Aspasie de Milet (-450) 

Around 450 BC, she arrives in Athens. As a foreign woman, she can be independent and pay taxes and therefore participate in public debates. Muse to Pericles, she will become the center of intellectual life in Athens. She is cited, among others, in the writings of Plato and et Plutarco… Often depicted as courtesan and manipulator, Athenians’ admiration was due not only to her exceptional beauty but to her remarkable intelligence.