The Missing Thread

February 1, 2024

The author of The Shadow of Vesuvius pens an accessible work on the women of antiquity, focusing on Sappho, Cleopatra, Agrippina, and others who shaped and changed their worlds. The book spans 3,000 years and crosses Asia Minor, the Persian Empire, and the Mediterranean. Prepub Alert.

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Copyright 2024 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 1, 2024
Classicist Dunn (Not Far from Brideshead: Oxford between the Wars, 2022) delivers a fresh, detailed history of the ancient world that highlights the stories of women. "Classical historians privileged the deeds of men over the loom-work of their wives and daughters," she notes, "and modern historians have typically followed suit." Her purpose in writing this book was to correct that balance without "distorting the reality of events by pretending that men were not usually in charge." Re-examining art, literature, archaeological evidence, and the historical record, Dunn meticulously documents the lives of artisans, bakers, snake handlers, poets, warriors, and goddesses--both real and mythological. She does so while covering almost 3,000 years of history, beginning in Crete and traveling through much of the ancient world, with a focus on Greece and Rome. The result is an engaging and well-researched history that brings ancient women to life.

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Starred review from June 15, 2024
Ancient history through the lens of unheralded women of power. Drawing on literary and archaeological sources, classicist Dunn, author of The Shadow of Vesuvius, examines women's roles in the classical world, revealing their involvement in social, business, political, and religious life over a span of 3,000 years. From Minoan Crete to Nero's Rome, women were bakers and weavers, poets and artisans; some were financially independent business leaders, managing estates, workshops, and stock. Others solidified political alliances through marriages, led armies, and wielded weapons. Artemisia, for one, was "the sole female commander on either side of the Graeco-Persian wars." Women's reputations spread beyond borders: The women of Lesbos and Lydia were famously beautiful, with the exception, apparently, of the poet Sappho; Etruscan women were notoriously brazen and sexually daring. The strength and stature of Scythian women made them "real-life inspiration for the mythical Amazons." Dunn's deft sleuthing uncovers long-overlooked realities. For example, in Minoan artwork, the centrality of women's images has led some historians to describe Minoan society as matriarchal or matrilineal. Mycenaean women shown on clay tablets similarly attest to women's multiplicity of roles, while Mycenaean men "were sometimes described on tablets as being the offspring of women of particular crafts." Yet women were victims of rape, enslavement, and certainly of fierce patriarchy. Barred from Olympic Games--thrown off a cliff if they disobeyed--every four years they were allowed to compete in a women's footrace. Wars, rivalries, and invasions made women central to political alliances, and Dunn details their adept machinations as they moved boldly or plotted secretly. Besides familiar names, such as Cleopatra, Fulvia, and Lucretia, the author introduces scores more of prodigious prowess and influence: Gorgo of Sparta, Atossa, and poet Enheduanna, among many others. Her erudition is impressive, and her narrative is consistently animated. A sweeping history thrumming with energy.

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August 9, 2024

Award-winning classicist Dunn (The Shadow of Vesuvius) offers a history of antiquity with women rendered as full protagonists, providing examples both broad and specific. Her book shows that Minoan women were essential to the performance and perpetuation of ritual, as depicted in sculpture. Homer's world, circa the 7th century BCE, was a mixed bag. Women experienced abandonment and sexual assault. They were also free to compete for the first time. The royal wives of Persia learned to negotiate a complicated hierarchy of women, tolerating concubines who, in turn, showed them respect. Scythian women were the progenitors of the Amazons; they excelled on horseback and cut imposing figures, with shaved heads, wigs of horsehair, and elaborate tattoos. While Athenian women were restricted in their movements and deprived of political participation, the women of dynastic Egypt were unguarded and free to own property. Dunn profiles women such as Sappho, Artemisia, Cleopatra, and Lucretia, all of whom navigated their circumstances with talent, shrewdness, and breathtaking cunning. Dunn observes that women in Nero's Rome were held to rules that placed them in a bygone era. Readers today may find chilling parallels. VERDICT A fascinating, highly recommended history with women at its core.--Barrie Olmstead

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