The Hemlock Cup - Bettany Hughes [228]
5 Plato, Crito, 52e–53a. Trans. H. N. Fowler (1914) [LCL].
6 A lost work by Aristophanes of Byzantium, The Vocabulary of Age-groups, explained exactly how this system worked.
7 Aeschines, 1.173, 170. Trans. J. Davidson (2007).
8 The Greeks don’t seem to have made a connection with the fact that most Athenians didn’t marry until their early forties (Aristotle thought thirty-seven was the perfect age to get hitched) and so in their middle years were probably in a state of permanent semi-arousal. The roaring trade of those brothels is also explained.
9 Aristophanes, Peace, 762–4. Trans. E. O’Neill, Jr (1938).
10 Plato, Charmides, 155d.
11 Xenophon, Apology, 20.
12 Plato, Apology, 23c-d. Trans. Brickhouse and Smith (2002).
13 In Libanius’ fourth-century AD Apology of Socrates, the aristocratic poets that Socrates is said to have quoted, and therefore used to corrupt the young men of Athens, are Pindar and Theognis.
14 In the fifth century BC the mechanics of the fleet (which meant a big boost to the economy and a massive influx of people to Attica) encouraged the Athenians to define ‘metics’ (literally someone who has transferred homes) as foreigners, as ‘others’ (as opposed to citizens). Then in 445/4, the citizenship lists were purged: Philochorus, FGr Hist 328 F119; Plutarch, Pericles, 37.4; Stadter (1989), 336–9 (from p.137 of Raaflaub, The Origins of Democracy).
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Aspasia – Sophe Kai Politike
1 Pseudo-Xenophon, Constitution of the Athenians 2.2. See also Xenophon Poroi.
2 The early history and geology of Miletus are thoroughly documented in Greaves (2002).
3 An extremely useful introduction to Greek philosophy, which details the lives of the thinkers mentioned here, is Brunschwig and Lloyd (2000).
4 See also Hippocratic Corpus, DW (‘On Diseases of Women,’ 36 of the Hippocratic Corpus) 1.2, L 8.14; DW 1.3, L 8.22.
5 See, e.g., Aristotle PA 650a8 ff.; GA 775a14–20.
6 Aristotle, Politics, 1.1260a (quoting Sophocles, Ajax, 293).
7 See also the disputations of Demosthenes in the fourth century BC.
8 Free women were alluring, petrifying things. The story of the prostitute Neaira, brought up in the house of Nikarete as her ‘daughter’, shows that sex with a ‘free woman’ came at a higher premium than sex with a slave.
9 Xenophon, Oeconomicus, 7.30. Trans. S. Blundell (1998).
10 Xenophon, Oeconomicus, 7.5. Trans. H. G. Dakyns (1890).
11 Euripides, Orestes, 108.
12 Frag. 205, Jensen.
13 Lysias 3 [Simon].6. Trans W. R. M. Lamb (1930) [LCL].
14 Cratinus, Cheirons, Frags 246 268 K-A.
15 Eupolis, Demes (110 K-A) produced 411 BC. Interestingly in his play Philoi, produced in 424/3, Aspasia was described, in effect, as a ball-breaker, and in the Marikas, which beat Aristophanes’ Clouds in the drama competition of 423, she was mentioned as a ‘bastard’ child.
16 Clearchus of Soli, Erotika, Frag. 26, Frag. 30.
17 Madeleine Henry’s discussion of Aspasia’s reception in Prisoner of History (1995) is enormously helpful for anyone interested in Aspasia. Nb. Interesting that the male collective hetairoi refers to an aristocratic band of intimate comrades.
18 See Plutarch, Pericles, 24 and 32.
19 See Bicknell, (1982) 240–50, and the analysis of this gravestone (IG II 2, 7394).
20 An interesting side-effect of this legislation was an increased focus on women in the body politic. Women both became more prominent on vase-paintings and painted frescoes and were mentioned more often in inscriptions. They were also subject to tighter legal controls.
21 Close on Pericles’ death in 429 BC, the Assembly, with honorific motives, passed a decree that accepted Pericles Junior as an Athenian citizen.
22 There are rare exceptions. The poet Sappho had a brother who (we are told) bought the freedom of a feisty-sounding girl called Rhodopis. Rhodopis ran businesses in Egypt, made a tidy profit – and dedicated one-tenth (in the form of iron spits, early money) of her fortune to Apollo at Delphi. An anachronistic but useful parallel is