The Missing Thread by Daisy Dunn aims to retell classical history from a female perspective, highlighting women like Tomyris, Olympias, and Fulvia. While ambitious, the book struggles with a thin thesis and relies heavily on male sources, but it offers intriguing insights into women's roles and freedoms in ancient societies.
Daisy Dunn's The Missing Thread is an ambitious attempt to retell classical history through the lives of women who shaped it. The book covers a vast geographical and temporal scope, from Minos and Mycenae to Augustan Rome, focusing on figures like Tomyris, Olympias, and Fulvia. Dunn's approach is to push male figures to the periphery to reveal the women in their shadow, offering a fresh perspective on classical antiquity. However, the book's reliance on male sources like Herodotus and Livy limits its depth, often presenting a distaff version of the great men of history approach. The most engaging sections are those that delve into social history, using medical, legal, archaeological, and visual records to explore how women were controlled and how they were free. For instance, the Greek Hippocratic corpus suggested that women needed sex to stay healthy, and Mycenaean clay tablets reveal that women had roles similar to men in grinding wheat and weaving. Despite its thin thesis and broad scope, the book is learned and spritely, contributing to the ongoing effort to bring the women of the past to life.
Quick quotes
The females of classical antiquity were as skilful, scheming and bloody as the men who history remembers.
Remove the Ptolemys and Caesars, Pericles and Alexander, Xerxes and Juba entirely, and one ploughs a spartan field.
The result is that too often this book is just a distaff version of the old-fashioned great men of history approach.