Aspasia of Miletus (470 BCE–400 BCE)

Aspasia of Miletus

Aspasia of Miletus

*470 BCE (Miletus)
†400 BCE (Athens)

Spouse: Pericles

Children: Pericles the Younger

Aspasia was a greek rhetorician who was born in Miletus. She married the statesman Pericles in Athens and had a son with him. Aspasia was his second wife and exerted political influence on him. In the family home there were regular philosophical and political exchanges with the circle of friends and other scholars, including Socrates. Aspasia was attributed with wisdom, political insight, and exceptional eloquence. She had a understanding and judgment of oratorical and political problems. The young Socrates frequently seeked conversation with her and calls her, in the dialogue Menexenos, his teacher of rhetoric. Aspasia was also called a hetaera, probably because of her attitude, which deviated from the norms of an athenian women. Above all, her intellect, eloquence, and interaktion with men contrasted her from the others.

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