Aspasia
Influential Concubine to Pericles
Aspasia was born around 470 B.C. in Miletus in Asia Minor. She was likely born into a wealthy family, because she was known to have been highly educated and well versed. How she arrived in Athens is the source of some debate among scholars. A few sources suggest that she traveled there when her older sister married Alcibiades, who had been ostracized from Athens, and had spent his expulsion in Miletus.
When Aspasia became a little older, she might have spent some time as a hetaera, a sort of concubine, companion, or even a prostitute. Life a hetaera would have allowed her to branch out from ordinary life for an Athenian woman, and not be confined to the home. In her position, she was an active participant in the public life of Athens, and she was a taxpayer, two things that ordinary Athenian women certainly were not. Eventually, it is though by some that Aspasia even ran her own brothel.
Having spent her childhood in Miletus, where the mores regarding the freedoms of women were somewhat more relaxed than in Athens, Aspasia would have adapted to the hetaera lifestyle quite well. She was known for having been quite overt and outspoken. This did not make her popular among most Athenians. But, it did catch the eye of Pericles.
Aspasia's incredible beauty, her intellect, and her powers of persuasion attracted the Athenian general, who was divorced from his first wife. Aspasia's status as either a hetaera or a non-Athenian meant that they could not marry, so they did the next best thing: they lived together. They were very much in love, and they had 1 son, named Pericles.
Aspasia's brain and potential influence of Pericles in matters of administration were likely quite threatening to other Athenians, and she and Pericles were often the target of scandalous rumors and personal attacks. Nonetheless, there was a faction of Athens that held Aspasia in quite high esteem, including Socrates. People listened to Aspasia, and some Athenian men even brought their wives to her in hopes that they gained some insight and intellect from her words.
Aspasia bore the brunt of much revulsion for living her life on her terms and speaking out on issues. And her influence must have been great, since she was blamed for Athens' role in a war between Samos and Miletus (her homeland) in 430 B.C., and she was even accused of having incited the Peloponnesian War.
In 430 B.C., a plague struck Athens, killing 1/3 of the population, including Aspasia's great love Pericles (in 429 B.C.). Some records indicate that Aspasia went on to marry another Athenian general, Lysicles, and had another son with him. Lysicles died in 427 B.C., and nearly no record of Aspasia exists after that. Her son, Pericles, became a general in his own right, but was killed in 406 B.C. Some historians place her death shortly before that.
Sources consulted:
Fantham, E. et al., Women in the Classical World. New York, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994.
Leon, V. Uppity Women of Ancient Times. New Yourk: MJF Books, 1995.
Pomeroy, S. Goddesses, Whores, Wives, and Slaves: Women in Classical Antiquity. New York: Schocken Books, 1975
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