Aspasia de mileto biography for kids

5th-century BC partner of Athenian statesman Pericles

For other uses, see Aspasia (disambiguation).

Aspasia (;^[2]Ancient Greek: ἈσπασίαGreek:[aspasíaː]; c. 470 – after 428 BC^[a]) was a metic woman in Classical Athens.

Born in Miletus, she moved to Athens and began a relationship with the statesman Pericles, with whom she had a son named Pericles the Younger. According to the traditional historical narrative, she worked as a courtesan and was tried for asebeia (impiety), though modern scholars have questioned the factual basis for either of these claims, which both derive from ancient comedy.

Though Aspasia is one of the best-attested women from the Greco-Roman world, and the most important woman in the history of fifth-century Athens, almost nothing is certain about her life.

Aspasia was portrayed in Old Comedy as a prostitute and madam, and in ancient philosophy as a teacher and rhetorician.

She has continued t