How far does Aspasia conform to the expectations of women at her time?

Written by a Year 12 student of Classical Civilisation at Queen's Gate School

The conventional understanding of Aspasia’s character is that she was a metic women; originally from Miletus (modern day Turkey), who settled in Classical Athens around 450BCE, before acting as a hetaira to the renowned statesman Pericles. She is largely known for her intellectual ability and her influence on both her husband Pericles, and the wider Athenian society due to her academic abilities, with notable men in Athens at the time such as Socrates remarking on her proficiency in rhetoric and philosophy. Hence, there are numerous aspects of her character that mark her as different to a typical Athenian woman of the period, contrasting with the cultural expectations of women at the time to be submissive, pious, and maternal. Crucially, the fact she had a prevalent voice and influence, enjoyed some extended freedoms and rights, and allegedly persued various acts of controversy, ultimately portray her as a unique female figure within classical Athenian society. However, male comics such as Aristophanes made a significant and arguably successful attempt at fully tarnishing her reputation and minimizing her achievements, thus her exemption from the sexist and racist attitudes of the classical world show continuity with the broader reception of women, and especially women with a voice overall.

Firstly, Aspasia does not appear to conform to the expectations of women at her time due to her various extended freedoms and rights. This ultimately begins with her education, which was extensive, including: rhetoric, philosophy, and possibly politics. In ancient Athens, education for young girls was extremely rudimentary and focused primarily on teaching maternal skills and how to effectively run an oikos rather than academic subjects. Menander, for instance, likened educating women to ‘giving poison to an asp’, hence displaying the negative connotations that ancient Athenian society associated with a highly educated woman. Thus, Aspasia’s thorough knowledge of subjects that were usually reserved for men mark her as exceptional in this sense. For example, Plutarch describes her ‘rare political wisdom’, and Lucian states ‘we must delineate her wisdom and understanding’, illustrating the contrast between Aspasia’s education and that of an ordinary woman in ancient Athens. This was ultimately the case due to Aspasia’s status as a hetaira and a metic; it’s widely accepted that her education took place in Miletus (where she was originally from) and it’s likely she was part of a wealthy family who could thus fund her studies. As a hetaira, Aspasia additionally enjoyed various other freedoms and extended rights that separate her from an ordinary Athenian woman at the time. For instance, she could leave her household unsupervised, contrasting the usual expectations of Athenian women who were restricted by the confinements of their oikos and not permitted to go out in public without a male chaperone but rather ‘stay inside’ and complete domestic tasks according to Xenophon (Oikonmikos) and a variety of other

contemporary sources. Moreover, as a hetaira, she was often present at Pericles’s Symposiums, an aspect further highlighting her abnormality as ordinary Athenian women were not permitted to attend such functions (unless they were a hetaira).

Additionally, Aspasia further challenges the expectations of women in ancient Athens through her apparent influence over key Athenian men. The fact she was highly educated already presents her as an exceptional female figure, however most hetairas were educated to some extent in order to make them more interesting for men to engage with at symposiums. What ultimately made Aspasia so remarkable was just how educated she was and the fact that she not only had a voice in society, but also a voice that was listened to. For instance, Plutarch states, ‘she taught Pericles how to speak’ and Plato implies she had a role in crafting Pericles’s speeches through suggesting that ‘she composed the funeral oration which (he) pronounced’. While Plato was a comic playwright and his work is perhaps exaggerated, it is likely based on an element of truth and can hence be tentatively used as evidence that Aspasia had an unusually active role in Pericles’s political and social affairs. Other contemporary sources additionally imply that her influence was prevalent and also not solely limited to her partner Pericles, thus making her even more unique. For example, in ‘Life of Pericles’, Plutarch goes on to state that ‘Socrates sometimes came to see her with his disciples, and his intimate friends brought their wives to her to hear her discourse’, hence suggesting that Socrates also held her intellectualism in high regard and saw it fit to take measures in order to hear her speak and engage in discussion with her. Thus, this provides yet another factor marking Aspasia as different to typical women in ancient Athens as women at the time were widely bound by the cultural expectations of their Patriarchal society which perpetrated the idea that they should be silenced and not seen or heard. This attitude is perhaps best illustrated by a quote from Thucydides when he says, 'the greatest glory of a women is to be least talked about by men, whether they are praising you or criticizing you'. Aspasia clearly did not assume such a submissive position in society; rather she had a presence and place outside of the oikos, hence illustrating her abnormality in comparison to typical Athenian women of the period through her non-conformity to contemporary expectations.

Furthermore, Aspasia’s non-conformity to expectation prevails through various allegations regarding her involvement in acts of controversy, such as running a brothel and working as a courtesan in her later life. However, some scholars debate the reliability of these claims, arguing that ancient comic works have unjustly altered Aspasia’s reputation for the worse. Cheryl Glenn for instance, contends that Aspasia initially opened an academy for women that became ‘a popular salon for the most influential men of the day’. In turn, this led to Rebecca Futo Kennedy’s interpretation that the accusation in comic works that Aspasia was a brothel-keeper hence derived from this. Nevertheless, comic dramatists such as

Aristophanes and Cratinus invariably portray Aspasia as a woman of particularly ill-repute. For example, in Aristophanes' earliest surviving play, ‘The Acharnians’ (425 BC), Aspasia is satirically blamed for triggering the Peloponnesian War through Aristophanes' comment that ‘onset of war broke forth upon all the Greeks: from three sluts’. He suggests that the kidnapping of pornai from Aspasia led to Pericles publishing the ‘Megarian decree’ in retaliation. The degree excluded Megara from trade with Athens or its allies, thus starting the war. He continues, stating that Aspasia brought in large numbers of beautiful women, so that the whole country was ‘filled with her courtesans’. Moreover, Cratinus matches this ill depiction of Aspasia as he refers to her as 'a dog-eyed concubine’. Hence, it's potential that these comic works begun the consensus that Aspasia had a significant role in the sex industry, especially as the only surviving ancient sources written during Aspasia’s life are from comedy. The content of any additional works available to later writers such as Plutarch are unknown, however, Peter Bicknell points out that the ‘pejorative epithets applied to her by comic dramatists’ are unreliable. Perhaps comics of the period expanded on the fact that she was a hetaira and hence utilized this single fact to reduce her legacy to no more than a scandalous madam which thus continued throughout history. Whether she ran a brothel or not, her lack of monogamy as a hetaira still presents her as unconforming to the expectations of women in ancient Athens as modesty and monogamy were arguably the most important values set for women of the period. Her largely negative portrayal in ancient sources could perhaps be a result of collective distain for her character due to being foreign, and additionally a woman with agency and influence, aspects that would not have been well received in the patriarchal society that ancient Athens was at the time. Thus, her exemption from the sexist and racist attitudes of the classical world shows an element of continuity, however Aspasia was clearly a unique figure who ultimately did not conform the expectations of women during this period overall.

To conclude, an ordinary woman in ancient Athens was arguably above all else expected to be monogamous and submissive. Aspasia clearly defies these standards through her extended rights and freedoms, active role in society, and involvement in the sex industry, (despite the extent of this being debatable). While she is clearly an exceptional female figure, she was still subject to the widespread negative views of vocal and foreign women in the ancient world, ultimately resulting in her legacy being one that was written and altered by prominent men after her death. In the modern era, we can finally appreciate her contributions to philosophy and rhetoric without feeling the need to diminish her achievements by excessively focusing on aspects of her character that deem her ‘shameful’ and may not even be true in reality. She is ultimately very unique and a very intriguing figure from the ancient world to investigate overall.