 In the political sphere, men made up the Assembly and held political office. Although Athenian women were formally prevented from participating in the democratic process, Kostas Vlassopoulos writes that they would have been exposed to political debate in the agora. Additionally, some Athenian women do seem to have involved themselves in public affairs, despite their formal disbarment from the political arena. Plutarch, in his Life of Pericles, tells two stories about Elpinice's public actions. Once, he says, she criticised Pericles for making war against other Greek cities; on another occasion she pleaded with him not to prosecute her brother Cimon on charges of treason.
