Daughters of Sparta: A tale of secrets, betrayal and revenge from mythology's most vilified women

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All this is to say, Agamemnon’s claims about women in the speech Heywood pulls from are not coming from a reliable narrator. Odysseus’ response to Agamemnon is revelatory. He notes that the “schemes of women” are vehicles through which Zeus’ will is accomplished. If Agamemnon is not to blame for his bad acts because they were willed by the gods (as he claims in the Iliad), then why should he blame Klytemnestra for her bad acts? Would not they, too, be the will of the gods? Again, those who know Trojan war myth will know that the Trojan and Theban wars were, according to Hesiod, how Zeus chose to bring the Age of Heroes to an end. In this context, could Agamemnon blaming not only Klytemnestra but all women be seen as somewhat impious, a denial of how the gods work their will through humans? Agamemnon has also been known to compare himself to Zeus ( Iliad 19.95), and his ancestors’ impiety has caused the entire family line to be cursed (as alluded by Odysseus).

Overall, Daughter of Sparta is a solid read that will take you to a heart-pounding journey along with your favourite classic Greek myths. But when the weight of their husbands' neglect, cruelty and ambition becomes too heavy to bear, they must push against the constraints of their sex to carve new lives for themselves - and in doing so make waves that will ripple throughout the next three thousand years. Similarly, the East/West divide that Heywood seems to take for granted appears to have been murkier than she seems to assume. The ancient Greek world was not just on the European landmass, meaning I don’t know that all Greek speakers would have seen themselves or been seen as “western” (as is still true today of some Greeks). The highly fractured and antagonistic city-states within the ancient Greek-speaking world did not always side with each other in conflicts with non-Greek-speaking empires. Rivalries and antagonism surely existed, among Greek speakers and between Greek and non-Greek speakers, but ancient people did not have the same beliefs and biases as do modern nations, though they would surely have had their own. Daughters of Sparta is a vivid and illuminating reimagining of the Siege of Troy, told through the perspectives of two women whose voices have been ignored for far too long. In some ways, Helen’s fate is even more tragic than her sister’s, for while Klytemnestra at least manages to solidify her position as the queen of Mycenae, the world’s most beautiful woman soon finds herself deeply unhappy as the queen of Sparta. Heywood ably captures her sense of heartbreak and despair as she comes to terms with the fact that she can neither love her daughter Hermione as she should and has no desire to have any more children with Menelaos. And, while the young Trojan prince Paris at first seems to offer her a chance to live life on her own terms and to escape from the prison of duty, things are not nearly so simple.

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Claire M. Andrews, Daughter of Sparta Final Thoughts Flatlay of Daughter of Sparta on top of a notebook betweek a Greek painted dish and a teapot and wolf dish on the other side. Apollo joins Daphne on her quest in an attempt to right a mistake he made. This Apollo felt much more human, not like some distant, untouchable god from Olympus. In fact, he is in danger of becoming mortal if he and Daphne don’t retrieve what was stolen from Olympus. And I understand your upset about the quote at the beginning, wholeheartedly. I think that it was a careless choice, especially because, as you say, she doesn’t include any explanation for it in her author’s note. I think it was done without a lot of reflection, unfortunately. For millennia, two women have been blamed for the fall of a mighty civilisation – but now it’s time to hear their side of the story . . . As it is the presented, the quote seems to express the view of “Homer” in “the Odyssey.” But the quote is so decontextualized and chopped up as to be denuded of its meaning. If you’ve read the Odyssey, you might recall that the above words appear in book eleven as part of a speech by Agamemnon delivered post-mortem, from Hades, as he explains to Odysseus how he died.

For millennia, two women have been blamed for the fall of a mighty civilisation - but now it's time to hear their side of the story....I very much enjoyed the fact that Heywood chose to split the focus of the novel between the two sisters. While both Klytemnestra and Helen are, of course, famous individually, I daresay that relatively few people recognize that they were, in fact, siblings. In bringing them both into the frame as part of the same story, Heywood allows us to see how firmly intertwined their fates were from the beginning and how much they remained so throughout their lives. After all, were it not for Helen’s decision to abscond with Paris for Troy, Kyltemnestra wouldn’t have lost her daughter and wouldn’t have been driven to The story of the Trojan War has been told for close to three millennia and writers are still finding ways to refashion it . . . Seen through the eyes of Klytemnestra and her sister Helen, the war proves very different from the Homeric conflict with which we are familiar . . . [Heywood] tells her story vividly, setting it convincingly in the period. This novel and I got off on the wrong foot with the epigraph, before the story even had a chance to properly begin. Heywood includes a quote from the Odyssey: “For there is nothing in this world so cruel and so shameless as a woman when she has fallen into such guilt as hers was […]/[…] her abominable crime has brought disgrace on herself and all women who shall come after—even on the good ones.” Personally, I think it’s really interesting to think about needs and possibilities and how the ancients navigated those, both well and badly. I can appreciate the desire to tell stories that empower modern feminists, but then what is the reason to tell a story from a past and culture that the author does not want to take the time to understand in a nuanced way? And to be honest, there’s a lot more I could say, where she imposes a lot of attitudes that are clearly about modern not ancient life. There is so much cringe. I think if you’re going to enter a culture that is not your own, you have to be willing to see beyond your own resentments and anger and have the willingness and ability to see nuance and respect things that are different from you. Helen remains in Sparta to be betrothed to Menelaos, and Klytemnestra is sent alone to an unfamiliar land to become the wife of the powerful Agamemnon. Yet even as Queens, each is only expected to do two things: birth an heir and embody the meek, demure nature that is expected of women.