MITCHELL CARROLL, Ph.D.
Professor of Classical Philology in the George
Washington University
ASPASIA
After the painting by Henry Holiday.
Aspasia was born in Miletus. At an early age, accompanied
by another young girl, Thargelia, she went to Athens.
Their beauty and talents soon won them
distinction--Thargelia married a king of Thessaly, and Aspasia
married Pericles, "more than a king," says Plutarch.
The home of Aspasia in Athens was frequentrd by the élite
of the city and state, attracted by her beauty, her art
of speaking, and her influence. Socrates valued her great
mind, and even called himself one of her disciples. Plato
speaks of her great reputation. She was born in the fifth
century before Christ. The date of her death is not known.