary, 1992).
Although no text by Aspasia has survived, her influence is seen as apparent in the works of her contemporaries and later writers, but this claim is based on circumstantial evidence since, as highlighted, it is not clear to what works she may have actually contributed. Scholar Joyce E. Salisbury provides the scenario that others identify to claim Aspasia's influence:
Aspasia's house quickly became the fashionable place for well-born and educated men to gather. Politicians, playwrights, philosophers, artists and literary celebrities passed through her doors and she met the most famous architects of the Athenian golden age.
Scholar I. M. Plant contributes to this statement while qualifying how much remains unknown about Aspasia's life and work:
Aspasia is one of the most famous women of classical Greece, yet very little is known about her life and most of what was written about her in her time is dubious. As the companion of Pericles, the leading statesman of Athens in the mid-fifth century BC, Aspasia moved in the highest aristocratic circles and attracted the attention of comic and serious writers. She inspired literati which, in consequence, led to the creation of works with pseudonyms using her name.
Aspasia was born between 470 and 460 BC to a wealthy family in Miletus. This is inferred due to mentions of her high level of education, which suggests Miletus as her birthplace, as there, unlike Athens, women of means could receive a higher education. It is not known when she came to Athens or why. However, we know she ran a saloon (which her critics called a "brothel") and a girls' school which was also cited by her detractors as being a brothel or a house in which she kept young women for the pleasure of upper-class men, training them as courtesans.
She met Pericles around 450 BC and was his most constant companion after he divorced his wife, approximately in 445 BC. Pericles' enemies had plenty of material to attack him because of his relationship with Aspasia, the metec and hetaira, arriving to the point of stating that she "taught Pericles to speak" and that she was the author of his famous Funeral Oration.
Socrates, who held women in higher regard than most men in ancient Athens, was said to have "marvelled at her eloquence and credited her with composing the most famous funeral oration that Pericles delivered in honor of the casualties of the Peloponnesian War and, furthermore, he asserted that he, Socrates, had learned from Aspasia the art of eloquence" (Durant). This statement is also made in Plato's dialogue Menexenus, in which Aspasia is Socrates' teacher, not only of eloquence, but also of the art of dialectic.
After the death of Pericles in 429 BC due to the plague that struck Athens in the period between 430 and 427 BC, Aspasia became the companion of her friend Lysicus (who died in 428 BC), whom she had known as an uneducated sheep trader . Even before Pericles' death, Aspasia had contributed to Lysico's transformation into a political leader and Athenian general. Lysicus was killed in action in the Caria campaign (428/427 BC) of the Peloponnesian War and, after that, nothing more is known about her.
Major speeches given by Pericles have been attributed to Aspasia, and it is also believed that she outlined the model of Inductio (Induction, or making one's interlocutor approve a dubious proposition that resembles a previous one to which one had already agreed) for Socrates and, to this end, she taught him the stratagems of debate. An example is seen in the following fragment of the dialogue by Aeschinus of Sphetus, in which Aspasia uses Inductio in a conversation with Xenophon (430-c. 354 BC, one of Socrates' students) and his wife. She uses the argumentation technique to show them that, instead of desiring an ideal, the best choice for each person would be the other:
“Please tell me, wife of Xenophon, if your neighbor had a better gold ornament than hers, would you prefer hers or hers?”
"Hers," she replied.
"Now, if she had dresses and other feminine luxuries more expensive than hers, would you prefer hers or hers?"
"Hers, of course," she replied.
"Now, if she had a better husband than hers, would you prefer hers or hers?"
At this point the woman blushed. But Aspasia then began to speak to Xenophon. "I would like you to tell me, Xenophon," she said, "if your neighbour had a better horse than hers, would you prefer hers or his?"
"His," was his reply.
"And if he had a better farm than yours, would you prefer hers or his?"
"The better farm, naturally," he said.
"Now, if he had a better wife than his, would you prefer hers or his?"
And with that Xenophon, too, fell silent.
Then Aspasia said, "Since you both have failed to tell me the one thing I would like to hear, I will tell you what you both are thinking. That you, lady, would like to have the best husband and you, Xenophon, desire above all things to have a more excellent wife. Therefore, unless you can convince yourselves that there is no better man or woman on earth, you will certainly be in an eternal expectation of what would be the best, that is, that you will be the husband of the best of wives and that she is married to the best of husbands."
Then Aspasia said, "Since you both have failed to tell me the one thing I would like to hear, I will tell you what you both are thinking. That you, lady, would like to have the best husband and you, Xenophon, desire above all things to have a more excellent wife. Therefore, unless you can convince yourselves that there is no better man or woman on earth, you will certainly be in an eternal expectation of what would be the best, that is, that you will be the husband of the best of wives and that she is married to the best of husbands."
Later writers, however, such as the rhetorician Quintilian (35-100 AD) held her in high regard, as did the satirist Lucian (125-180 AD), who cited her as an eloquent and intelligent teacher. Luciano refers to her as a woman of wisdom and understanding, while Quintilian considered her influence enough to include her in his classes.
Aspasia, who lived in a chauvinist society, is an excellent model for any woman who wants to achieve and prevail in a society still dominated by sexist prejudice.
