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The Missing Thread: A Women's History of the Ancient World
A dazzlingly ambitious history of the ancient world that places women at the center—from Cleopatra to Boudica, Sappho to Fulvia, and countless other artists, writers, leaders, and creators of history
Around four thousand years ago, the mysterious Minoans sculpted statues of topless women with snakes slithering on their arms. Over one thousand years later, Sappho wrote great poems of longing and desire. For classicist Daisy Dunn, these women—whether they were simply sitting at their looms at home or participating in the highest echelons of power—were up to something much more interesting than other histories would lead us to believe. Together, these women helped to make antiquity as we know it.
In this monumental work, Dunn reconceives our understanding of the ancient world by emphasizing women's roles within it. The Missing Thread never relegates women to the sidelines and is populated with well-known names such as Cleopatra and Agrippina, as well as the likes of Achaemenid consort Atossa and Olympias, a force in Macedon. Spanning three thousand years, the story moves from Minoan Crete to Mycenaean Greece, from Lesbos to Asia Minor, from the Persian Empire to the royal court of Macedonia, and concludes with Rome and its growing empire. The women of antiquity are undeniably woven throughout the fabric of history, and in The Missing Thread they finally take center stage.
Around four thousand years ago, the mysterious Minoans sculpted statues of topless women with snakes slithering on their arms. Over one thousand years later, Sappho wrote great poems of longing and desire. For classicist Daisy Dunn, these women—whether they were simply sitting at their looms at home or participating in the highest echelons of power—were up to something much more interesting than other histories would lead us to believe. Together, these women helped to make antiquity as we know it.
In this monumental work, Dunn reconceives our understanding of the ancient world by emphasizing women's roles within it. The Missing Thread never relegates women to the sidelines and is populated with well-known names such as Cleopatra and Agrippina, as well as the likes of Achaemenid consort Atossa and Olympias, a force in Macedon. Spanning three thousand years, the story moves from Minoan Crete to Mycenaean Greece, from Lesbos to Asia Minor, from the Persian Empire to the royal court of Macedonia, and concludes with Rome and its growing empire. The women of antiquity are undeniably woven throughout the fabric of history, and in The Missing Thread they finally take center stage.
Kindle Edition
First published May 23, 2024
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About the author
Daisy Dunn
7 books122 followersDaisy Dunn is an author, classicist, and cultural critic. Her first two books, Catullus’ Bedspread: The Life of Rome’s Most Erotic Poet, and The Poems of Catullus: A New Translation, were published by HarperCollins on both sides of the Atlantic in 2016. The same year, Daisy was named in the Guardian as one of the leading female historians. Daisy has three books due out in 2019, the first of which, In The Shadow of Vesuvius: A Life of Pliny, was published by HarperCollins on 30 May (it will be released by Norton in the US in December). She is represented for books and media by Georgina Capel at Georgina Capel Associates Ltd.
Daisy contributes features, reviews, and comment articles to the Daily Telegraph, Evening Standard, History Today, Literary Review, The London Magazine, New Statesman, Newsweek, The Oldie, The Times, Sunday Times, Spectator, Standpoint, TLS, Apollo Magazine, Catholic Herald, and in the US she contributes to The LA Review of Books, New Criterion, and Lit Hub. Representing her former Oxford college St Hilda’s, Daisy played 3 matches of the 2016 University Challenge Christmas Special on BBC 2. Her team, captained by crime writer Val McDermid, won the series. Daisy has contributed to the BBC World Service, recorded two short films for BBC Ideas, and in 2015 her essay ‘An Unlikely Friendship: Oscar Wilde and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec’ was longlisted for the international £20,000 Notting Hill Editions Essay Prize.
Daisy is particularly interested in the ancient world and its afterlife from the Renaissance forwards. Her doctorate, which she was awarded at UCL in 2013, spanned eighth-century BC Greece to sixteenth-century Italy. Her expertise lies in the history of the late Roman Republic and early Empire, literature of Greece and Rome, and art of Renaissance Italy.
Daisy read Classics at the University of Oxford, before completing a Master’s in the History of Art at the Courtauld in London, where she was awarded a scholarship for her work on Titian, Venice and Renaissance Europe. In the course of completing her doctorate, Daisy was recipient of the AHRC doctoral award, the Gay Clifford Award for Outstanding Women Scholars, and an Italian Cultural Society scholarship. She has taught Latin at UCL and continues to give talks and lectures in museums, galleries, and at festivals. She was formerly trustee and Executive Officer of the Joint Association of Classical Teachers. She is now Editor of ARGO http://www.hellenicsociety.org.uk/pub..., a journal published through the Hellenic Society, founded in 1879.
Daisy contributes features, reviews, and comment articles to the Daily Telegraph, Evening Standard, History Today, Literary Review, The London Magazine, New Statesman, Newsweek, The Oldie, The Times, Sunday Times, Spectator, Standpoint, TLS, Apollo Magazine, Catholic Herald, and in the US she contributes to The LA Review of Books, New Criterion, and Lit Hub. Representing her former Oxford college St Hilda’s, Daisy played 3 matches of the 2016 University Challenge Christmas Special on BBC 2. Her team, captained by crime writer Val McDermid, won the series. Daisy has contributed to the BBC World Service, recorded two short films for BBC Ideas, and in 2015 her essay ‘An Unlikely Friendship: Oscar Wilde and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec’ was longlisted for the international £20,000 Notting Hill Editions Essay Prize.
Daisy is particularly interested in the ancient world and its afterlife from the Renaissance forwards. Her doctorate, which she was awarded at UCL in 2013, spanned eighth-century BC Greece to sixteenth-century Italy. Her expertise lies in the history of the late Roman Republic and early Empire, literature of Greece and Rome, and art of Renaissance Italy.
Daisy read Classics at the University of Oxford, before completing a Master’s in the History of Art at the Courtauld in London, where she was awarded a scholarship for her work on Titian, Venice and Renaissance Europe. In the course of completing her doctorate, Daisy was recipient of the AHRC doctoral award, the Gay Clifford Award for Outstanding Women Scholars, and an Italian Cultural Society scholarship. She has taught Latin at UCL and continues to give talks and lectures in museums, galleries, and at festivals. She was formerly trustee and Executive Officer of the Joint Association of Classical Teachers. She is now Editor of ARGO http://www.hellenicsociety.org.uk/pub..., a journal published through the Hellenic Society, founded in 1879.
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September 24, 2024
As anyone who knows me will tell you, women in antiquity and feminist historiography are my passion. Unfortunately, "The Missing Thread" by Daisy Dunn does not contribute much to the historiography of women in antiquity.
I want to note something off the bat: this is NOT a "women's history of the ancient world." This is a women's history of the Greco-Roman world. Other ancient cultures independent of Greece or Rome receive no genuine attention here, unless those women happened to come into contact with Greece or Rome (like Atossa), so if you are looking for a comprehensive women's history that addresses intersecting ancient cultures, even "just" Mediterranean ones, then this book will be a disappointment.
In the introduction, Dunn refers to the Biblical Eve as "Pandora's Christian counterpart" on page 2. Eve is a JEWISH figure. Sure, the Tanakh was later appropriated (and twisted, in often antisemitic ways) by Christians into the so-called "Old Testament," but Eve is a Jewish construction, not a Christian one, although the Christians interpret her quite different from Jews.
Dunn's chapter on Minoan Crete being a sort of proto-feminist society was also jarring, most of all because using wall art to construct a social or cultural history is impossible. As she mentioned, their script -- Linear A -- has yet to be cracked. Yet, you get the impression that Dunn is arguing Minoan Crete was a borderline matriarchy and the Mycenaeans' ruined women's rights to some extent. Dunn cites Mycenaean tablets that demonstrate women were excluded from power, but, as I mentioned, we do not know what the Minoans have written and where their women fit in the power structure. One can easily deduce Mycenaean Greece was a borderline matriarchy, too, if you ignored the documentary evidence and focused only on the art historical evidence.
Already by the Archaic Greece chapter, I felt the book had not done a great job of looking at women who aren't of the upper-class. Penelope is spoken of as almost a proto-feminist hero, but it is not mentioned by Dunn that Penelope rather viciously abused the enslaved women in her household. It would have made an interesting discussion not only of the intersection of gender and class but also race, since, as Dunn very briefly mentioned, enslaved women in Mycenaean society at the time Penelope would have lived were mainly taken from Anatolia (in modern-day Turkey). Yes, much of our evidence of women's lives in Greece comes from upper-class society, but it is far from true we have no evidence of women from the "lower orders," or that there is not enough to discuss them, as I just illustrated with enslaved women on Mycenaean Ithaka.
I did like how Dunn drew occasional parallels to women (as well as female deities) outside of the Greek world - including China, Egypt, and Mesopotamia - albeit mainly women from the upper-classes in those ancient societies as well.
Despite a decent writing style and some interesting tidbits, this is obviously a popular "history." Dunn repeats the unsubstantiated claim Sappho was married to a man (nary a citation, but it comes from 1) misogynistic male Greek comedic writers like Menander - who lived centuries after Sappho - and the extremely unreliable work "Suda" that was written almost 2,000 years after Archaic Sappho lived). Dunn cites the mention of a possible daughter in Sappho's poems to reinforce this heteronormativity constructed by extremely misogynistic Greek men who lived centuries after Sappho wrote. Dunn does not mention Sappho's poems where the poet decries the horrors of losing one's "virginity" (to men) - with obvious connotations of rape. After all, how consensual was a woman's (or girl's) marriage in antiquity? Women/girls of the upper-class especially married young. Dunn seems uninterested in exploring this very serious issue in the context of Sappho. Like earlier male classicists, Dunn obscures the fact all of Sappho's surviving erotic poetry concerns women, instead insisting on its "ambiguity." Furthermore, Sappho's life is spoken of in certain terms. The fact of the matter is any "biographical" details on Sappho come from her poetry.
The rest of the book is similarly hit/miss, and fairly general in its scope. The section on Cleopatra VII is just a rehash of some ideas other scholars have discussed in the last several decades, although it doesn't feel like a well-rounded discussion of the famous Ptolemaic Egyptian queen. Dunn characterizes the poor treatment Cleopatra received in the Roman literary record as connected simply to misogyny and her status as a foreign queen. But if Dunn read Cleopatra on a deeper level, she could have discussed how the intersection of Cleopatra's race (Egyptian, Greek), gender (woman), and status as a ruler in a Roman-dominated world affected her reception by Romans, which would have made for a meaningful and fresh discussion. Frankly, as it would for all of the other women discussed in this book, like Aspasia (Racially Greek but an immigrant, a woman), Atossa (Racially Persian, woman, and queen) and Fulvia (Racially Roman and a woman).
I just want to warn people unfamiliar with the topics of women in antiquity there is much speculation here without Dunn telling you so, speaking authoritatively on contention topics as if they are actually established facts - with poor use of citations (such as the whole Sappho issue).
There was nothing new in this book for me. My work concerns classical antiquity so that is understandable. But I did find it jarring when Dunn states: "The ability to understand women and view them in the round remained underdeveloped in even the most celebrated classical and contemporary historians. I hope to have gone some way towards bringing them to life."
Why I find this jarring is because it feels like Dunn is somewhat discounting the work of the incredible abundance of feminist historiography - did she not consult these numerous works? Reading through the bibliography, it is rather light on this score, especially on a book of this size and scope. Dunn owes much to many women classicists and historians before her, and "The Missing Thread" is not a unique work, no matter what the book's blurbs and even Dunn herself seems to suggest. Why isn't Amy Richlin's formative Arguments with Silence: Writing the History of Roman Women used by Dunn? Why did Dunn not round out her work with thought and theory, like the essays in Feminist Theory and the Classics, edited by Richlin and Nancy Sorkin Rabinowitz? Sarah Pomeroy inaugurated the study of women in classical antiquity as a serious topic of scholarship with Goddesses, Whores, Wives and Slaves: Women in Classical Antiquity, but Pomeroy hardly gets the credit she deserves here.
I also believe scholarship on the intersection of gender, identity, and race would have greatly benefited this book. Consulting the work of Shelley P. Haley, a Black feminist classics scholar, would have been highly beneficial for Dunn to understand how the intersection of womanhood and race affected an individual woman's status (like the enslaved Anatolian women in Mycenae). Immigrant Women in Athens: Gender, Ethnicity, and Citizenship in the Classical City by Rebbecca F. Kennedy; Women and Society in Greek and Roman Egypt: A Sourcebook by Jane Rowlandson; Women Like This: New Perspectives on Jewish Women in the Greco-Roman World edited by Amy-Jill Levine; Race: Antiquity and Its Legacy by Denise Eileen McCoskey; Identities, Ethnicities and Gender in Antiquity edited by Jacqueline Fabre-Serris, Alison Keith and Florence Klein; Race and Ethnicity in the Classical World: An Anthology of Primary Sources in Translation edited by Rebecca F. Kennedy, C. Sydnor Roy, and Max L. Goldman; and Untangling Blackness in Greek Antiquity by Sarah Debrew would have all been a huge boon to the book's bibliography.
The wonderful Cleopatra's Daughter: From Roman Prisoner to African Queen (2023) by historian Jane Draycott is a work of popular history that shows us how much can be gained from considering the intersection of gender, race, and identity in constructing histories of ancient women.
"The Missing Thread" may help fill the need for popular works on classical antiquity, but it is hardly a subversive or game-changing work.
I want to note something off the bat: this is NOT a "women's history of the ancient world." This is a women's history of the Greco-Roman world. Other ancient cultures independent of Greece or Rome receive no genuine attention here, unless those women happened to come into contact with Greece or Rome (like Atossa), so if you are looking for a comprehensive women's history that addresses intersecting ancient cultures, even "just" Mediterranean ones, then this book will be a disappointment.
In the introduction, Dunn refers to the Biblical Eve as "Pandora's Christian counterpart" on page 2. Eve is a JEWISH figure. Sure, the Tanakh was later appropriated (and twisted, in often antisemitic ways) by Christians into the so-called "Old Testament," but Eve is a Jewish construction, not a Christian one, although the Christians interpret her quite different from Jews.
Dunn's chapter on Minoan Crete being a sort of proto-feminist society was also jarring, most of all because using wall art to construct a social or cultural history is impossible. As she mentioned, their script -- Linear A -- has yet to be cracked. Yet, you get the impression that Dunn is arguing Minoan Crete was a borderline matriarchy and the Mycenaeans' ruined women's rights to some extent. Dunn cites Mycenaean tablets that demonstrate women were excluded from power, but, as I mentioned, we do not know what the Minoans have written and where their women fit in the power structure. One can easily deduce Mycenaean Greece was a borderline matriarchy, too, if you ignored the documentary evidence and focused only on the art historical evidence.
Already by the Archaic Greece chapter, I felt the book had not done a great job of looking at women who aren't of the upper-class. Penelope is spoken of as almost a proto-feminist hero, but it is not mentioned by Dunn that Penelope rather viciously abused the enslaved women in her household. It would have made an interesting discussion not only of the intersection of gender and class but also race, since, as Dunn very briefly mentioned, enslaved women in Mycenaean society at the time Penelope would have lived were mainly taken from Anatolia (in modern-day Turkey). Yes, much of our evidence of women's lives in Greece comes from upper-class society, but it is far from true we have no evidence of women from the "lower orders," or that there is not enough to discuss them, as I just illustrated with enslaved women on Mycenaean Ithaka.
I did like how Dunn drew occasional parallels to women (as well as female deities) outside of the Greek world - including China, Egypt, and Mesopotamia - albeit mainly women from the upper-classes in those ancient societies as well.
Despite a decent writing style and some interesting tidbits, this is obviously a popular "history." Dunn repeats the unsubstantiated claim Sappho was married to a man (nary a citation, but it comes from 1) misogynistic male Greek comedic writers like Menander - who lived centuries after Sappho - and the extremely unreliable work "Suda" that was written almost 2,000 years after Archaic Sappho lived). Dunn cites the mention of a possible daughter in Sappho's poems to reinforce this heteronormativity constructed by extremely misogynistic Greek men who lived centuries after Sappho wrote. Dunn does not mention Sappho's poems where the poet decries the horrors of losing one's "virginity" (to men) - with obvious connotations of rape. After all, how consensual was a woman's (or girl's) marriage in antiquity? Women/girls of the upper-class especially married young. Dunn seems uninterested in exploring this very serious issue in the context of Sappho. Like earlier male classicists, Dunn obscures the fact all of Sappho's surviving erotic poetry concerns women, instead insisting on its "ambiguity." Furthermore, Sappho's life is spoken of in certain terms. The fact of the matter is any "biographical" details on Sappho come from her poetry.
The rest of the book is similarly hit/miss, and fairly general in its scope. The section on Cleopatra VII is just a rehash of some ideas other scholars have discussed in the last several decades, although it doesn't feel like a well-rounded discussion of the famous Ptolemaic Egyptian queen. Dunn characterizes the poor treatment Cleopatra received in the Roman literary record as connected simply to misogyny and her status as a foreign queen. But if Dunn read Cleopatra on a deeper level, she could have discussed how the intersection of Cleopatra's race (Egyptian, Greek), gender (woman), and status as a ruler in a Roman-dominated world affected her reception by Romans, which would have made for a meaningful and fresh discussion. Frankly, as it would for all of the other women discussed in this book, like Aspasia (Racially Greek but an immigrant, a woman), Atossa (Racially Persian, woman, and queen) and Fulvia (Racially Roman and a woman).
I just want to warn people unfamiliar with the topics of women in antiquity there is much speculation here without Dunn telling you so, speaking authoritatively on contention topics as if they are actually established facts - with poor use of citations (such as the whole Sappho issue).
There was nothing new in this book for me. My work concerns classical antiquity so that is understandable. But I did find it jarring when Dunn states: "The ability to understand women and view them in the round remained underdeveloped in even the most celebrated classical and contemporary historians. I hope to have gone some way towards bringing them to life."
Why I find this jarring is because it feels like Dunn is somewhat discounting the work of the incredible abundance of feminist historiography - did she not consult these numerous works? Reading through the bibliography, it is rather light on this score, especially on a book of this size and scope. Dunn owes much to many women classicists and historians before her, and "The Missing Thread" is not a unique work, no matter what the book's blurbs and even Dunn herself seems to suggest. Why isn't Amy Richlin's formative Arguments with Silence: Writing the History of Roman Women used by Dunn? Why did Dunn not round out her work with thought and theory, like the essays in Feminist Theory and the Classics, edited by Richlin and Nancy Sorkin Rabinowitz? Sarah Pomeroy inaugurated the study of women in classical antiquity as a serious topic of scholarship with Goddesses, Whores, Wives and Slaves: Women in Classical Antiquity, but Pomeroy hardly gets the credit she deserves here.
I also believe scholarship on the intersection of gender, identity, and race would have greatly benefited this book. Consulting the work of Shelley P. Haley, a Black feminist classics scholar, would have been highly beneficial for Dunn to understand how the intersection of womanhood and race affected an individual woman's status (like the enslaved Anatolian women in Mycenae). Immigrant Women in Athens: Gender, Ethnicity, and Citizenship in the Classical City by Rebbecca F. Kennedy; Women and Society in Greek and Roman Egypt: A Sourcebook by Jane Rowlandson; Women Like This: New Perspectives on Jewish Women in the Greco-Roman World edited by Amy-Jill Levine; Race: Antiquity and Its Legacy by Denise Eileen McCoskey; Identities, Ethnicities and Gender in Antiquity edited by Jacqueline Fabre-Serris, Alison Keith and Florence Klein; Race and Ethnicity in the Classical World: An Anthology of Primary Sources in Translation edited by Rebecca F. Kennedy, C. Sydnor Roy, and Max L. Goldman; and Untangling Blackness in Greek Antiquity by Sarah Debrew would have all been a huge boon to the book's bibliography.
The wonderful Cleopatra's Daughter: From Roman Prisoner to African Queen (2023) by historian Jane Draycott is a work of popular history that shows us how much can be gained from considering the intersection of gender, race, and identity in constructing histories of ancient women.
"The Missing Thread" may help fill the need for popular works on classical antiquity, but it is hardly a subversive or game-changing work.
September 3, 2024
I was greatly disappointed by the lack of information about women in general. I feel like the author spent a great deal of time discussing the great men of Greece and Rome, sprinkling in the women they were associated with instead of focusing on solely those women. The book claims to show the ancient world through the lives of women, but leaves out much of the ancient world…and the women. I wish I had known that this would essentially be just another Roman history book before I paid for it.
January 19, 2025
“Puede que sea cierto que detrás de todo gran hombre hay una gran mujer, pero a menudo también es verdad que delante de toda gran mujer hay un hombre que se cree grande.”
Este ensayo nos habla de parte de la historia de Grecia y Roma pero hablando de las mujeres que influyeron en el rumbo de los acontecimientos.
Tal y como el libro está planteado se hace un poco pesado en la primera parte. Al haber poca información sobre las mujeres el texto sigue siendo en su gran mayoría sobre hombres, batallas y tal… las mujeres poco aportan aunque se intenta enfatizar y al querer meter muchos años de historia se condensa la información y se hace bastante aburrida.
La segunda parte sobre Roma, concretamente la de la familia de Octavio, ya se hace más entretenida. Es un culebrón lleno de casamientos estratégicos, divorcios, adulterios, asesinatos, exilios, etc. Un poco lío de nombres pero es que qué vidas más rebuscadas. Aquí sí toman verdadera importancia las mujeres, aunque las fuentes que nos han llegado son principalmente de hombres que en su época eran muy misóginos.
Los capítulos son muy largos y van ordenados por cronología. Vista la información que hay y lo pesado que se hace a veces sería mejor opción dividir los capítulos por mujeres concretas y sus vidas… menos lioso y seguramente más claro, sobre todo omitiendo partes de la historia que podemos encontrar en otros libros más extensos y mejor explicados.
Por el título del libro yo creo que los lectores nos acercamos esperando otra cosa.
(3/5) ⭐️⭐️⭐️ interesante pero me parece que no está bien organizada y seleccionada la información teniendo en cuenta las expectativas creadas
Este ensayo nos habla de parte de la historia de Grecia y Roma pero hablando de las mujeres que influyeron en el rumbo de los acontecimientos.
Tal y como el libro está planteado se hace un poco pesado en la primera parte. Al haber poca información sobre las mujeres el texto sigue siendo en su gran mayoría sobre hombres, batallas y tal… las mujeres poco aportan aunque se intenta enfatizar y al querer meter muchos años de historia se condensa la información y se hace bastante aburrida.
La segunda parte sobre Roma, concretamente la de la familia de Octavio, ya se hace más entretenida. Es un culebrón lleno de casamientos estratégicos, divorcios, adulterios, asesinatos, exilios, etc. Un poco lío de nombres pero es que qué vidas más rebuscadas. Aquí sí toman verdadera importancia las mujeres, aunque las fuentes que nos han llegado son principalmente de hombres que en su época eran muy misóginos.
Los capítulos son muy largos y van ordenados por cronología. Vista la información que hay y lo pesado que se hace a veces sería mejor opción dividir los capítulos por mujeres concretas y sus vidas… menos lioso y seguramente más claro, sobre todo omitiendo partes de la historia que podemos encontrar en otros libros más extensos y mejor explicados.
Por el título del libro yo creo que los lectores nos acercamos esperando otra cosa.
(3/5) ⭐️⭐️⭐️ interesante pero me parece que no está bien organizada y seleccionada la información teniendo en cuenta las expectativas creadas
July 21, 2024
I loved this book !! The idea of bringing to life the stories of historical women so often overlooked by their contemporary (male) historians is something so special to me. Historical non-fiction books sometimes run the risk of becoming an uninspiring list of events, however in 'The Missing Thread' the writing was so fluid and engaging to read and I enjoyed every page.
This book spans 3000 years, multiple states and civilisations, but also a range of social classes. It was intriguing to discover a wider perspective of well-known historical women, but also refreshing to learn the stories of more mundane, "everyday" people who still had an impact on the world around them and left traces for us to still remember them today.
I would definitely recommend this book to anyone interested in ancient history, whether you have any prior knowledge or not.
This book spans 3000 years, multiple states and civilisations, but also a range of social classes. It was intriguing to discover a wider perspective of well-known historical women, but also refreshing to learn the stories of more mundane, "everyday" people who still had an impact on the world around them and left traces for us to still remember them today.
I would definitely recommend this book to anyone interested in ancient history, whether you have any prior knowledge or not.
June 23, 2024
I was gifted a personalised copy of The Missing Thread by the lovely folks over at W&N (Weidenfeld & Nicolson) after they saw my positive reviews of The Earth Transformed by Peter Frankopan. Whilst I've adored many books set in the Ancient Roman time period (The Roman Mysteries by Caroline Lawrence were a staple of my childhood) and learnt a lot about the time period in school, Ancient Greece is much more of a mystery to me. Along with the mystery of any prominent women from both Ancient Worlds.
This isn't some bra-burning feminist book (although I personally enjoy those too!). Dunn isn't here trying to claim that these Ancient women were actually in charge of everything and we've got it all wrong. Instead, using and re-interpreting (often from a women's perspective for the first time) the archaeological evidence we already have, the importance of women comes to light.
The women are 99.9% rich, titled, and connected women. Those women living within the Roman Empire who weren't rich, or citizens, or connected to the right people, had almost no way to make an impact. But for those few women who were in these positions? The mothers and wives, and sometimes daughters, to powerful men? Well, some of these women took full advantage of that and altered the course of history many times over.
If you're not familiar with this time period in history already, don't be concerned. Dunn doesn't only focus on the women, they are interwoven into the events as they would have been in real life. We see the women as they impact these men's trajectories and, when possible, we learn what happened to them later in life. Through this book I learnt so much more about the men of these Ancient Worlds, as well as the women by their sides.
This book isn't intended to re-write history. Instead, it merely adds in what was previously missing. The contributions from the other half of the population who, however restricted they may have been, were still an integral part of these societies and cultures. This is a fantastic book to read both as additional learning but also if you're coming to Ancient Greece and Rome for the first time. I can't recommend it enough!
This isn't some bra-burning feminist book (although I personally enjoy those too!). Dunn isn't here trying to claim that these Ancient women were actually in charge of everything and we've got it all wrong. Instead, using and re-interpreting (often from a women's perspective for the first time) the archaeological evidence we already have, the importance of women comes to light.
The women are 99.9% rich, titled, and connected women. Those women living within the Roman Empire who weren't rich, or citizens, or connected to the right people, had almost no way to make an impact. But for those few women who were in these positions? The mothers and wives, and sometimes daughters, to powerful men? Well, some of these women took full advantage of that and altered the course of history many times over.
If you're not familiar with this time period in history already, don't be concerned. Dunn doesn't only focus on the women, they are interwoven into the events as they would have been in real life. We see the women as they impact these men's trajectories and, when possible, we learn what happened to them later in life. Through this book I learnt so much more about the men of these Ancient Worlds, as well as the women by their sides.
This book isn't intended to re-write history. Instead, it merely adds in what was previously missing. The contributions from the other half of the population who, however restricted they may have been, were still an integral part of these societies and cultures. This is a fantastic book to read both as additional learning but also if you're coming to Ancient Greece and Rome for the first time. I can't recommend it enough!
March 30, 2026
I went into this thinking it was about women of the past, but it was more a book about history with both women and men. Many men. The title of the book is clickbait DON’T FALL FOR IT. Too many names too many families too many wars… I am NOT made for reading history books. I will stick to documentaries. The reading format regarding history is not the way for me to learn things anymore lol
December 29, 2024
I read this for a book group and was disappointed in it. While the title says it's a "Women's History of the Ancient World," I often felt we were getting a lot of the men's history, with women thrown in here and there. I did learn some interesting snippets about some women, but a lot of the stories were things I had already encountered. Perhaps I've read too much already about women in the ancient world?
I had a lot of trouble in the earlier parts of the book, when it felt as if the author jumped around from ancient Greece to Mesopotamia to Persia to Etruria to Egypt to Cyprus and more. I couldn't figure out what the progression was supposed to be at all times. It wasn't purely chronological. I liked the latter part of the book better when the author settled on ancient Rome, as it was for the most part a chronological progression (again, with a few jumps in time and location).
Perhaps if you know very little about women in the ancient world, this would work better. I should caution, however, that it is about elite women, and is not about the lives of ordinary women in the ancient world.
I had a lot of trouble in the earlier parts of the book, when it felt as if the author jumped around from ancient Greece to Mesopotamia to Persia to Etruria to Egypt to Cyprus and more. I couldn't figure out what the progression was supposed to be at all times. It wasn't purely chronological. I liked the latter part of the book better when the author settled on ancient Rome, as it was for the most part a chronological progression (again, with a few jumps in time and location).
Perhaps if you know very little about women in the ancient world, this would work better. I should caution, however, that it is about elite women, and is not about the lives of ordinary women in the ancient world.
February 12, 2025
I was really enjoying this book but at some point I started to feel that the author somehow missed the mark. I wanted to read about women written out of Ancient History but instead I found myself reading about a bunch of men and women as satellites of their lives and accomplishments. It was a “behind every great man there is a great woman” kind of story and that’s not what I was looking for in this particular book. Also it felt too scholarly which is not a bad thing per se but in this case I think that the level of detail was just too much.
November 30, 2024
Found title misleading. While the book does trace a missing thread it is hidden behind battles and assassinations by men for men. There is no tracing of women beyond rich women connected to powerful men.
April 11, 2025
The book is a good history of Greece and Rome, with some women thrown in. It is NOT a history of the ancient world, and certainly not a women's history. She clearly just wanted to write a book about a time earlier than her first two books but couldn't think of a clever way to market it so just used women.
August 29, 2024
I found myself feeling as the book went along, that the full story was too tightly woven for things that happened so long ago and endnotes so seemingly sparse, relatively speaking. I wondered, admittedly cynically by the end, if there were ambitions for a miniseries in the book’s crafting, or the like.
Phrasing something like “if she was holding a sword at all, she would have held it…” and “if only she had stayed…” and “it must not have escaped her notice…” suggested to me that we had again and again moved from the historical record to Ms. Dunn’s speculation or imagination.
Nonetheless, my library has it catalogued as history rather than historical fiction. It reads like a soap opera or drama regardless.
But I became bored during “I, Claudius” on PBS, too. I suspect the problem is mine more than the book’s.
Phrasing something like “if she was holding a sword at all, she would have held it…” and “if only she had stayed…” and “it must not have escaped her notice…” suggested to me that we had again and again moved from the historical record to Ms. Dunn’s speculation or imagination.
Nonetheless, my library has it catalogued as history rather than historical fiction. It reads like a soap opera or drama regardless.
But I became bored during “I, Claudius” on PBS, too. I suspect the problem is mine more than the book’s.
Read
March 27, 2025The Missing Thread promises a woman centered retelling of 3,000 years, from the birth of Minoan Crete to the death of the Julio-Claudian dynasty. I understand the lack of historical sources about women in this time might be a challenge, but the book is mainly about major male historical figures and the women are kind of just thrown in there. It is definitely not a story told “through women”. An interesting and sad common thread through the 3,000 years of history Dunn covers is in times of uncertainty women are often subjected to stripping of rights and freedoms. This book was ok, I respect Dunn for trying but it felt lacking.
May 28, 2025
This was such a cool book. I’m not going to lie, I have read a lot about ancient history so this was an incredible read for me. But there were absolutely times where I got lost with all the names and relationships happening. Like full paragraphs where I was like which f-ing Agrippina is this?? So it was a little hard but that is to be expected.
Overall the impact of this book came after hearing story after story of women who contributed to history alongside men like Alexander, Caesar, etc. and realizing that I was never taught about them. The inconsistency of how women have been treated throughout history is not surprising but sad. There were a few moments in this book where governing men made statements about women that echo some alarming sentiments that we hear today in our political environment. It is both alarming and in a weird way comforting knowing that the dynamics of power have been playing out since ancient times and we aren’t experiencing anything new.
Overall, the author is right. Women have often times been the unrecognized authors of history.
Overall the impact of this book came after hearing story after story of women who contributed to history alongside men like Alexander, Caesar, etc. and realizing that I was never taught about them. The inconsistency of how women have been treated throughout history is not surprising but sad. There were a few moments in this book where governing men made statements about women that echo some alarming sentiments that we hear today in our political environment. It is both alarming and in a weird way comforting knowing that the dynamics of power have been playing out since ancient times and we aren’t experiencing anything new.
Overall, the author is right. Women have often times been the unrecognized authors of history.
February 22, 2025
The book is quite dense at times but also seems to assume a level of prior knowledge of some of the figures and history, which is not necessarily a critique but more of a comment on who the target audience seems to be. Regardless, the book does an excellent job of highlighting the roles of women throughout various ancient groups. Many of the stories were really quite interesting, although a bit dense with details. I think the end quote summed the book up nicely: “to be a woman was, as ever before, to be a thread in a tapestry of unknowable, impossible extent.”
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 22, 2026
O tak, kocham kiedy niepewne podania, plotki i słabe przesłanki źródłowe są podawane jako fakty w zależności od tego, co pasuje do interpretacji autora czy autorki XD fatalna lektura, okrutnie się męczyłam, nawet nie wiem, czy zaistniałe w książce błędy to kwestia tłumaczenia niczym wziętego z chatu GPT, czy ewidentnych braków w warsztacie autorki, ale niezależnie od tego, naprawdę nikomu nie mogłabym polecić tej książki (czego przykładem jest przedstawienie Spurynny jako kobiety XDDDD). Ciekawy fenomen, w którym książka w nurcie herstory czyni w tym temacie więcej szkód niż pożytku.
March 19, 2026
The premise of the book was sabotaged by the breadth of its scope. In order to explain how the women fit into the timeline, she had to reference what was going on with the men. Which made the women’s role seem less significant, undermining the point of the book. Would have been better to have focused on some key historical figures and tell their stories.
March 31, 2026
We may vent our frustration on behalf of all the women of antiquity whose lives were buried with them or twisted out of recognition, but like Xerxes lashing the sea, we risk overlooking the spirits swirling subtly beneath. Women are everywhere that antiquity raises its head. They are the authors of our history.
November 6, 2025
A very interesting insights in the importance of women and their influence in ancient history. It's also a tragic telling of the suppression of women's rights in the, for the western world, leading ancient societies; Greek and Roman.
August 20, 2024
A good history where women are added back into the story you already think you know. SHould be required reading in colleges!
January 25, 2025
A great view of the (mostly) forgotten women behind the celebrated men of history.
October 31, 2025
I understand how closely tied these women’s lives were to the powerful men around them, but it was so much about the men that it didn’t feel much like history of women in the ancient world at several times.
November 4, 2025
i wish i could be a minoan :(
March 12, 2026
Got over halfway through, but this needs revisiting when I have a more comprehensive background understanding.
March 31, 2026
Less of a story about the missing histories of women and more about the history of war and power seized by men. But perhaps that is the history of women!??
August 20, 2024
Very dense.
Did not finish
March 17, 2026I got as far as Chapter 6 before I gave up. I studied Classical History back as an undergrad so a lot of this was familiar territory to me. However, I gave up this book when I felt like the premise that drew me in - threading in women's stories from these ancient times - wasn't delivered. The text I read derived almost entirely from a handful of sources very familiar to people who like to immerse themselves in this historical time period. However, this book kept going on too much credulity for my liking. The "death" of Artemisia, the famous queen and naval commander, killing herself by chucking herself off a rock after blinding the man she had a crush on, is traced to Photios I of Constantinople, who was writing in the later 800s A.D. - maybe we shouldn't trust the dude who got his sources from Lord knows where. And solely relying on Herodotus, who depicts the Persian invaders and their Queens as these insanely violent freaks who love chopping each other to bits. There was one horrific passage where a group of refugee Greek women are said to have been gang-raped to death by the invaders and that was the point I gave this book up.
June 28, 2024
The book contains a wealth of information and is no doubt well researched and thought-out. However, for me it wasn't engrossing, as many of the non-fiction books I've read recently were. Do not let this deter you, though! This is just my personal preference.
I do believe I have found an error which missed detection. Salome is Herod's sister and described as such several times in a couple of paragraphs. Later it is implied that she is his wife when discussing how much of their respective inheritances was left to Romans.
Borrowed from the library.
I do believe I have found an error which missed detection. Salome is Herod's sister and described as such several times in a couple of paragraphs. Later it is implied that she is his wife when discussing how much of their respective inheritances was left to Romans.
Borrowed from the library.
April 11, 2025
I will expand this review later, but I wish Daisy Dunn had spent more time actually talking about women and their contributions, instead of focusing so much on criticizing the prejudices or mistakes of -some- men. For example, she takes a lot of time to complain about Evans' work, but mentions Harriet Ann Boyd Hawes (or other women) only briefly.
There are many moments where there are no sources or references that could have helped to enrich the legacy of the feminine in Ancient Greece and Rome.
For instance, when discussing Mycenae, Dunn states that the Gate of the Lions has been misnamed for years, since the animals there are not male lions, but lionesses. This is a very specific and meaningful detail, potentially valuable as archaeological and iconographic evidence supporting the importance of the feminine. And yet, Dunn skips over it without any further commentary, and quickly moves on to another subject.
The entire book follows this same dynamic: it avoids dwelling on genuinely important topics or statements that could have contributed to reshaping the way we understand the history of women in Ancient Greece and Rome.
TW RAPE. Clarification: This review is not intended to dismiss the importance of acknowledging sexual violence against women in history, but to question the over-reliance on trauma narratives when portraying complex historical women. .
There are also many problematic analyses, especially regarding Homer and ancient Greek mytholgy and ancient religion. At one point, Dunn refers to the ancient Greek pantheon as a 'dysfunctional family': a description that feels reductive and simplistic, given that all ancient religions include elements of power struggles, divine conflict, and cosmic chaos. Historians shouldn't misrepresent and distort the theology of an ancient civilization in this way.
Also, in more than one paragraph, the book villainizes King Agamemnon, while portraying Priam as a “wise king” because... he doesn’t blame Helen for the war. But Dunn seems to forget that Helen herself, Agamemnon’s sister-in-law, spoke of him as a great king. And, ironically, the “wise Priam” also admired Agamemnon —despite being his enemy in war. And funnily enough, Dunn forgets that this same “wise Priam” tells his sons he wishes they had died instead of Hector. But apparently, he’s a “positive male figure” just because he didn’t blame Helen (a woman).
So, unfortunately this book doesn't deliver what it promises. Still, in the first 3 chapters there were some things that were interesting for further personal research, like "The Gate of the Lionesses".
There are many moments where there are no sources or references that could have helped to enrich the legacy of the feminine in Ancient Greece and Rome.
For instance, when discussing Mycenae, Dunn states that the Gate of the Lions has been misnamed for years, since the animals there are not male lions, but lionesses. This is a very specific and meaningful detail, potentially valuable as archaeological and iconographic evidence supporting the importance of the feminine. And yet, Dunn skips over it without any further commentary, and quickly moves on to another subject.
The entire book follows this same dynamic: it avoids dwelling on genuinely important topics or statements that could have contributed to reshaping the way we understand the history of women in Ancient Greece and Rome.
TW RAPE. Clarification: This review is not intended to dismiss the importance of acknowledging sexual violence against women in history, but to question the over-reliance on trauma narratives when portraying complex historical women. .
There are also many problematic analyses, especially regarding Homer and ancient Greek mytholgy and ancient religion. At one point, Dunn refers to the ancient Greek pantheon as a 'dysfunctional family': a description that feels reductive and simplistic, given that all ancient religions include elements of power struggles, divine conflict, and cosmic chaos. Historians shouldn't misrepresent and distort the theology of an ancient civilization in this way.
Also, in more than one paragraph, the book villainizes King Agamemnon, while portraying Priam as a “wise king” because... he doesn’t blame Helen for the war. But Dunn seems to forget that Helen herself, Agamemnon’s sister-in-law, spoke of him as a great king. And, ironically, the “wise Priam” also admired Agamemnon —despite being his enemy in war. And funnily enough, Dunn forgets that this same “wise Priam” tells his sons he wishes they had died instead of Hector. But apparently, he’s a “positive male figure” just because he didn’t blame Helen (a woman).
So, unfortunately this book doesn't deliver what it promises. Still, in the first 3 chapters there were some things that were interesting for further personal research, like "The Gate of the Lionesses".
March 6, 2025
Starting in Minoan civilisation, and concluding at the 'High Empire' of Rome, Daisy Dunn's introduction to ancient history ought to sit comfortably among its peers.
Dunn sets out with a revivalist intention. This is importantly a very different word than 'revisionist'. The mission is simple, go back to the sources through which we understand ancient civilisations, and this time, pay attention to the women. Such an exercise requires reading the ripples beneath the surface of sources, rather than taking each piece at face value. A great example is Dunn's use of the Persepolis Fortification Tablets to extract just as much information about Atossa and Amestris, as their famous husbands and fathers. Another is her reading and interpretation of Herodotus, to revive our understanding of Tomyris, queen of the Massagetae, Gorgo, queen of Sparta, and impressively Telesilla of Argos, who Herodotus never mentions by name. These kinds of readings make history more engaging. They make it a living thing to tackle, with modern sensitivities being used as a sword to interrogate the old familiar sources.
The book is told with a few limiting perspectives, none of which do it a disservice. Dunn sets out to retell ancient civilisations. She covers Minoan, Mycenaean, Greek, Persian, Macedonian, Egyptian and Roman history. She dabbles in some Chinese and Brittonic points but generally, this is a book focusing on the familiar favourites. This is a good idea, but such a wide spread really does pack a heavy punch for any reader. Still, this is clearly a book designed to assist eager undergraduates just as much as it is set to appeal to poolside readers. In this, Dunn succeeds.
Another limit is that Dunn's work is at its best when she focuses on the heroic female characters, rather than the cultural or societal interpretation of gender roles. Indeed, arguably the weakest part of the book is that Dunn takes sex and gender as generally interchangeable terms. However, these choices are understandable and at significant points Dunn goes to great lengths to remedy these weaker points. Her exploration of women's role in Rome during the Punic Wars is staggeringly good. Her breakdown of Roman love poetry, alongside archeological and historical interrogation is similar to other celebrated classicists and it is an approach I find really effective. She builds an argument out of myriad sources in order to lead the reader along to the idea that without women's sacrifices, the Punic Wars were all but doomed to fail. I do wish she had gone into a deeper interrogation of sex and gender roles, but her primary mission is to revive women's roles in ancient history and she does this marvellously.
In the absence of hard and fast rules by which to read across the source work of ancient history, Dunn uses the crevices to build a fantastic piece of history. She revives the women too often forgotten in the shadow of classical heroes. Olympias, mother of Alexander the Great; Cynics, the Spartan princess who was the first female victor of the Olympic Games; Aspasia, wife of Pericles and Lysicles; and Cornelia, general of the Second Punch War. All of these women have texture and empathy poured into them by Dunn, in a way which does not replace the male actors, but complements the history to make it deeper and more nuanced. This is to say nothing of the inclusion and promotion of the few names people do know, such as Cleopatra, Sappho, Boudicca and Fulvia. Women in roles of power is still a novelty for the ancient world, but it is a novelty not without precedence. However it is certainly one without the Victorian embarrassment that still too often muddies our contemporary sensibilities.
Dunn's work here is astonishing. Her acknowledgements are sweet and the entire work really does feel like a passion project from start to finish. Interestingly she tips her hat to the recent revival in fiction around classical stories, and this book would certainly make for complementary reading. The prose is fairly clipped, and can become slightly too embellished for my own taste, but it is certainly a strong entry point for those interested in ancient civilisation. I suppose that's a fantastic point to finish with; this is a superb book on ancient history first and foremost, it just so happens to be one of the only ones making a conscious effort to include the whole population.
Overall, it is well worth setting some time aside to sink into if you are interested in the classical world. Those unmoved by this period will not find themselves reinvigorated by the piece, but it certainly has a lot to offer for anyone looking for a fresh approach to dusty times.
Dunn sets out with a revivalist intention. This is importantly a very different word than 'revisionist'. The mission is simple, go back to the sources through which we understand ancient civilisations, and this time, pay attention to the women. Such an exercise requires reading the ripples beneath the surface of sources, rather than taking each piece at face value. A great example is Dunn's use of the Persepolis Fortification Tablets to extract just as much information about Atossa and Amestris, as their famous husbands and fathers. Another is her reading and interpretation of Herodotus, to revive our understanding of Tomyris, queen of the Massagetae, Gorgo, queen of Sparta, and impressively Telesilla of Argos, who Herodotus never mentions by name. These kinds of readings make history more engaging. They make it a living thing to tackle, with modern sensitivities being used as a sword to interrogate the old familiar sources.
The book is told with a few limiting perspectives, none of which do it a disservice. Dunn sets out to retell ancient civilisations. She covers Minoan, Mycenaean, Greek, Persian, Macedonian, Egyptian and Roman history. She dabbles in some Chinese and Brittonic points but generally, this is a book focusing on the familiar favourites. This is a good idea, but such a wide spread really does pack a heavy punch for any reader. Still, this is clearly a book designed to assist eager undergraduates just as much as it is set to appeal to poolside readers. In this, Dunn succeeds.
Another limit is that Dunn's work is at its best when she focuses on the heroic female characters, rather than the cultural or societal interpretation of gender roles. Indeed, arguably the weakest part of the book is that Dunn takes sex and gender as generally interchangeable terms. However, these choices are understandable and at significant points Dunn goes to great lengths to remedy these weaker points. Her exploration of women's role in Rome during the Punic Wars is staggeringly good. Her breakdown of Roman love poetry, alongside archeological and historical interrogation is similar to other celebrated classicists and it is an approach I find really effective. She builds an argument out of myriad sources in order to lead the reader along to the idea that without women's sacrifices, the Punic Wars were all but doomed to fail. I do wish she had gone into a deeper interrogation of sex and gender roles, but her primary mission is to revive women's roles in ancient history and she does this marvellously.
In the absence of hard and fast rules by which to read across the source work of ancient history, Dunn uses the crevices to build a fantastic piece of history. She revives the women too often forgotten in the shadow of classical heroes. Olympias, mother of Alexander the Great; Cynics, the Spartan princess who was the first female victor of the Olympic Games; Aspasia, wife of Pericles and Lysicles; and Cornelia, general of the Second Punch War. All of these women have texture and empathy poured into them by Dunn, in a way which does not replace the male actors, but complements the history to make it deeper and more nuanced. This is to say nothing of the inclusion and promotion of the few names people do know, such as Cleopatra, Sappho, Boudicca and Fulvia. Women in roles of power is still a novelty for the ancient world, but it is a novelty not without precedence. However it is certainly one without the Victorian embarrassment that still too often muddies our contemporary sensibilities.
Dunn's work here is astonishing. Her acknowledgements are sweet and the entire work really does feel like a passion project from start to finish. Interestingly she tips her hat to the recent revival in fiction around classical stories, and this book would certainly make for complementary reading. The prose is fairly clipped, and can become slightly too embellished for my own taste, but it is certainly a strong entry point for those interested in ancient civilisation. I suppose that's a fantastic point to finish with; this is a superb book on ancient history first and foremost, it just so happens to be one of the only ones making a conscious effort to include the whole population.
Overall, it is well worth setting some time aside to sink into if you are interested in the classical world. Those unmoved by this period will not find themselves reinvigorated by the piece, but it certainly has a lot to offer for anyone looking for a fresh approach to dusty times.
February 22, 2026
23/52/2026
"Zagubiony wątek. Historia starożytności oraz kobiet, które ją tworzyły" Daisy Dunn Literackie #recenzja #współpracabarterowa #współpracarecenzencka #starożytność #kobiety
Kobiety w starożytności
"Po czym Pan Bóg z żebra, które wyjął z mężczyzny, zbudował niewiastę." Rdz 2, 22
Starożytność (antyk) była pierwszą epoką historyczną, która trwała od powstania pierwszych cywilizacji w IV tysiącleciu p.n.e. (wynalezienie pisma) do upadku Cesarstwa Zachodniorzymskiego w 476 r. n.e.. Obejmuje rozwój kultur Bliskiego Wschodu, Egiptu oraz klasycznej Grecji i Rzymu, stanowiąc fundament kultury europejskiej. I to właśnie tej epoce Daisy Dunn poświęca swoją publikację "Zagubiony wątek". Nie jest to tylko historia starożytności, choć to ona tu wysuwa się na pierwszy plan. Autorka sprawnie przeplata historię z mitami, a historię mężczyzn wiodących prym w czasach starożytnych z historią kobiet, które mimo że w cieniu mężczyzn, odegrały także znaczącą rolę w historii starożytności. Czytając o niektórych kobietach, które przybliża autorka potwierdza się stwierdzenie, że "Za każdym wielkim mężczyzną stoi wielka kobieta”. Takimi kobietami były m.in.: Fulwia, Kornelia, Kleopatra, Messalina, Artemizja, Telesilla. Brały one udział, nawet aktywny w walkach, wpływały politycznie na swoich mężów, synów, zajmowały się finansami, nieruchomościami, pomagały społeczeństwu, ale także potrafiły knuć, spiskować, a nawet zabijać czy to z powodu zazdrości, czy politycznego. Autorka wspomina tu także o starożytnych poetkach, takich jak: Safona, Enheduanna.
Autorka poświęca miejsce w publikacji nie tylko kobietom z elit, można odnaleźć fragmenty, w których wspominane są kobiety niewywodzące się z elit, jak np. prostytutki, które pomogły sfinansować budowę grobowca Alyattesa, piekarka, której Krezus zawdzięczał dojście do władzy, Lokusta, specjalistka od trucizn. Podejrzewam, że o kobietach z elit łatwiej jest odnaleźć jakiekolwiek źródła historyczne niż o kobietach z społeczeństwa i ich życiu.
Publikacja przyciąga uwagę wydaniem, niebieska okładka ze złoceniami, twarda oprawa, minusem może być czcionka, która nie ułatwia lektury, mogłaby być trochę większa. Ogrom pracy autorki potwierdza bogata bibliografia i mnóstwo przypisów. Publikacja ta na pewno będzie powiewem świeżości dla tych czytelników, którzy nie sięgają na co dzień po literaturę historyczną z zakresu starożytności, dla tych bardziej obeznanych z tematem, może nie być ona tak zaskakująca czy pasjonująca jak dla takiego laika jak ja.
"Zagubiony wątek" prócz przybliżenia historii starożytności i portretów ważnych dla biegu historii kobiet, wysnuwa dość okrutny i przygnębiający wniosek, że kobiety mimo swoich zasług i osiągnięć, często były obwiniane o pojawianie się złych omenów i za porażki mężczyzn na polu bitwy, musiały dzielić się swoim majątkiem w celu odbudowywania miast zniszczonych przez wojny, w razie kryzysów bądź powojennej zawieruchy kobiety traciły prawa i przywileje.
"Zagubiony wątek" to lektura wymagająca, ilość imion, nazwisk, przeskoków, które autorka stosuje zwłaszcza w pierwszej połowie książki mogą być przytłaczające i przyprawiające o zawrót głowy, ale myślę, że jest to pasjonująca lektura, która pozwoli wszystkim interesującym się literaturą historyczną na odkrycie czegoś zupełnie nowego, świeżego bądź pozwoli skonfrontować swoją dotychczasową wiedzę o historii starożytności i antycznych kobietach z informacjami przekazywanymi nam przez autorkę.
"Kobiety są wszędzie tam, gdzie jest mowa o starożytności. Są autorkami naszej historii."
Za egzemplarz do recenzji dziękuję wydawnictwu Literackie.
"Zagubiony wątek. Historia starożytności oraz kobiet, które ją tworzyły" Daisy Dunn Literackie #recenzja #współpracabarterowa #współpracarecenzencka #starożytność #kobiety
Kobiety w starożytności
"Po czym Pan Bóg z żebra, które wyjął z mężczyzny, zbudował niewiastę." Rdz 2, 22
Starożytność (antyk) była pierwszą epoką historyczną, która trwała od powstania pierwszych cywilizacji w IV tysiącleciu p.n.e. (wynalezienie pisma) do upadku Cesarstwa Zachodniorzymskiego w 476 r. n.e.. Obejmuje rozwój kultur Bliskiego Wschodu, Egiptu oraz klasycznej Grecji i Rzymu, stanowiąc fundament kultury europejskiej. I to właśnie tej epoce Daisy Dunn poświęca swoją publikację "Zagubiony wątek". Nie jest to tylko historia starożytności, choć to ona tu wysuwa się na pierwszy plan. Autorka sprawnie przeplata historię z mitami, a historię mężczyzn wiodących prym w czasach starożytnych z historią kobiet, które mimo że w cieniu mężczyzn, odegrały także znaczącą rolę w historii starożytności. Czytając o niektórych kobietach, które przybliża autorka potwierdza się stwierdzenie, że "Za każdym wielkim mężczyzną stoi wielka kobieta”. Takimi kobietami były m.in.: Fulwia, Kornelia, Kleopatra, Messalina, Artemizja, Telesilla. Brały one udział, nawet aktywny w walkach, wpływały politycznie na swoich mężów, synów, zajmowały się finansami, nieruchomościami, pomagały społeczeństwu, ale także potrafiły knuć, spiskować, a nawet zabijać czy to z powodu zazdrości, czy politycznego. Autorka wspomina tu także o starożytnych poetkach, takich jak: Safona, Enheduanna.
Autorka poświęca miejsce w publikacji nie tylko kobietom z elit, można odnaleźć fragmenty, w których wspominane są kobiety niewywodzące się z elit, jak np. prostytutki, które pomogły sfinansować budowę grobowca Alyattesa, piekarka, której Krezus zawdzięczał dojście do władzy, Lokusta, specjalistka od trucizn. Podejrzewam, że o kobietach z elit łatwiej jest odnaleźć jakiekolwiek źródła historyczne niż o kobietach z społeczeństwa i ich życiu.
Publikacja przyciąga uwagę wydaniem, niebieska okładka ze złoceniami, twarda oprawa, minusem może być czcionka, która nie ułatwia lektury, mogłaby być trochę większa. Ogrom pracy autorki potwierdza bogata bibliografia i mnóstwo przypisów. Publikacja ta na pewno będzie powiewem świeżości dla tych czytelników, którzy nie sięgają na co dzień po literaturę historyczną z zakresu starożytności, dla tych bardziej obeznanych z tematem, może nie być ona tak zaskakująca czy pasjonująca jak dla takiego laika jak ja.
"Zagubiony wątek" prócz przybliżenia historii starożytności i portretów ważnych dla biegu historii kobiet, wysnuwa dość okrutny i przygnębiający wniosek, że kobiety mimo swoich zasług i osiągnięć, często były obwiniane o pojawianie się złych omenów i za porażki mężczyzn na polu bitwy, musiały dzielić się swoim majątkiem w celu odbudowywania miast zniszczonych przez wojny, w razie kryzysów bądź powojennej zawieruchy kobiety traciły prawa i przywileje.
"Zagubiony wątek" to lektura wymagająca, ilość imion, nazwisk, przeskoków, które autorka stosuje zwłaszcza w pierwszej połowie książki mogą być przytłaczające i przyprawiające o zawrót głowy, ale myślę, że jest to pasjonująca lektura, która pozwoli wszystkim interesującym się literaturą historyczną na odkrycie czegoś zupełnie nowego, świeżego bądź pozwoli skonfrontować swoją dotychczasową wiedzę o historii starożytności i antycznych kobietach z informacjami przekazywanymi nam przez autorkę.
"Kobiety są wszędzie tam, gdzie jest mowa o starożytności. Są autorkami naszej historii."
Za egzemplarz do recenzji dziękuję wydawnictwu Literackie.
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