Pandora's Jar: Women in the Greek Myths by Natalie Haynes

'Funny, sharp explications of what these sometimes not-very-nice women were up to!' – Margaret Atwood, author of The Handmaid's Tale The Greek myths are among the world's most important cultural building blocks and they have been retold many times, but rarely do they focus on the remarkable women at the heart of these ancient stories. Now, in Pandora's Jar: Women in the Greek Myths, Natalie Haynes – broadcaster, writer and passionate classicist – redresses this imbalance. Taking Pandora and her jar (the box came later) as the starting point, she puts the women of the Greek myths on equal footing with the menfolk. Stories of gods and monsters are the mainstay of epic poetry and Greek tragedy, from Homer to Aeschylus. But modern tellers of Greek myth have usually been men, and have routinely shown little interest in telling women’s stories. And when they do, those women are often painted as monstrous, vengeful or just plain evil. But Pandora – the first woman, who according to legend unloosed chaos upon the world – was not a villain, and even Medea and Phaedra have more nuanced stories than generations of retellings might indicate. After millennia of stories telling of gods and men, be they Zeus or Odysseus, the voices that sing from these pages are those of Hera, Athena and Artemis, and of Clytemnestra, Jocasta, Eurydice and Penelope. 'A treasure box of classical delights. Never has ancient misogyny been presented with so much wit and style' - historian Amanda Foreman

When I finished reading A Thousand Ships, my first thought was that I want to read more by this author. And while there are a couple more retellings she has written, this nonfiction book about the women in Greek mythology was what immediately caught my interest and I knew I would read it as soon as I got my hands on it. And when I found the audiobook, I just couldn't stop reading.

I didn't grow up reading books or watching movies about Greek mythology and it's heroes like the author or many of the readers who grew up in the West. Which is why my knowledge about them is very recent and limited. So, initially, I thought I might not feel the same about the importance of the women the author is talking about in this book because I don't know most of their stories. Ultimately though, it's the very age old story of women getting neglected, sidelined, forgotten or demonized in narratives and it's nothing new or exclusive to Greek mythology - it's such a universal occurrence that I could very much relate to it and feel the indignation that the author clearly does too.

But what I loved about this book is how the author structures the narrative. We get one chapter per woman but many others get mentioned due to the commonalities between their stories. The author starts with telling us the most popular version of the story and then goes back to the earliest available versions of these stories - in books, plays, art or sculptures - she analyses all the different kinds of media where these stories have been told and the changes the narrative has undergone as the decades and centuries went by. It's a fascinating look at how the stories change because that particular author or artist decided to do so, reflecting more of his personal viewpoint and the attitudes of society during his time, never feeling the need to be closer to the earliest source material.

Which is why we go from women who are portrayed with lots of nuance and as warriors or independent thinkers to devious, monstrous or demure. I could feel that the author really appreciates the plays of Euripides because he seems to have featured a lot of women characters as prominent and even titular roles and we get to see his interpretations which I really loved. But the author also ensures to give us many other's versions as well like Homer, Virgil, Ovid, Hesiod and the more modern books and movies written well into the twentieth century. I enjoyed all the stories but there was definitely something special about seeing the utter rage of Medea at being cheated and the way Clytemnestra channels her grief of losing her daughter into planning to take revenge for her death. But I also felt dismay at seeing how Medusa or Pandora and even Helen are made scapegoats for events they weren't directly responsible for, completely absolving the hand of the various gods who are the actual architects of the troubles. The men get valorized and the women get villainized or silenced and this misogyny gets perpetrated across centuries.

However, I'm glad that we now have authors like Natalie or Madeline Miller, Pat Barker and Jennifer Saint who are determined to bring the complete portraits of the numerous women from mythology to the forefront and I'm very excited to read more of their works. This book was illuminating and informative; despite being a nonfiction and having lots of info, it never felt dry because the author's writing is very witty and I loved her little comments or sarcastic asides from time to time. Natalie also narrates the audiobook herself and just like I felt during A Thousand Ships, she brings her writing to life with her voice and her broadcasting experience is full on display at the way she makes this narration thrilling and unputdownable.

AMEI esse livro!
Em Pandora's Jar, Natalie Haynes reúne histórias de várias mulheres da mitologia grega, onde ela conta desde a primeira história conhecida de cada personagem até os recontos e suas influencias na cultura pop ou sociedade moderna.

É basicamente um “resumão” de cada história e suas outras versões. A escrita da Natalie é muito cativante e engraçada. O audiobook é narrado pela própria autora e eu recomendo muito.

O livro contém as histórias de Pandora, Jocasta, Helen, Medusa, As amazonas, Clitemnestra, Eurídice, Fedra, Medeia e Penélope.

Por causa desse aspecto de antologia que o livro tem, eu acabei gostando mais de alguns capítulos, enquanto outros achei meh (tanto pela história quanto pelas análises da autora) e por isso acabou não sendo um livro 5 estrelas. Minhas histórias favoritas foram as de Pandora, Medusa, Fedra e Penélope.

revisiting greek mythology from a feminist perspective is good for the soul

these were the conversations surrounding myths that i think i really yearned for when i was big on my greek mythology phase. as much as i enjoyed the drama, there was always that sour taste in the back of my mouth; women always get the short end of the stick. so it was incredibly refreshing to revisit stories i have read many times with a focus on the women and how they were portrayed throughout various renditions of their stories.

i won't say i agree with everything the author says (tbh there were some parts where i feel there was reaching) but i'm really glad natalie haynes made me rethink these stories, and most importantly these women

Love love love. Would say that ANYONE interested in Greek myth should read this. Shows the misogyny in classics, through the interpretation of these known women's stories. Sent me into a reading slump!