Aspasia Paper

So, there were only two students who turned in their critical question papers on time today. Myself and Dana. Dana is this rad dude who sits outside with me every time we take a test (read: finish ridiculously early and wander aimlessly for about an hour afterward) end up discussing philosophy or learning in general. It's quite possibly the best part about taking my western civ tests. I didn't feel as prepared as I would have liked for this particular test, but I'm relatively certain I still got an A. I know I only missed one question on my philosophy test and that was more a question of semantics than actually getting the wrong answer.

But, for the parentals or whoever else might be interested, here's what I came up with for My paper:

Aspasia: Woman Apart

Aspasia of Miletus was an aberration in fourth century Athens. In a society that cloistered its women behind the walls of the house, she walked freely through both the polis and agora. In a culture that gagged the feminine voice with the ties of virtue, she conversed with men in the highest levels of politics and sophistry. In a city that believed the “greatest glory of a woman is to be least talked about by men, whether they are praising… or criticizing”(Thucydides 5.4.2), her name was known to thousands. She taught the great orator Pericles his trade and educated the brilliant Socrates in the craft of discussion. She defied the traditions of the day. Her position as a metic allowed her to disregard Attic tradition and her questionable profession of hetaera gained her access to the traditional world of men’s politics and philosophy.

Aspasia was born in Miletus, a rich city on the coast of Asia Minor. Miletus itself had a turbulent history. It was teeming with education in philosophy, mathmatics, art, and architecture. Miletus gave birth to such scholars as Thales, Anaximander and Anaximenes. As a member of the Delian League there were obvious ties with Athens. Her sister’s marriage to the exiled Athenian politician Alcibiades (grandfather of later notorious Alcibiades) may have had some part in Aspasia’s interest and education in politics(Henry 10). Aspasia emigrated from Miletus to Athens in this man’s entourage. Aspasia’s bios became inextricably linked with that of the most powerful man in politics during that time: Pericles. She emerged as his lover and this controversial relationship catapulted her into the public eye. The leader of Attic democracy lavishing attention on a woman, let alone a non citizen and reputed member of the hetaera, was scandalous. Years after her death, Plutarch commented that Pericles showed her an astounding amount of public affection and that despite the proclivity of later generations to assume their relationship was mercenary, he proclaimed their affair was formed out of the quiet passion and mutual respect of real love (Glenn, Sex 183). In fact, historian Marie Delcourt captured the tone of the public’s fascination with their relationship when she wrote: “no one would have thought the less of Pericles for making love to young boys… but they were shocked by his treating [Aspasia] like a human being “(77). This notoriety garnered a celebrity that was shared by few other women of the time.

Aspasia, like her contemporary Socrates, exists entirely within secondary sources. She has no written tradition of her own, leaving behind a tangle of half truths that have subsumed any philosophical tradition she may have created into the world of male philosophers. Comedians of the period attacked her mercilessly, proclaiming her a whore and epitethets that are significantly worse. Aristophanes was especially harsh, citing her as a whore by parodying the beginning of Herodotus’ Histories and casting her as a waspish madam wanting revenge for the theft of her whores by the Megarians(Frost 69). He defiled her further by referring to her as “Kynna the whore… whose head is encircled with the tongues of one hundred sycophants, deadly torrents of voice, the stench of a seal, the unwashed testicles of a Lamia, and the asshole of a camel…”(Aristophanes 1035). Aspasia’s ability to continue her public life while being lambasted speaks volumes of her character. Political orators used her relationship with Pericles to degrade his abilities and question, in the Homeric tradition, her involvement in the beginning of the Peloponnesian War. “Aspasia was so brilliant she could not possibly be respectable”(Glenn, Remapping 184).

Socrates, however, spoke highly of her as an educator and rhetorician. Through Plato’s Menexenus, Socrates names Aspasia as the person who taught him the art of rhetoric and also as the person who authored the famous Funeral Speech that secured Pericles’ position as one of the greatest orators of Athens (Coventry 3). Plato’s use of Aspasia as a literary device allowed him to place questionable words in his mentor’s mouth. She became a scapegoat so that Socrates could shift around controversial issues in Plato’s plays by claiming the words to truly be from someone else. Socrates and Aspasia both represent remarkable people obscured by several secondary representations. They enjoyed an interesting relationship of student and teacher, but also of friend and mentor. There are many objects of art that display Aspasia and Socrates nearly as equals(Vermeule 54). Their affinity demonstrates a natural tendency for unconventional personalities to bond over common ideals.

Aspasia existed as an outsider in Athenian society. As a woman and therefore a non-citizen, the laws created had no meaning for her. She was able to circumvent a woman’s position in Athens only because the society was created for those who existed within it. The laws governing a woman’s place had little relevance for an outsider. Her intelligence set her apart. Her education made her a maverick and her ability to move freely in social circles by nature of her profession made her unique. She was outspoken only because Athenian women were kept virtuously reticent. She was an obvious target, but because of this she is also one of the few women of record. Aspasia has become a touchstone for the feminist movement in rhetoric if only because she is remarkably present in the literature of the time. The place Periclean Athens had defined for a woman had no space for a woman in Aspasia’s unique position. She became a target. She became a woman apart.



Bibliography

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Delcourt, Marie. Pericles. N.p.: Gallemard, 1939.

Frost, Frank J. "Pericles and Dracontides." The Journal of Hellenistic Studies 84 (1964): 69-72.

Garland, Robert. "Celebrity in the Ancient World." History Today 55 (2005): 24-32.

Glenn, Cheryl. "Remapping Rhetorical Territory." Rhetoric Review 13 (1995): 287-303.

Glenn, Cheryl. "Sex, Lies, and Manuscript: Refiguring Aspasia in the History of Rhetoric." College Composition and Communication 45 (1994): 180-99.

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Plato. Menexenus. Grand Rapids: Kessinger, LLC, 2004.

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Vermeule III, Cornelius C. "Socrates and Aspasia: New Portraits of Late Antiquity." The Classical Journal 54 (1958): 49-55.