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Mythica
Contrary to perceptions built up over three thousand years, ancient history is not all about men – and it's not only men's stories that deserve to be told.
In Mythica Emily Hauser tells, for the first time, the extraordinary stories of the real women behind some of the western world’s greatest legends. Following in their footsteps, digging into the history behind Homer’s epic poems, piecing together evidence from the original texts, recent astonishing archaeological finds and the latest DNA studies, she reveals who these women – queens, mothers, warriors, slaves – were, how they lived, and how history has (or has not – until now) remembered them.
A riveting new history of the Bronze Age Aegean and a journey through Homer’s epics charted entirely by women – from Helen of Troy, Briseis, Cassandra and Aphrodite to Circe, Athena, Hera, Calypso and Penelope – Mythica is a ground-breaking reassessment of the reality behind the often-mythologized women of Greece’s greatest epics, and of the ancient world itself as we learn ever more about it.
In Mythica Emily Hauser tells, for the first time, the extraordinary stories of the real women behind some of the western world’s greatest legends. Following in their footsteps, digging into the history behind Homer’s epic poems, piecing together evidence from the original texts, recent astonishing archaeological finds and the latest DNA studies, she reveals who these women – queens, mothers, warriors, slaves – were, how they lived, and how history has (or has not – until now) remembered them.
A riveting new history of the Bronze Age Aegean and a journey through Homer’s epics charted entirely by women – from Helen of Troy, Briseis, Cassandra and Aphrodite to Circe, Athena, Hera, Calypso and Penelope – Mythica is a ground-breaking reassessment of the reality behind the often-mythologized women of Greece’s greatest epics, and of the ancient world itself as we learn ever more about it.
469 pages, Paperback
Published March 5, 2026
About the author
Emily Hauser
13 books346 followersEmily Hauser is an award-winning ancient historian and the author of the acclaimed Golden Apple trilogy retelling the stories of the women of Greek myth. She has been featured on BBC Radio 4 Woman's Hour and The Guardian alongside Colm Tóibín and Natalie Haynes, and her novel For the Winner was listed among the "28 Best Books for Summer" in The Telegraph. Her latest book, Mythica: A New History of Homer’s World, through the Women Written Out Of It, was an instant Times bestseller.
To find out more, visit her website: http://www.emilyhauser.com
To find out more, visit her website: http://www.emilyhauser.com
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
July 28, 2026
Grandios!!!!!
July 5, 2026
Incredible look into the (probably?) fictional women of Homers Epics and the Bronze Aged women that I spored them
June 19, 2026
4.5 stars.
I picked up this book expecting only an analysis of the women of the Iliad and Odyssey. Instead, Emily Hauser brought both the mythical and historical women of the Bronze Age to life through archaeological, historical, and scientific research. She explored not only what Homer's stories meant, but also how they reflected the real experiences of women living at the time.
The book gave a voice to women whose stories have often been left untold and painted a vivid picture of a world facing war, famine, climate change, and more. It showed how real people and events may have inspired Greek myth. The uncertain times of the ancient world also resonated with our present day, making the stories feel surprisingly relevant.
The book left me curious about what future discoveries might reveal about our ancient ancestors whose stories have yet to be told.
I picked up this book expecting only an analysis of the women of the Iliad and Odyssey. Instead, Emily Hauser brought both the mythical and historical women of the Bronze Age to life through archaeological, historical, and scientific research. She explored not only what Homer's stories meant, but also how they reflected the real experiences of women living at the time.
The book gave a voice to women whose stories have often been left untold and painted a vivid picture of a world facing war, famine, climate change, and more. It showed how real people and events may have inspired Greek myth. The uncertain times of the ancient world also resonated with our present day, making the stories feel surprisingly relevant.
The book left me curious about what future discoveries might reveal about our ancient ancestors whose stories have yet to be told.
August 13, 2026
While I did enjoy Mythica, I came away feeling slightly let down by it, largely because I don’t think the book quite delivers what its title suggests.
The full title is Mythica: The Real Women of the Iliad and the Odyssey, so naturally I went into it expecting something focused quite specifically on these women: their mythology, how they have been viewed and interpreted over time, the archaeological evidence that might support their existence, and perhaps a closer look at what they actually do in the Iliad and the Odyssey. While the book does some of this, Hauser’s approach is ultimately much more archaeological and historical than mythological.
That approach was genuinely interesting, but the scope of individual chapters sometimes became so broad that their connection to the woman supposedly at their centre felt increasingly tenuous. The chapter on Athena was probably the most cohesive. I particularly enjoyed the discussion of Athena as a kind of gender shapeshifter, a figure who resists being confined to any one conventional gender trope and instead moves between traditionally masculine and feminine roles. It was compelling and felt like the sort of analysis of these women and their representation that I had expected from the book.
Other chapters, however, felt much more diffuse. The chapter on Penelope, for example, spends a considerable amount of time discussing the archaeology and geography of Ithaca and the question of where Homeric Ithaca actually was. I can see the thematic link: Penelope is intimately associated with Ithaca and the idea of home, and the entire Odyssey is structured around the question of returning there. But I still would have liked more of the chapter to be devoted to Penelope herself. Similarly, the chapter on Eurycleia expands into a much broader discussion of the causes of the collapse of the Mycenaean world. This was fascinating in its own right, but it wasn't necessarily what I had picked up the book hoping to learn about.
In fact, I think Mythica might have worked better if it had been framed as an alternative social and archaeological history of the Trojan War and the Homeric world, particularly one interested in those traditionally marginalised by its heroic narratives: women, slaves, handmaids, and other overlooked figures. That would have given Hauser much more freedom to explore subjects like the geography of Ithaca or the collapse of Mycenaean civilisation without those discussions feeling at odds with the book’s stated focus.
Overall, there was a lot here that I enjoyed, and Hauser introduced me to aspects of the archaeology and social history of the Homeric world that I knew very little about. My disappointment was really one of expectation and framing. Mythica promises a book about the “real women” of the Iliad and the Odyssey, whereas what I found was something much broader and more eclectic. Had I gone into it expecting that wider archaeological history, I suspect I would have appreciated it more on its own terms. As it was, I was left wishing that these fascinating women had remained more consistently at the centre of their own chapters. ⭐️⭐️⭐️
The full title is Mythica: The Real Women of the Iliad and the Odyssey, so naturally I went into it expecting something focused quite specifically on these women: their mythology, how they have been viewed and interpreted over time, the archaeological evidence that might support their existence, and perhaps a closer look at what they actually do in the Iliad and the Odyssey. While the book does some of this, Hauser’s approach is ultimately much more archaeological and historical than mythological.
That approach was genuinely interesting, but the scope of individual chapters sometimes became so broad that their connection to the woman supposedly at their centre felt increasingly tenuous. The chapter on Athena was probably the most cohesive. I particularly enjoyed the discussion of Athena as a kind of gender shapeshifter, a figure who resists being confined to any one conventional gender trope and instead moves between traditionally masculine and feminine roles. It was compelling and felt like the sort of analysis of these women and their representation that I had expected from the book.
Other chapters, however, felt much more diffuse. The chapter on Penelope, for example, spends a considerable amount of time discussing the archaeology and geography of Ithaca and the question of where Homeric Ithaca actually was. I can see the thematic link: Penelope is intimately associated with Ithaca and the idea of home, and the entire Odyssey is structured around the question of returning there. But I still would have liked more of the chapter to be devoted to Penelope herself. Similarly, the chapter on Eurycleia expands into a much broader discussion of the causes of the collapse of the Mycenaean world. This was fascinating in its own right, but it wasn't necessarily what I had picked up the book hoping to learn about.
In fact, I think Mythica might have worked better if it had been framed as an alternative social and archaeological history of the Trojan War and the Homeric world, particularly one interested in those traditionally marginalised by its heroic narratives: women, slaves, handmaids, and other overlooked figures. That would have given Hauser much more freedom to explore subjects like the geography of Ithaca or the collapse of Mycenaean civilisation without those discussions feeling at odds with the book’s stated focus.
Overall, there was a lot here that I enjoyed, and Hauser introduced me to aspects of the archaeology and social history of the Homeric world that I knew very little about. My disappointment was really one of expectation and framing. Mythica promises a book about the “real women” of the Iliad and the Odyssey, whereas what I found was something much broader and more eclectic. Had I gone into it expecting that wider archaeological history, I suspect I would have appreciated it more on its own terms. As it was, I was left wishing that these fascinating women had remained more consistently at the centre of their own chapters. ⭐️⭐️⭐️
July 28, 2026
An interesting look at the possible real lives of the women in Homer’s epics. Some fictional impressions of them but mostly an account of the archaeological evidence for the lives of women in all strata of society in Mycenean Greece. I found the information on the enormous amount of work involved in cloth production by female slaves particularly fascinating but there were many other interesting details about how advances in archaeology are leading to more being discovered about the lives of Bronze Age women. An engrossing read.
July 31, 2026
Emily Hauser is a fantastic author, I really love the cut of her gib. This was enormously enjoyable and really fulfilled my craving for more information after watching ‘The Odyysey’ (2026).
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews