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Sexual Slander and the Reputation of Milesian Aspasia

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Sexual Slander and the Reputation of Milesian Aspasia Sexual Slander and the Reputation of Milesian Aspasia Rachel Hill Aspasia of Miletus’ (c.470-410 BCE) legacy survives in the tradition that she was a prostitute from the Classical Era (c. 498-323 BCE), who became sexually involved with Pericles (c. 495-429 BCE).1 The fact that she was a prostitute is not often called into question; however, this paper will strive to demonstrate that the evidence available is insufficient and prejudiced against her. This will be done by examining different aspects of her identity, and by discussing the various social mores which influenced her perception in Athens. The nature, historicity, and function of the sources who speak of her will also be discussed, especially why the early comedians may have fabricated her reputation as a courtesan in order to slander Pericles with her shame.2 The intent of this paper is not to definitively prove that Aspasia was not a prostitute, nor that she was never involved in the ownership or management of a brothel; instead, it is simply to demonstrate that the evidence for Aspasia’s personal involvement in prostitution is insufficient to assume her involvement to the extent traditionally assumed. The first aspect of Aspasia’s identity to investigate is that she was an educated and outspoken woman. Aspasia had no recorded male mentor, her intellect effectively came out of nowhere.3 This means that her rhetorical skills were largely developed independent of the masculine sphere. This is significant because of the distinction made between men and women, who were seen as altogether different species, demonstrating a well-established Greek notion of sexual dimorphism.4 By the standards of the day, Aspasia’s intellect was a great anomaly. She was an active participant in the symposium, a banquet famous for entertainment and conversations of public affairs, and was also the Socrates’ rhetoric teacher5. Not only did she participate in the male dominated fields of rhetoric and philosophy, this passage demonstrates that she bested them: “Tell me, please, wife of Xenophon, if your neighbour had a better piece of gold jewelry than you, would you prefer hers or your own?” “Hers,” said the wife. 1 Cheryl Glenn, “Sex, Lies, and Manuscript: Refiguring Aspasia in the History of Rhetoric,” College Composition and Communication 45, no. 2 (1994): 180. 2 Ancient Greece was an honour/shame society, in which sexual license was perceived as dishonourable. 3 Madeleine M. Henry, Prisoner of History: Aspasia of Miletus and her Biographical Tradition (New York: Oxford University Press, 1995), 137. 4 For evidence in myth of dimorphism see: Hesiod. Theogony. 590. For a modern interpretation of the significance of Greek dimorphism, see: Marilyn, Katz “Ideology and “The Status of Women” in Ancient Greece.” History and Theory 31, no. 4 (1992): 86. 5 Xenophon. Economics. 3.14, Xenophon, Memorabilia, 2.6.36 68 «So—if she should have a dress or other feminine ornament more expensive than what you have, would you prefer hers or yours?” “Hers, naturally,” said the wife. “So now: what if that woman had a better husband than you? Would you prefer hers or your own?” Here the woman blushed. Aspasia, however, began to interrogate Xenophon himself.6 After this dialogue, Aspasia continued to make similar assertions against Xenophon, talking him into the same corner as she did his wife. This dialogue is to demonstrates that Aspasia was believed to be the intellectual and rhetorical superior of aristocratic Athenian women and men alike. One modern scholar deduced that respectable Athenian women did not attend symposia; moreover, it was entertainers and prostitutes who attended alongside the men.7 The natural conclusion is that Aspasia was the rule and not the exception (making her a prostitute). However, as Aspasia was not Athenian, she was not bound by the same social regulations as a citizen. Another way in which Aspasia’s reputation for promiscuity was established was by emphasizing and exoticizing her social status as a metic.8 Metics were foreigners given special privileges to permanently reside and conduct business in Athens, without being granted full citizenship rights. By emphasizing her inferior social and legal status, Pericles’ shame is increased in light of his previous divorce from an Athenian citizen.9 By winning a married Athenian man over, Aspasia encroached on the territory of Athenian women. Another group accused of this were Classical-era prostitutes, who were suspected of trying to take all the Athenian men, steal opportunities from respectable women, and cause the sexual degeneration of the general citizen population if able to marry freely.10 It is possible that, in order to sensationalize this scandal and to explain how a Milesian could lure a married man away from his wife, Aspasia was labeled as both a metic and, unjustly, a prostitute. For Pericles, choosing a foreign woman was already seen as a mark on his character and a lack of wisdom. In 431 BC, another important figure was presented as foolish and sexually debased for his union with a foreign woman. In Euripides’ play Medea (first performed 431 BCE), Jason is a man with regrets about his foreign wife, and one who finds fault in his decision 6 This is a reconstruction of fragments from Aeschines of Sphettos’ dialogue found in Cicero’s De Inventione. This translation is from Madeleine M. Henry, Prisoner of History: Aspasia of Miletus and her Biographical Tradition (New York: Oxford University Press, 1995), 44. 7 Sean Corner, “Did ‘Respectable’ Women Attend Symposia?,” Greece & Rome 59, no. 1 (2012): 35. 8 Similar in concept in Athens to a landed immigrant. A metic has permission to live in the city but does not have full citizenship rights. Have this information in your body since it’s important 9 Plutarch, Life of Pericles, 24.5. 10 Pseudo-Demosthenes, Against Nerea, 59.112-113. 69 to take a Colchian wife rather than a Greek one.1 This demonstrates that Pericles’ relationship with Aspasia was looked down on according to the political and societal beliefs reflected in Athenian drama. Men who chose prostitutes over wives were similarly vilified by Athenian society.2 Perhaps in an effort to sensationalize the scandal of divorcing his respectable wife, Aspasia was painted as altogether disreputable. This implies a dichotomy and a symbolic representation of Pericles choosing the promiscuous East over Athens (to whom, like to his first wife, he owes loyalty). This serves the dual purpose of maximizing the condemnation heaped onto Pericles, and alludes to his pro-Persian sympathies.3 Furthermore, Aspasia may have originally been identified as a prostitute not only based on her status as a metic, but also according to the particular nature of her homeland. She was from Miletus, in the Eastern part of the world, across the Aegean from the Peloponnese.4 Being Eastern, she is characterized according to broadly Eastern stereotypes, especially with Persian and Babylonian sexual stereotypes. Aspasia was certainly a victim of orientalism.5 One way in which this manifests is the assumption that she is a prostitute. Herodotus (c. 484 – c. 425 BCE) explained that Babylon was seen as shameful by the Greeks for its pervasive prostitution, and particularly that both low-status and high-status women were sold.6 By this logic, Aspasia, a woman of great philosophical repute, should have found no place in the Athenian sex trade unless she were vaguely Eastern. According to Plutarch, Aspasia’s life was parallel to the prostitute Thargelia’s, on the grounds that they were both Eastern, rose to power by manipulating Attic men, and had political ties with Persia.7 Aspasia’s own ties with Persia included the fact that her reputation was admired by Cyrus the Great (600–530 BCE), who renamed a favourite prostitute after her.8 This demonstrates her conformation with the Eastern stereotype of sexual immorality. This connection with the promiscuity of the East may be the result of prejudice in light of a Milesian revolt against Athens in the 450s, creating enmity between the two cities.9 1 Euripides, Medea, 1339-40. 2 Demosthenes, Against Olympiodoru, 48.53-5. 3 A.E. Raubitschek, “The Peace Policy of Pericles,” American Journal of Archaeology 70, no. 1 (1966): 71. 4 Plutarch, Life of Pericles, 24.2. 5 Madeleine M. Henry, Prisoner of History: Aspasia of Miletus and her Biographical Tradition (New York: Oxford University Press, 1995), 130. 6 Herodotus, Histories, 1.199.1-5. 7 Plutarch, Life of Pericles, 24.2. 8 Plutarch, Life of Pericles, 24.7, 24.2. 9 Noel Robertson, “Government and Society at Miletus, 525-442 B. C.,” Phoenix 41, no. 4 (1987): 358. This scholar discusses well the controversy about the existence of such a revolt against Athens. 70 Perhaps the most powerful reason that Aspasia was branded as a prostitute by the sources is to characterize Pericles as (sexually) excessive and not in charge of his faculties. First, the implication that Pericles was swayed by a supposed prostitute to begin the Samian war indicates a sexually- driven power imbalance in which Pericles was manipulated.10 The notion of a politician submitting to the will of a debased and foreign prostitute was slanderous, especially in a patriarchal society, and would have been looked down upon by Athenian society. In fact, Aristophanes satirizes a general who agreed to end a war out of desperation for his own sexual gratification.11 This character was emasculated for submitting to a woman, so too with Pericles. Aspasia was used to demonstrate that Pericles was emotionally excessive, one example of which can be found in Plutarch. He records that, while she was on trial for impiety, Pericles wept before the jury for her acquittal.12 This public display of intense emotion was not looked well upon by the Greeks, as it was a violation of σωφροσύνη.13 This demonstrated that Pericles was no longer in control of his emotions.
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