Sing to me of the Man, Oh Muse…(II)

Man reading Stendhal on Greek Island, greece, island hopping, greek islands

Man still reading Stendhal

The love of Pericles’ life was an intelligent and charming woman named Aspasia, renown in her time, now known only through the words of the men she influenced.

Aspasia was an anomly in ancient Greece. As a young women, she left her home in the ancient Ionian city of Miletus to live in Athens–a move that was unsual for men, and unheard of for women. Her father, Axiochus, had given her a rigorous and thorough education at a time when most women were confined to the home and weren’t educated to any extent. Her status as a foreigner freed her from from the legal restraints that restricted most Athenian women and allowed her to participate in the public life of Athens.

Shortly after her arrival in Athens, she met Pericles who was in an unhappy marriage to a women with whom he had two sons. Pericles’ marriage was one of family obligation. He had married a woman much older than himself–the widowed wife of a family member–to save her from a life of destitution. Upon meeting Aspasia, and with his wife’s consent, he requested a divorce and found another husband to care for his ex-wife.

Pericles was never able to marry Aspasia because of a citizenship law that he himself had passed in an effort to prevent aristocratic families from making alliances with other cities. But according to historical accounts, he was completely besotted with her, and kissed her upon leaving the house in the morning and returning home at night. Their home became the intellectual epicenter of Athens, and regularly received visitors like Plato, Socrates, and Xenophon. Socrates remarked that Aspasia had one of the finest intellects in a city full of great minds, and Plato openly credited her as having written parts of Pericles greatest speech of all, the Funeral Oration.

As the unmarried companion of Athens’ leading politician, Aspasia quickly became the target of malicious gossip and political accusations. Athenian traditionalists were greatly upset at the great respect their leader showed to her. Women were meant to be unseen and unheard, yet Pericles consulted Aspasia as an equal, made no effort to prevent her mixing with important men, and openly showed her great affection. In no time at all, she was being called a courtesan and accused of running a brothel that procured women for Pericles. Comic writers included her in their jibes at Pericles:

To find him a Juno

the goddess of Lust

Bore that harlot past shame,

Aspasia by name.

Aspasia was eventually accused of inciting the Peloponnesian War against Sparta. Shortly before the start of the war, she was put on trial for corrupting the women of Athens and disrespecting the gods.

Aspasia was acquitted only through a rare emotional outburst by Pericles.