Customer Reviews

Women in Greek Myth

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To anyone with a solid background in the gendered culture or mythology in Ancient Greece, this is a great book to own.

Her well-cited perspective on women's lives was refreshing after the unapologetic sexism of early Classicists and more recent gender scholars' categorical assumption of victimization. She discusses - it really does feel like a conversation, and I really like that style - the idea of powerful mythic women (Princess Ida and the Amazons), Chosen Women, Women Without Men, Wives, Martyrs, and Misogyny, and has interesting things to say about each part. I do wish that there had been more work done on women among women and what traits women valued among themselves, but that may have been too much to ask given the texts we have. I don't necessarily agree with everything she asserts, but I definitely enjoy considering it!

This book is just as interesting to read as a critique of Classicist scholarship and as an anthropological take on what we value, as a culture, when approaching gender, as it is an insightful and succinct argument for a new perspective on the women of ancient Greece through their own stories.

Lefkowitz wrote "Women in Greek Myth" at a time when it was popular to portray women as "victims" or as "power brokers" in the ancient world. Instead Lefkowitz tries to view the reader a better understanding of the society which created the stories and not use the stories to reveal that society. One may disagree with her interpretations but as always, her research and theory is grounded in evidence colored by her almost anti-feminist speech.