Aspasia of Miletus: The Woman Who Shaped Pericles

In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the life and influence of Aspasia of Miletus, the foreign-born companion of Pericles who became one of the most influential — and controversial — women in classical Athens. Despite being barred from citizenship and political office, Aspasia ran a salon that attracted Socrates, Phidias, and the city's leading thinkers. Ancient sources like Plutarch and Aristophanes paint her as everything from a cunning intellectual to a comic villain blamed for the Samian War. We dig into the historical evidence: Was she really a teacher of rhetoric? Did she write Pericles' famous Funeral Oration? How much of her reputation is legend, and what can we actually know about a woman whose voice survives only through male authors? We also discuss her trial for asebeia (impiety), her relationship with the Athenian hetaira tradition, and what her life reveals about the limits of Athenian democracy. A story of power, gender, and the erasure of women from history. #Aspasia #Miletus #Pericles #AncientGreece #AthenianDemocracy #Socrates #Plutarch #Aristophanes #FuneralOration #Hetaira #Asebeia #SamianWar #Phidias #ClassicalAthens #WomenInHistory #GreekHistory #History #FexingoHistory Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo