Penelope’s Bones: In Search of the Real Women behind Homer’s Myths

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, and Penelope were built? And how does understanding their side of the epic tales of Homer, which, 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 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.

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. Having studied at Harvard, Yale, and Cambridge (where she won the prestigious Chancellor’s Medal for Classical Proficiency), she is the author of acclaimed novels rewriting Greek mythical women, including For the Most Beautiful, as well as a number of academic works. She has been featured on several BBC Radio shows, including BBC Radio 4 Woman’s Hour, Times Radio, and The Guardian, and her writing has been featured in the Independent and the Times Literary Supplement. Whether writing, teaching, or speaking to global audiences, she brings ancient stories into the present with lyrical insight and a fierce commitment to justice.