Heroines of Olympus: The Women of Greek Mythology

by Ellie Mackin Roberts

Goddesses, monsters, humans and the semi-divine – whether courageous or meek, gruesome or irresistible, female characters are ever present on the peripheries of the great Greek myths, but rarely do they take centre stage. Their time has finally come to act as protagonists in their own stories.

Heroines of Olympus retells the tales of 50 classic characters, plucking the threads of their lives from the myriad narratives in which they have appeared and weaving them together to create the full stories of these legendary women. Each story is accompanied by a captivating illustration and followed by a critical analysis of their role in the tradition of Greek storytelling, and in ancient society. Renowned ancient historian Ellie Mackin Roberts offers a contemporary perspective on loved, reviled and feared figures who are finally placed at the centre of their own story.

Genres: Mythology, Greek Mythology, Nonfiction, History, Feminism, Greece, Summer

207 pages, Hardcover

Published October 20, 2020

Reviews

[Tekla György (teklakonyvei)]

Ellie Mackin Roberts történész, aki az ókori görögökre, illetve a görög istenekre és vallása specializálódott, így az Olümposzi hősnők – Nőalakok a görög mitológiában című kötet ennek fejében igencsak részletes, és feltehetőleg történelmileg hű lett. Nem utolsó sorban közérthető, és remek mankóként szolgálhat mindenkinek, aki most fedezi fel magának a görög mitológia gazdag világát.

Bővebben: https://www.gyorgytekla.hu/2022/07/el...

[dilara]

*3.5/5*

overall thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and getting to learn more about the women in greek mythology was really fun!! (๑˃̵ᴗ˂̵) sadly wasn’t a big fan of the style of writing as it included odd sentence structures here and there which made it a bit hard to follow ʕ⁎̯͡⁎ʔ༄. also wish that there was less focus on the male characters involved in the women’s lives as it is a book on the female heroines after all. i do think anyone who likes greek mythology will enjoy reading this either way though (≧∀≦)

[julia smith]

I really enjoyed reading the stories of all these women and how significant, or insignificant, they were to greek mythology. This book highlights how the women were both cruel and kind, whether they were mortal or immortal, rich or poor. I just wished there was a part on medusa.
Also loved the illustrations for each woman and the little fiction part before each woman.

[Eves]

As someone that thoroughly enjoys Greek mythology but doesn't necessarily know all of the characters in all of the stories, this was a great informational book about women in Greek myths filled with beautiful illustrations and to the point retellings of their role in their myth.

Like I said, I don't know it all, however given all the well known females, I thought I'd just be rehashing my knowledge of those, however Ellie Mackin Roberts has also shed light on some of those characters that tend to get left behind so I found myself learning more about characters and wanting to explore more about them.

What this lacked, if you could call it that, is needing more. A few pages on each female didn't feel like enough for some of them (and even less for Echo who literally had one page whereas everyone else had at three? maybe a misprint, idk) and I'd love to know more but that's not what this book is trying to be. I'm just invested and want the easy way out. Given my enjoyment though I'd definitely be interested in reading more about Greek myths from Ellie Mackin Roberts as she knows her stuff.

Recommend if you're a mythology buff or even if you're not. The book itself is stunning (entirely a cover buy, I'll admit) and the illustrations of the females just get more beautiful as you go through the book. Loved it!

[Auriane Devilette]

Overall good! Very easy to read and styled in a “matter-of-fact” way, for the most part. It is interesting to get all these female characters gathered in one book, regardless of their background and of whether or not they were related to major events. I also appreciated getting some characters „insights“ from time to time, even though the book itself is more of a catalogue rather than a retelling - it gave a nice touch to it!
I recommend this book to anyone who is new to Greek mythology and is interested in getting to know about its female characters. It is a nice first guide.

My two lacking stars are due first to the title choice which I find a bit misleading. One cannot name it “the forgotten women of Greek Mythology” while writing so many chapters about major Goddesses and important Queens (such as Clytemnestra or Hippolyta) who are far from unknown.
To the author’s defence, some of the characters featuring in this book might indeed be somewhat new to the general public, such as Hero, Minthe or Procne and Philomela. However, they were very shortly introduced… This certainly comes from the fact that the sources mentioning such figures are fewer in numbers - and that there is a clear wish from the author to limit the descriptions to 3 pages maximum per characters - but it is regrettable nonetheless.
Eventually, I found it unfortunate that many of these short presentations did not only focus on the mythical stories to which these women are bound, but often diverted towards other myths that did not include them directly (or at all…). In some cases, these other myths even focused on major male figures — which sounds rather ironic considering the goal of the book.

[Mae]

Such a fascinating look into the heroines/goddesses/etc. of Greek Mythology and those illustrations are just 😍

[Kat]

This was very strangely written, with each woman having a page of overdramatic blurb written like a book teaser, and then a couple more pages of more normally written description. Quite often it turns out to be about what men or gods around her did instead of what the woman or goddess did. I think the author is trying to give a different perspective, just not always succeeding. Some of her word choices/sentences constructions are pretty odd too. Poor Ariadne gets 'abandoned to death'! (That Theseus is the absolute worst! Men in Ancient Greece really couldn't keep it in their... robes.)

[Declan Waters]

The women of Greek Mythology are often forgotten (except possibly Athena) or relegated to supporting roles or being raped by Zeus. This book tries to address this imbalance by giving each of the women selected 4 pages for their story. A brief description, a faux-historical picture and then more detail. Of course many of the stories are about them playing second fiddle to a man, or being raped by Zeus, or having a vengeful Athena descend upon them... but all the stories are interesting none-the-less and the book is a very lovely coffee table presentation.

I liked it, and learnt a little about each of the featured women - and it will likely remain on my shelves as a useful reference book for when I can't remember the names!

[Eline :)]

3.5 ⭐️

I preach about being kind and caring but reading this book filled me with such rage. I know these stories are myths but they were and still are the truth for some women. This book just made me love women and think about how bizarre it is that we have to fight for the most basic human rights. How all of this has not ended in immense female rage shows how kind, caring and forgiving women are. See this as a sign not to take the kindness of women for granted.

[LKay]

A nice hardcover addition to the Greek mythology collection on my bookshelf. Short and informational, a sort of encyclopedic collection of women characters with a brief summary of their stories.

This book is a great intro to Greek mythology but I much prefer to read these stories when they are told in a narrative and more interesting way.

[Marie]

Leerzaam en soms interessant voor inspiratie maar OMG dit boek is zo rotslecht geschreven HELP.
Sorry maar je KAN sommige vrouwen als Athena en Aphrodite gewoon niet op DRIE pagina’s vatten??! Dat gaat niet. EN hoezo zijn zij zelfs ‘forgotten’? Zouden die pagina’s dan niet beter gespendeerd worden aan de echt vergeten vrouwen?

[Andrew]

50 Goddesses, Demigods, Nymphs, Warriors, Queens, Mothers and Athletes!
-Each of these women features a one page story, a brief description of each woman, and how they influenced Greek Mythology.

Good 3.8 star; Also would be a good Teen Non-Fiction!

[Jane Fudger]

This is really a book that you should dip into rather then read in full. The book listts fifty Greek goddesses giving a picture of how the goddess appeared on pottery etc plus a small biography.
If you are new to Greek mythology or the Greek plays then this is a good reference point.

[avamoore2608]

for a book about women it seems to mainly focus on their relation to men, it's not bad but it could have been written better. a reference book more so than anything.

[bookishcharli]

A book just about some awesome women of the ancient world?

[Julie]

Beautiful stories, not too long, not too short, just perfect to have a better knowledge of the role of women in the Greek mythology

[clumsyplankton]

I love this book. Everything in it is amazing

[Piper]

🗡🧝‍♀️woman🧝‍♀️🗡 but also greece dude…..pls stop raping people

[lola]

intriguing

[David Wright]

A simple and easy to read introduction. The fiction intros don’t really work. Illustrations are a nice touch, although there’s only so much variety to ‘woman in a Greek dress’.

[Corey]

The research begins. And more than a few pages of notes taken.

[Diana Nadia]

More of a 3.7 than 4 ⭐️s. Informative.

[Grap :)]

ok its pretty but kinda clunky, most likely just not something for me and thats ok!

[Dionne]

An educational look at the women of Greek Mythology. The writing style made it a little hard to read, but overall a good book.

[Becky]

For a book about heroines, there’s an awful lot of men in here…

[Niki Leopold]

👌👌

[Queenie Nguyen]

Short history encyclopedia like book detailing fifty women of Greek mythology. It was fun to read a short story followed by a wiki of each of the fifty women. Nothing substantial but an easy read.

[Clare]

Full review and thoughts here on the blog!

https://thegrimmlibrarian.com/2025/01...

[Zoe Erridge]

Reminds me of how far we have come with woman's rights since ancient times. All an ancient woman could do was have children, do weaving, cooking, and be sold as a prize to a man either by your father or through war. How depressing.

[Mhysa]

Each chapter of this book tells a story about different women in Greek mythology. If I reread this book I would read one chapter every night before I went to sleep, like a bedtime story.
This book is also very short and a quick read, but it can be very confusing with all the difficult Greek character names.
It’s very educational and good if you’re new to Greek mythology.