Not sure if this quite fits the subreddit, but seems to fit the spirit. A summarized version of her entry in the excellent Encyclopedia of Love, Courtship and Sexuality.
Aspasia of Miletus was perhaps the most famous Greek hetaira, or courtesan, in the ancient world. Aspasia was purportedly the long-term mistress of Athens's leader Pericles, a madam of a brothel, a philosopher, a matchmaker, a teacher of Socrates, and an instigator of war. As a symbol of the potential power available to elite Greek prostitutes, she become a focus of attention about the intersection between sexuality, philosophy, and politics.
Considerable factual information as well as many improbable tales survive about Aspasia. According to Plutarch, Aspasia aspired to imitate the example of Thargelia of Miletus, a legendary courtesan who married or was involved with Antiochus, the ruler of Thessaly. Thargelia was not only beautiful, but she was also a political strategist who convinced both Antiochus and her thirteen other lovers to become allies of Persia. In some accounts, Thargelia is even said to have ruled Thessaly itself after Antiochus's death and to have met Xerxes, the king of Persia. Aspasia followed in a tradition of Miletan women how used their bodies in order to achieve political influence and power.
Aspasia, a woman renowned as a courtesan, is never praised for her physical beauty by the contemporary sources, even though they tended to eulogize most women as beautiful. One sculpture, labeled "Aspasia," portrays an ordinary, solemn woman with a strong jaw and an elaborate "melon" hairstyle. Plutarch claims that Pericles adored Aspasia for her political skill, rather than her beauty. Ancient sources describe the relationship as one of deep love.
She appears in several philosophical dialogues as an acquaintance of Socrates, where she is represented as a matchmaker, a teacher of eloquence, and an advisor of Athenian matrons. The most famous of these dialogues, Plato's Menexenus, relates a conversation in which Socrates claims to have been taught the art of persuasive oratory by Aspasia, who he describes as a formal teacher of rhetoric. Aspasia is also presented as intellectual and as a gifted speaker. In another philosophical conversation, Aspaia performs the function of the Socratic interlocutor in proving to a couple that to have the best spouse, one must first be the best spouse. Aspasia is elsewhere described by both Aeschines and Xenophon himself as a teacher of rhet
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Question To the redditors:
What would you suggest as the most credible source for any background on Thales of Miletus?
A Question To the redditors:
What would you suggest as the most credible source for any background on Thales of Miletus? I wanted to ask is there are any specific suggestions that anyone might have. Please let me know!
In particular, I'm looking for his "Travels around the World".
I know its in fragments and have located a compilation in Latin and ancient Greek. So far, I've failed to locate his works translated into English.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
*side note, he has one of the best opening lines of a book... "I write what I deem true; for the stories of the Greeks are manifold and seem to me ridiculous" (as per pg 138 of Shotwell's 1922 "History of History")
This great engineer grants 215 production towards a wonder in progress that it's built on. I was trying to use it on the great lighthouse but cannot move it onto that tile; I cannot find online that there's a stipulation that it can only be land wonders but it does stipulate to activate on a land military unit within 0 tiles. Fair to say this wont work, eh?
Who is he? And did we see him before?
