Mythica by Emily Hauser

  Mythica by Emily Hauser

Two tactical errors were made when Emily Hauser came to the 2025 Summer School in Homer hosted by University College London. The first was that she was allotted only 45 minutes to speak about her new book Mythica. An audience of over 200 sat enthralled and we could have gone on listening to her for hours. Sadly her time went too quickly. The second problem was that the local bookseller had only a limited number of her books available and demand for the signed copies far outstripped supply. I placed an order online before even returning to Canada and still waited weeks for my copy to arrive, unfortunately unsigned.

Dr. Emily Hauser is an award-winning classicist and historian and the author of several fiction and non-fiction works, concentrating mainly on the study of women in ancient Greek mythology and literature. Mythica is her latest effort and was published by Doubleday in 2025. The title page describes it as A New History of Homer’s World, Through the Women Written Out of It. It is Hauser’s contention that the male heroes of Homer’s great epics, the Iliad and the Odyssey, have been closely studied and analyzed for centuries, but that the complex and fascinating women who stood behind them and supported them have been pushed to the margins of history. In Mythica, Emily Hauser brings focused attention to the old saying, “Behind every successful man there is a woman.” I personally like former President Hubert H. Humphrey’s approach, “Behind every successful man there is a proud wife and a surprised mother-in-law.”

From Helen of Troy, the face that launched 1186 ships, to the faithful Penelope outwitting her 108 ardent suitors in Ithaca, we view Emily Hauser’s enthralling, ground-breaking and highly entertaining way of looking at a total of 17 different female characters from the Iliad and the Odyssey, both mortal and immortal. We find out who these real heroes of the epics were and how they have been remembered or forgotten in history. Hauser’s argument resonates strongly with me. It has long been my position that the women in Homer are essential to both narratives and that there would be no story without them. As I concluded in my paper on Homer’s Women,

On the surface, the Iliad and the Odyssey appear to us to be exciting adventures filled with entertaining stories about fighting men and gods, the gruesome nature of war and the perils of setting sail on the cruel sea. It is like ‘Saturday Night at the Movies’ in a smoke-filled theatre with an open bar. This is real man stuff! But take away Homer’s women and the stories fall flat. There are no stories to tell without Helen, Chryseis, Briseis, Andromache, Nausicaa, Arete, Circe, Calypso and most importantly, Penelope. Was Homer a woman as Samuel Butler suggested? I think not. Was Homer a feminist who presented women in an important role and advocated for their rights and position based on equality of the sexes? He most definitely was, but he did so in a most subtle way. Homer’s women are not overtly thrust to the forefront of the action, but are used discreetly to support the story. Without the firm foundation that they provide, the story would collapse.

Emily Hauser has indeed been thorough in her analysis of her 17 female subjects. She takes us through the original texts of the epics and supporting ancient literary works, in her impressive Bibliography cites almost 20 pages of works studied, has over 30 pages of Notes, delves into the science of DNA and relies heavily on art, archaeology, cartography and geography to make her point. Hers is no casual study by an amateur like myself, but instead the product of a renowned and dedicated scholar who has made Homer and his characters a driving part of her life.

    Emily Hauser says that by putting Homer’s women first, we are able to read these ancient epics in new ways. We can look at the lives of real women across the centuries and relate those lives and their experiences to those that face today’s women and by doing so, see things from an entirely different perspective and then ask ourselves how we think about ourselves and others today. Emily Hauser’s Mythica opens the door to a new and wider conversation. She tells us that history is a conversation that we are all part of and that we need to keep on having that conversation, critiquing it and debating it. Her book and her intense analysis of her subjects provide us with a sterling example of how to accomplish that elusive but important goal.