Aspasia of Miletus

Aspasia of Miletus was an influential intellectual and the companion of the Athenian statesman Pericles, renowned in antiquity for her skill in rhetoric and philosophy. Ancient sources including Plato, Plutarch, and Xenophon portray her as a teacher of rhetoric who tutored Socrates and influenced Pericles' political speeches. As a woman and a foreigner (metic) in Athens she occupied a legally precarious position, and was put on trial for impiety, though Pericles reportedly wept in her defense and she was acquitted.

• Nationality: greek
• Roles: intellectual