Editing Cinderella (section)

====Aspasia of Phocaea====
{{main|Aspasia of Phocaea}}
A second predecessor for the Cinderella character, hailing from late [[Ancient history|Antiquity]], may be [[Aspasia of Phocaea]]. Her story is told in [[Claudius Aelianus|Aelian]]'s ''Varia Storia'': lost her mother in early childhood and raised by her father, Aspasia, despite living in poverty, has dreamt of meeting a noble man. As she dozes off, the girl has a vision of a dove transforming into a woman, who instructs her on how to remove a physical imperfection and restore her own beauty. In another episode, she and other courtesans are made to attend a feast hosted by [[Persian people|Persian]] regent [[Cyrus the Younger]]. During the banquet, the Persian King sets his sights on Aspasia herself and ignores the other women.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Ben-Amos |first1=Dan |title=Straparola: The Revolution That Was Not |journal=The Journal of American Folklore |date=2010 |volume=123 |issue=490 |pages=426–446 |doi=10.5406/jamerfolk.123.490.0426 |jstor=10.5406/jamerfolk.123.490.0426 }}</ref><ref>Anderson, Graham. ''Fairytale in the Ancient World''. Routledge. 2000. pp. 29–33. {{ISBN|0-203-18007-0}}</ref>