Aspasia was a well educated metic from Miletus who lived in Athens. Metics did not have the rights of citizens and were not able to produce citizen offspring. So when Aspasia married the Athenian leader Pericles, she was still considered less than a wife. Various ancient writers mentioned her and Pericles, calling her everything from a brothel keeper to a teacher of philosophers.
Aspasia of Miletus
5th Century B.C. Greece and Rome
Aspasia of Miletus was a philosopher who taught Socrates and Xenophon.
Marble bust of Aspasia of Miletus from the Musei Vaticani. Roman copy of a Hellenistic bust of Aspasia of Miletus.
Public Domain. Courtesy of Wikipedia.
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