Emily Hauser

Three thousand years ago a war took place that gave birth to legends - to Achilles, the greatest of the Greeks, and Hector, prince of Troy. It was a war that shook the very foundations of the world. But what if there was more to this epic conflict? What if there was another, hidden tale of the Trojan War? Now is the time for the women of Troy to tell their story. Thrillingly imagined and startlingly original, For the Most Beautiful reveals the true story of true for the first time. The story of Krisayis, daughter of the Trojans' High Priest, and of Briseis, princess of Pedasus, who fight to determine the fate of a city and its people in this ancient time of mischievous gods and mythic heroes. In this novel full of passion and revenge, loyalty and betrayal, bravery and sacrifice, Emily Hauser breathes exhilarating new life into one of the greatest legends of all - in a tale that has waited millennia to be told. 'Brings ancient Troy wildly, raucously, passionately alive' Manda Scott, author of Boudica

For the Most Beautiful

Some three thousand years ago, in a time before history, the warriors of Greece journeyed to the ends of the earth in the greatest expedition the world had ever seen. One woman fought alongside them. Abandoned at birth on the slopes of Mount Pelion, Atalanta is determined to prove her worth to the father who cast her aside. Having taught herself to hunt and fight, and disguised as a man, she wins a place on the greatest voyage of that heroic age: with Jason and his band of Argonauts in search of the legendary Golden Fleece. And it is here, in the company of men who will go down in history as heroes, that Atalanta must battle against the odds – and the will of the gods – to take control of her destiny and change her life forever. With her unrivalled knowledge and captivating storytelling, Emily Hauser brings alive an ancient world where the gods can transform a mortal’s life on a whim, where warriors carve out names that will echo down the ages . . . and where one woman fights to determine her own fate.

For the Winner

'Offers a fresh and feminist take' Madeline Miller, bestselling author of Circe Thousands of years ago, two remarkable women found themselves swept up in one of the greatest legends of all . . . and discovered the price that must be paid for immortality. Desperate to save her dying brother, Admete persuades her father, the king of Tiryns, to allow her to accompany Hercules on one of his celebrated twelve labours. They travel to the land of the Amazons in the hopes of finding a cure – but their arrival causes tension with the infamous female warriors. Hippolyta, the revered queen of the tribe, sees their presence as a threat – both to her people, but also to the long-guarded secret she has been keeping from them. As battle lines are drawn between the Greeks and the Amazons, Admete and Hippolyta soon learn the inevitable truth – that in war, sacrifices must be made; especially if they are to protect the ones they love most . . . PRAISE FOR EMILY HAUSER: 'Hauser recreates one of the oldest tales in Greek myth with great skill and panache.' The Times 'Once in a while something comes along that's so utterly right, so necessary for now, that you wonder why nobody thought of it before. Emily Hauser's stunning debut novel . . . brings ancient Troy wildly, raucously, passionately alive.' Manda Scott, bestselling author of Boudica and Into the Fire 'A delight from start to finish. Hauser's fresh perspective on one of the great archetypal epics, in focusing on the marginalised women's stories, makes for fascinating reading . . . a clever premise and thoroughly enjoyable.' Elizabeth Fremantle, author of Sisters of Treason 'Kept me utterly absorbed. Here is a heroine to cheer for, and a book to cherish.' Margot Livesey, author of The House on Fortune Street 'Beautifully descriptive . . . drawing the reader into a lost world of gods and heroes.' Glyn Iliffe, author of King of Ithaca

For The Immortal

Historischer Roman - Die Frauen von Troja 1

Tochter des Sturms

The hidden tale of the Trojan War: a novel full of passion and revenge, bravery and sacrifice, now is the time for the women of Troy to tell their story. Three thousand years ago a war took place where legends were born: Achilles, the greatest of the Greeks, and Hector, prince of Troy. Both men were made and destroyed by the war that shook the foundations of the ancient world. But what if there was more to the tale of these heroes than we know? How would the Trojan War have looked as seen through the eyes of its women? Krisayis, the ambitious, determined daughter of the High Priest of Troy, and Briseis, loyal and passionate princess of Pedasus, interweave their tales alongside Homer’s classic story of the rage of Achilles and the gods of Olympus. What follows is a breathtaking tale of love and revenge, destiny and the determination, as these two brave women, the heroes of the Trojan War, and the gods themselves come face to face in an epic battle that will decide the fate of Troy. A glorious debut full of passion and revenge, loyalty and betrayal, Emily Hauser breathes exhilarating new life into one of history's greatest legends.

For the Most Beautiful: A Novel of the Women of Troy

How the idea of the author was born in the battleground of gender When Sappho sang her songs, the only word that existed to describe a poet was a male one—aoidos, or “singer-man.” The most famous woman poet of ancient Greece, whose craft was one of words, had no words with which to talk about who she was and what she did. In How Women Became Poets, Emily Hauser rewrites the story of Greek literature as one of gender, arguing that the ways the Greeks talked about their identity as poets constructed, played with, and broke down gender expectations that literature was for men alone. Bringing together recent studies in ancient authorship, gender, and performativity, Hauser offers a new history of classical literature that redefines the canon as a constant struggle to be heard through, and sometimes despite, gender. Women, as Virginia Woolf recognized, need rooms of their own in order to write. So, too, have women writers through history needed a name to describe what it is they do. Hauser traces the invention of that name in ancient Greece, exploring the archaeology of the gendering of the poet. She follows ancient Greek poets, philosophers, and historians as they developed and debated the vocabulary for authorship on the battleground of gender—building up and reinforcing the word for male poet, then in response creating a language with which to describe women who write. Crucially, Hauser reinserts women into the traditionally all-male canon of Greek literature, arguing for the centrality of their role in shaping ideas around authorship and literary production.

A Gender History of Greek Literature

How Women Became Poets

Did you love Madeline Miller's Circe? Pat Barker's The Silence of the Girls? Jennifer Saint's Elektra? Natalie Haynes' A Thousand Ships? But did you ever wonder who the real women behind the myths of the Trojan War were? Now award-winning classicist and historian Emily Hauser takes readers on an epic journey to uncover the astonishing true story of the real women behind ancient Greece's greatest legends - and the real heroes of those ancient epics, Homer's Iliad and Odyssey. Because, contrary to perceptions built up over three millennia, 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.

The Untold History of the Real Women Behind Homer's Myths

Mythica

Weaving together literary and archaeological evidence, Emily Hauser illuminates the rich, intriguing lives of the real women behind Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey. Achilles. Agamemnon. Odysseus. Hector. The lives of these and many other men in the greatest epics of ancient Greece have been pored over endlessly in the past three millennia. But these are not just tales about heroic men. There are scores of women as well—complex, fascinating women whose stories have gone unexplored for far too long. In Penelope’s Bones, award-winning classicist and historian Emily Hauser pieces together compelling evidence from archaeological excavations and scientific discoveries to unearth the richly textured lives of women in Bronze Age Greece—the era of Homer’s heroes. Here, for the first time, we come to understand the everyday lives and experiences of the real women who stand behind the legends of Helen, Briseis, Cassandra, Aphrodite, Circe, Athena, Hera, Calypso, Penelope, and more. In this captivating journey through Homer’s world, Hauser explains era-defining discoveries, such as the excavation of Troy and the decipherment of Linear B tablets that reveal thousands of captive women and their children; more recent finds like the tomb of the Griffin Warrior at Pylos, whose tomb contents challenge traditional gender attributes; DNA evidence showing that groups of warriors buried near the Black Sea with their weapons and steeds were, in fact, Amazon-like female fighters; a prehistoric dye workshop on Crete that casts fresh light on “women’s work” of dyeing, spinning, and weaving textiles; and a superbly preserved shipwreck off the coast of Turkey whose contents tell of the economic and diplomatic networks crisscrossing the Bronze Age Mediterranean. Essential reading for fans of Madeline Miller or Natalie Haynes, this riveting new history brings to life the women of the Bronze Age Aegean as never before, offering a groundbreaking reassessment of the ancient world.

A New History of Homer’s World through the Women Written Out of It

Penelope’s Bones

Some three thousand years ago, the warriors of Greece journeyed to the ends of the earth in the quest for the Golden Fleece. One woman fought alongside them. When the king of Pagasae left his infant daughter on the slopes of a mountain to die, he believed he would never see her again. But Atalanta, against the will of the gods and the dictates of the Fates, survived—and went on to bring to life one of the greatest legends of all of ancient Greece... Teaching herself to hunt and fight, Atalanta is determined to prove her worth to her father and, disguising herself as a man, she wins a place on the greatest voyage of that heroic age: the journey of Jason and the Argonauts to the very ends of the known world in search of the legendary Golden Fleece. But Atalanta is discovered, and abandoned in the mythical land of Colchis, where she is forced to make a choice that will determine her place in history. Here then is the legend of Jason and the Argonauts as never told before: the true story of the princess who sailed and fought alongside Jason and Theseus and Peleus (father of Achilles), and who ultimately ran a race that would decide her destiny. Based on the myths of the ancient Greeks, For the Winner brings alive a mythological world where the gods can transform a mortal's life on a whim, where warrior heroes carve out names that will echo down the ages—and where one woman fights to determine her own fate.

For the Winner: A Novel of Jason and the Argonauts

Some three thousand years ago, in a time before history, the warriors of Greece journeyed to the ends of the earth in the greatest expedition the world had ever seen. One woman fought alongside them. Abandoned at birth on the slopes of Mount Pelion, Atalanta is determined to prove her worth to the father who cast her aside. Having taught herself to hunt and fight, and disguised as a man, she wins a place on the greatest voyage of that heroic age: with Jason and his band of Argonauts in search of the legendary Golden Fleece. And it is here, in the company of men who will go down in history as heroes, that Atalanta must battle against the odds - and the will of the gods - to take control of her destiny and change her life forever. With her unrivalled knowledge and captivating storytelling, Emily Hauser brings alive an ancient world where the gods can transform a mortal's life on a whim, where warriors carve out names that will echo down the ages . . . and where one woman fights to determine her own fate.

Vor dreitausend Jahren tobte ein Krieg, der die damalige Welt in ihren Grundfesten erschütterte: Der Trojanische Krieg hat viele Helden hervorgebracht. Hier erzählen die Frauen von Troja die Legende aus ihrer Sicht. Dies ist die Geschichte von Atalante. Das junge selbstbewusste Mädchen ist eine geschickte Jägerin und schnelle Läuferin. Als Mann verkleidet gelingt es ihr, sich Jason und den Argonauten anzuschließen. Gemeinsam mit ihnen begibt sie sich auf eine lange Reise auf der Suche nach dem Goldenen Vlies, dem magische Kräfte nachgesagt werden. Als Jason jedoch hinter Atalantes Täuschung kommt, will er sie töten lassen. Doch Hippomenes rettet Atalante. Fortan sind beide untrennbar miteinander verbunden ...

Tochter des Meeres - Historischer Roman

Die Frauen von Troja

Silvio Bär

This ground-breaking volume connects the situatedness of genre in English poetry with developments in classical scholarship, exploring how an emphasis on the interaction between English literary criticism and Classics changes, sharpens, or perhaps even obstructs views on genre in English poetry. “Genre” has classical roots: both in the etymology of the word and in the history of genre criticism, which begins with Aristotle. In a similar vein, recent developments in genre studies have suggested that literary genres are not given or fixed entities, but subjective and unstable (as well as historically situated), and that the reception of genre by both writers and scholars feeds back into the way genre is articulated in specific literary works. Classical scholarship, literary criticism, and genre form a triangle of key concepts for the volume, approached in different ways and with different productive results by contributors from across the disciplines of Classics and English literature. Covering topics from the establishment of genre in the Middle Ages to the invention of female epic and the epyllion, and bringing together the works of English poets from Milton to Tennyson to Josephine Balmer, the essays collected hereargue that the reception and criticism of classical texts play a crucial part in generic formation in English poetry.

Emily Hauser

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