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Prostitute, devoted wife,
Hera to Pericles, modern day Omphale and Thargelia,
accomplished adviser on the economy of estates, teacher of
rhetoric, brilliant speech writer, acclaimed matchmaker,
keeper of a house of ill-repute, influential woman of
outstanding intellectual ability-this is the Aspasia of
history/legend/rumour, the most important woman of the
period, the second half of the fifth century BC, and by far
the most controversial. But is this the real Aspasia?
Aspasia
was born in
Miletus
in about 470 BC. Her father was Axiochus, an aristocrat. She
had an older sister but, beyond that, we know nothing of her
early life.
It
seems that in about 455 Axiochus was killed in an uprising,
and then when the period of Alcibiades' ostracism expired,
it was appropriate that Aspasia should accompany Alcibiades,
and his new wife and two young sons to Athens.
It was probably through her connection with the notable
Alcibiades family that Aspasia gained entry into the upper
strata of Athenian society where, as Peter Bicknell so
sensitively tells it: 'Pericles met and fell in love with
Aspasia' (Bicknell,
1967, 247). Pericles was forty-five at the time; Aspasia was
twenty.
Even
before his birth, legend gathered around Pericles. He was 'of the foremost family and lineage on both sides.' His
father was Xanthippus who, in 479 BC, distinguished himself
as commander of the Athenian force at
Mycale
,
being largely responsible for the Athenian defeat of the
Persian forces. Pericles's mother was Agariste, niece of
Cleisthenes who had established the Athenian Constitution. A
few nights before his birth, Agariste 'fancied that she
had given birth to a lion' (Plutarch, Pericles
III).
Perhaps
we need not give much credence to the lion tale, but
Agariste and Xanthippus certainly had the social and
political connections able to assist their son to accomplish
greatness. He rose early to prominence. In 472, which was
two years before Aspasia was born, he made his entry into
public life in what was a tried and true manner for entering
public life-he was choregos, that is, financial sponsor,
for the play, Persians,
a work by Aeschylus, who had already
achieved success, having won his first victory with a play
twelve years earlier. With Persians,
Aeschylus again won first prize and Pericles'
extraordinarily long and largely successful political career
was launched. Eleven years later, Pericles was elected to
the position of strategos,
one of ten generals who were elected annually to form the strategia. He was elected to this prestigious position almost every
year until his death in 429.
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As
one of the ten generals, he needed to be efficient,
confident, and authoritative when reporting to the Assembly
and in seeking support for his proposals. The ability to
deliver a well prepared, sharply argued, persuasive speech
was essential if one were to achieve success in Athens.
Public opinion was swayed and formed, personal reputation
was salvaged or lost by the ability to persuade 'even
one's opponent of the truth of what a short while before had
seemed to him false' (Benakis, 2002, 111). Politicians,
military men, and even the citizenry in general, needed to
win the approval of the members of the democratic Assembly,
against whose decisions there was no avenue for
challenge.
Pericles
associated 'with many wise men such as Pythocleides,
Anaxagoras; and... Damon' (Plato, Alcibiades
I, 118C). In
addition, there was Protagoras, and Zeno the Eleatic, whom
Aristotle credits with the invention of dialectic (Diogenes
Laertius VIII.57), and of whom Timon said 'his was a
tongue that could argue both ways with a fury resistless'.
The most influential of any of Pericles's associates was
Anaxagoras, who lifted Pericles out of superstition to 'the so-called higher philosophy and elevated
speculation' (Plutarch, Pericles
IV). Anaxagoras, nicknamed Nous
(Mind) had escaped the death penalty to which he had been sentenced
for propounding a radical new natural philosophy-he
declared the sun to be a red hot stone, rather than a god.
Socrates
was another prominant Athenian. He had become disenchanted
with natural philosophy and especially with the theory of Nous, propounded by Anaxagoras who envisaged Mind as the cause of change. Socrates turned to the study of
humanity, frequenting the Athenian Agora, barefoot and clad
in a threadbare cloak, neglecting his family obligations,
seeking definitions and the essence of things, endeavouring
to define the components of human character, accosting
bewildered citizens with 'ridiculous', unanswerable
questions such as 'What is beauty?' and 'What is
truth?' and declaring that the 'unexamined life is not
worth living' (Plato, Apology
38 A.) He was
an enigma, one of the most provocative, fascinating,
frustrating and influential men of all time, and he changed
the direction of philosophy.
while
he was at the head of the state, there was not a single
friend to whose house he went to dine, except that when his
kinsman Euryptolemus gave a wedding feast, he attended until
the libations were made [that is, until the wine for the
symposium was brought in, and drinking began], and then
straightway rose and departed (Plutarch, Pericles
VII. 6).
It
is plausible to believe that ostracism lurked as a very real
fear, lingering at the back of his mind-his father
Xanthippus had suffered ostracism in 484 when Pericles was
eleven years old. Ostracism was a possibility, a threat
facing particularly prominent people. 'At first
[Pericles] had naught to do with politics, but
devoted himself rather to a military career where he was
brave and enterprising' (Plutarch, Pericles
VII). By about 450 BC Pericles was already 'the most
powerful man of the time' (Thucydides
I.
127).
It
is likely that it was through her association with the
influential Alcibiades family that Aspasia gained entree
into the upper strata of Athenian society, and became
aquainted with Pericles who had been, and perhaps still was,
married. His wife was a relative who gave him two sons, but
'since their married life was not agreeable, he
legally bestowed her upon another man, with her own consent,
and himself took Aspasia, and loved her exceedingly
(Plutarch, Pericles XXIV). It has
been suggested that Aspasia and Pericles married as early as
449 (Benakis, 2002, 112), although this is unlikely. Under
the Attic law of the time, she could not become his wife.
She became his concubine, or mistress. Pericles recognized 'her rare political wisdom' (Plutarch Pericles
XXIV), and would probably have appreciated her skill as a
speech-writer.
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