A Celebration of Women™

is inspired this day to go back in time, and we followed our hearts to find this divinely inspired woman. This woman is celebrated as one of the female teachers of the greatest philosophers.

It is very exciting for us to Celebrate the Life of this great mind, woman ahead of her times, and the teacher to the likes of Plato, Pericles and Socrates…a critical power of example that women have built the foundations, since the beginning of time.

Today, the challenge is the Coming Out of Women’s Intelligence & Power no longer hiding our minds or spirits behind the face or inside the image of a man.

…how will our World Survive this Truth?

WOMAN of ACTION™

Aspasia of Miletus

Although not much is known about Aspasia, her birth has been determined as falling somewhere in between 460-455 B.C. in Miletus, Greece. Sometime around 445 B.C., Aspasia moved to Athens and acted as a hetaira, a kind of prostitute, but one that was almost treated like the upper class.

There, she met the most powerful and influential men in Athens, including Pericles, to whom she became a mistress. Throughout history many great contributors have either been eliminated or left out of western history, most of whom are women and one being Aspasia of Miletus. Aspasia came to Athens from Miletus, she was a highly educated women from a literate family. Aspasia was definitely an exception to the normal young women of the 5th century, in that most women were not educated to any great extent. Aspasia’s accomplishments are numerous and her knowledge and influence has affected many great minds and renowned thinkers including Plato, Pericles, and Socrates.

For Aspasia, being a non-Athenian excluded her from the law that governed Athenian women, and enabled her to live outside of these laws making it possible for her to distinguish herself as a great writer, rhetorician and philosopher. Because there are no physical works of Aspasia available, all of Aspasia’s work has survived only through the voices of the men she influenced.

Aspasia is well known for her courtesan salon, a school for girls of wealthy families. This salon was frequented by many great politicians and philosophers who would gather along with their wives or mistresses to indulge in her knowledge and words of wisdom. The salon would be used by these men as a way in which to influence and pool intellectual minds.

Through her teaching and influence, we have the great works of Socrates, Plato and Pericles, who are greatly respected for their vast knowledge and contributions. Aspasia’s influence on these great men such as Plato, Xenophon, Cicero, Plutarch, Athenaeus and of course Pericles is very evident in the manner in which they attributed much of their own knowledge to the influence of Aspasia. Much of Aspasia’s work was heard through the voice of her lover Pericles.

While in Athens, Aspasia wrote many orations, for she is thought to be the leader of rhetoric in the Classical Age. She also discussed philosophy with Socrates, who called her his teacher and who also openly credited Aspasia for making Pericles one of the great Greek orators, specifically in his Menexenus. Socrates also credits Aspasia as one of his own instructors of rhetoric. Although Aspasia is by no means the only woman to contribute so much to the history of rhetoric and philosophy, the men she influenced made it possible for Aspasia’s work to be recognised. Not only has Aspasia’s work influenced the greats such as Socrates, Plato and Pericles, she will continue to influence the modern writer, philosophers and orators through the works, writings and ideas of these men.

Aspasia is thought to have had a great influence over Pericles, even though she wasn’t his wife. It was she who convinced Pericles, the ruler of Athens in part of the Classical Period, to go to war against Samos over a border dispute. She also bore him a son which they also named Pericles. Pericles, the son, later became a general and was executed sometime after the death of Aspasia.

One of her lessons involved a husband and a wife, whom she convinced that they would never be happy as long as they were searching for ideal spouses. It is thought that because of this talent, both Pericles and Aspasia were targets for Pericles’ enemies. Once, Aspasia was accused of impiety, but Pericles was able to defend her well enough so that she was acquitted.

In 429 B.C., Pericles was killed by the plague, and in 428 B.C., Aspasia met a sheep seller named Lysicles, who soon became her husband. She taught him etiquette and public speaking so well that he became a prominent political leader in Athens.

After this point, nothing more is known of Aspasia other than that she died around 410 B.C. Yet she was one of the few Greek women still remembered today and her name is used often by playwrights and historians to demonstrate the philosophy, rhetoric, and politics of the Classical Age in Greece, as well as the lives of Socrates and Pericles.

She was also one of the few to have chosen her own name –

– Aspasia, meaning “Greatly Welcomed.”