Dear Aunty Aspasia

An Ancient Greek Educational Parody Blog

[dearauntyaspasia]

“My wife wants a divorce and I cannot pay back her dowry.”

Dear Aunty Aspasia 

My wife and I have been married for only two years and things have been rocky. She believes that I’ve been neglecting my role as her Kyrios and ever since she had our twin boys she has been busy with child rearing and whatever other stuff women do. We have yet to create some spare heirs for my oikos but I feel that she doesn’t want to come near me. As a result I have been frequenting the Kerameikos late at night and enjoying the occasional woman and throw of the dice. Yesterday, my wife cornered me in my house and told me she was off at the end of the week to get a divorce, as I am not the citizen man her and her father thought I would be. I yelled at her for her insolence but I am concerned, ultimately my wife wants a divorce and I cannot pay back her dowry. I have to find four hundred drachmas before she initiates divorce proceedings. What should I do to prevent such a mess?

From, By Zeus I’m Broke. 

Dear By Zeus I’m Broke

Your wife is feeling neglected and to accuse you of being a bad citizen is not without merit. She can tell that you are off to the Kerameikos and you are probably not revealing the extent of your nocturnal trips - considering you are lacking four hundred drachmas of her own dowry. If her old Kyrios wishes to have her back than he can and he will demand the dowry. I think your first move should be to placate her and convince her that involving her old Kyrios is not necessary. Show her you are a good citizen man and avoid the Kerameikos at all costs - furthermore, if you have anyone who owes you money or whether you can sell things try and raise the four hundred drachmas somehow in case. If you can placate your wife enough be weary that she may attempt to get a divorce by herself. In order to do so she will have to submit this to the Arkhon and I know for a fact that if this happens you can physically pick her up and take her home (but hopefully it will not come to that). I wish you some luck in your endeavours but you have brought some of this upon yourself. 

Regards,

Aunty Aspasia 

Vocabulary:

Kyrios - normally a man of the household whose role included representing his charges in the law courts and was seen as their ‘protector’ or ‘guardian’. 

Oikos - the term for the family unit in Athens. 

Kerameikos - A place in Athens, think of the word ceramics as it’s where all the potters lived. 

Arkhon - An official role who presided over law courts. Was not a position that you had to be smart or qualified in order to attain it. 

Sources:

Andokides 4.13-15 in this passage the wife attempted to procure her own divorce and was dragged off in the process and her brother was murdered by her husband. 

[dearauntyaspasia]

What Is This Blog?

Hello, my name is Katherine Prouting and I aim to one day become an Ancient Greek Historian who focuses on Athenian Law Court Speeches. During my readings of Athenian Law I found that the texts can often be hard to understand and that many facets of Athenian law are often very complex. The aim of this is to introduce topics to the reader that are complex but in a fun and engaging way. Furthermore, Athenian Law is a rich tapestry of everyday life in Athens during the fifth and fourth centuries BC and thus this blog is applicable to all matter of social topics. The reason why I chose to do this in the format of an Agony Aunt is because problem solving was a major facet of the Athenian Law Courts. The reason why I have chosen Aspasia to be the voice of this blog is because she, being a sort of consort of Perikles, was known to give advice. Aspasia was apparently so well loved by the Athenians that her son, named Perikles, was granted citizenship in defiance of his father's own citizenship law. The icon photo I'm using was too good to pass up and is from the Siracusa Museum in Sicily, it's a woman carrying a basket of phalloi. I believe it is very metaphorical, as if Aspasia is carrying a basket of male problems - for Athenian texts often focus on men. In order for this to work the questions will be published in bold and Aspasia's answer will not be bold. Key vocabulary will be italicised and beneath each question will be a small bibliography for the speech that inspired the question or sources for further reading. Hashtags will be thematic, bibliographic and #tagamemnon.