Character Catalog

In the 'Menexenus', Plato has Socrates claim that Aspasia composed the funeral oration delivered by Pericles at the start of the Peloponnesian War. This speech, a masterpiece of ancient rhetoric, celebrated the virtues of Athenian democracy.

For two decades, Aspasia hosted a unique intellectual gathering that brought together Socrates, Anaxagoras, Phidias, and the Sophists. This salon was a founding site of Western philosophical and rhetorical thought.

Several ancient authors mention writings by Aspasia on rhetoric and the art of persuasion. These works are lost, but their influence can be glimpsed in Plato's dialogues and the accounts of Xenophon.

Xenophon reports that Socrates himself recommended Aspasia as an advisor on political and oratorical matters. This intellectual transmission from a woman to a man was an exceptional occurrence in ancient Greece.

It was Aspasia of Miletus who taught me. She has composed many speeches of this kind for me, including the one she prepared for Pericles, when she thought he would have to deliver one.

Aspasia was, it is said, highly regarded by Pericles for her wisdom and political acumen. Socrates would sometimes visit her with his disciples, and his close friends would bring their wives to hear her speak, even though she practiced a profession that was neither respectable nor decent.

Socrates said: 'I know a woman, Aspasia, who will give you better advice than I can on this subject.' [...] She understood political affairs better than many men.

Some drunken young men go to Megara and abduct the courtesan Simaetha. The Megarians, stung by the insult, retaliate by abducting two of Aspasia's girls. From this sprang the war — all for three harlots.

Aspasia's birthplace, Miletus was a Greek city in Asia Minor renowned for its culture and intellectual openness. It was here that Aspasia received an exceptional education for a woman of her time.

The political and commercial heart of Athens, the Agora was the space where public debates took place. Socrates taught there, and the ideas discussed in Aspasia's salon found direct resonance within it.

The residence of Pericles and Aspasia in Athens, home to her celebrated philosophical salon where Socrates, Phidias, Anaxagoras, and the great minds of the Athenian Golden Age would gather.

Symbol of Athenian power under Pericles, the Acropolis was redeveloped with the Parthenon during Aspasia's lifetime. Phidias, the architect of the Parthenon, was a close member of her intellectual circle.

It was before this court that Aspasia was tried in 432 BC, charged with impiety. Her trial illustrates the tensions between intellectual freedom and political conservatism in Athenian democracy.