Aspasia of Miletus: Contrasting literary tradition with visual representation

The biographical tradition - the number and type of biographies - of Aspasia of Miletus is one of the longest and richest to come from the Greco-Roman past in the history of women. Various texts about Aspasia have created a literary portrait, but how is she portrayed within the pictorial tradition of the West? How is that portrayal similar to and/or different from her literary identity?;This study analyzes Aspasia's place in history by examining the visual representations within pictorial tradition. This examination shows that the visual representations of Aspasia are cultural constructs of the individual artists, rather than actual historical products belonging to Aspasia herself.;This thesis furthers Aspasia's place within a history dominated by men, as seen in the problematic nature of Aspasia's very own biography, as well as shows the parallel that exists between the literature and works of art.