Who were the real women behind the myths that made the Greeks? What are the new archaeological discoveries and latest scientific advances that are allowing us to peer into the world of the real women, on whose pattern the stories of Helen of Troy, Circe, Calypso, Briseis, Penelope were built? And how does understanding their side of the epic tales of Homer that, for millennia, were the foundation of the West, change the way we read the past, and write stories for the future?
In this talk, author and scholar Emily Hauser delves into these questions and more, in the light of her recent bestselling book, Penelope’s Bones: A New History of Homer’s World through the Women Written Out Of It (University of Chicago Press, 2025). She will reveal what it took to find the real women who were written out of the histories and myths of the past – and how we might start to understand their stories anew.
Bio: Emily Hauser is an award-winning ancient historian and Times bestselling author of Penelope’s Bones: A New History of Homer’s World through the Women Written Out Of It (University of Chicago Press, 2025). She studied Classics at Cambridge with Mary Beard, where she took a double first with distinction and won the prestigious Chancellor’s Medal for Classical Proficiency; with a Ph.D. in Classics from Yale and a Junior Fellowship at the Harvard University Society of Fellows, she is also the author of the acclaimed Golden Apple trilogy retelling the stories of the women of Greek myth, and has been featured on several BBC Radio shows including BBC Radio 4 Woman’s Hour, Times Radio and The Guardian alongside Colm Tóibín and Natalie Haynes. Her writing has been featured in the Independent and she is a regular contributor to the Times Literary Supplement; she has appeared on podcasts including History Hit: The Ancients, and her books have been published and translated across the world, listed among Waterstones’ Best New Releases of 2025, selected as Choice Outstanding Academic Title of the Year and shortlisted for the Seminary Co-Op’s Best Books of 2023. Whether writing, teaching, or speaking to global audiences, she brings ancient stories into the present with lyrical insight and a fierce commitment to justice.