Pandora's Jar: Women in the Greek Myths

Written by Natalie Haynes

Narrated by Natalie Haynes

“Funny, sharp explications of what these sometimes not-very-nice women were up to, and how they sometimes made idiots of . . . but read on!”—Margaret Atwood, author of The Handmaid's Tale

The national bestselling author of A Thousand Ships returns with a fascinating, eye-opening take on the remarkable women at the heart of classical stories Greek mythology from Helen of Troy to Pandora and the Amazons to Medea.

The tellers of Greek myths—historically men—have routinely sidelined the female characters. When they do take a larger role, women are often portrayed as monstrous, vengeful or just plain evil—like Pandora, the woman of eternal scorn and damnation whose curiosity is tasked with causing all the world’s suffering and wickedness when she opened that forbidden box. But, as Natalie Haynes reveals, in ancient Greek myths there was no box. It was a jar . . . which is far more likely to tip over.

In Pandora’s Jar, the broadcaster, writer, stand-up comedian, and passionate classicist turns the tables, putting the women of the Greek myths on an equal footing with the men. With wit, humor, and savvy, Haynes revolutionizes our understanding of epic poems, stories, and plays, resurrecting them from a woman’s perspective and tracing the origins of their mythic female characters. She looks at women such as Jocasta, Oedipus’ mother-turned-lover-and-wife (turned Freudian sticking point), at once the cleverest person in the story and yet often unnoticed. She considers Helen of Troy, whose marriage to Paris “caused” the Trojan war—a somewhat uneven response to her decision to leave her husband for another man. She demonstrates how the vilified Medea was like an ancient Beyonce—getting her revenge on the man who hurt and betrayed her, if by extreme measures. And she turns her eye to Medusa, the original monstered woman, whose stare turned men to stone, but who wasn’t always a monster, and had her hair turned to snakes as punishment for being raped.

Pandora’s Jar brings nuance and care to the millennia-old myths and legends and asks the question: Why are we so quick to villainize these women in the first place—and so eager to accept the stories we’ve been told?

Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperAudio
• Release date: Mar 29, 2022
• ISBN: 9780063139497

Natalie Haynes

Natalie Haynes is the author of six books, including the nonfiction work Pandora’s Jar, which was a New York Times bestseller, and the novels A Thousand Ships, which was a national bestseller and short-listed for the 2020 Women’s Prize for Fiction, and Stone Blind. She has written and recorded nine series of Natalie Haynes Stands Up for the Classics for the BBC. Haynes has written for the Times, the Independent, the Guardian, and the Observer. She lives in London.

Reviews for Pandora's Jar

[thepageladies · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

a great feminist look at several important and colourful women throughout the Greek myths. This is such a fascinating explanation and retelling and with the mix of humor that Natalie Haynes adds this is a wonderful story! The time I spent with my nose in these pages passed so fast! It was nice and refreshing to see history with women in a different light. It sure added new meaning to a lot of the myths we all know so well!

[Scott · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

In the book A Thousand Ships, Ms Haynes retells the story of major figures in Greek epics. But as a narative from the perspective of the women of the stories. Contrastly, Pandora's Jar is a series of essays detailing the original poems' women, analysing them, and interpreting the characters that were somewhat left out of focus.

There is a clear passion in the writing and the reading. I found myself more interested in these stories than I was before.

[sharon herriot · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

An amazing read.
I loved this book, so well written, research and narrated by Natalie (the author).
This is not just a revisionist history of Greek myth, throwing a brighter light on female characters, but rather a superbly researched work delving into original sources, gathering evidence like a forensic detective and pulling together well-rounded, complex and multi-perspective profiles of well known mythical figure.
Written with delight, read with passion, I loved it so much I pressed play again as soon as it ended.

[william jackson · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Wonderfully informative, inspirational, Natalie Haynes digs deep and comes up with insightful depictions and variations on the women of classical mythology. I loved every chapter.

[Jacalyn Burke · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Words fail me besides one, magnificent. Love this author's work.

[Zahra Kadir · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Natalie Haynes is obviously incredibly knowledgeable and passionate about her subject, and is excellent at making myths that seem alien to us at times feel prescient. She is consistently excellent at reorienting us to the realities of the classical world that many revisionist narratives have erased. I appreciate her nuance and dry wit, and highly highly recommend this book. It’s more engaging than a lot of nonfiction I’ve read.

[needmoreshelves · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I am always here for some Greek mythology, and this was a particularly good volume focusing on the women's voices that are generally overlooked in many of the famous stories.It also felt unexpectedly topical to read about women's voices being silenced in a time where it feels like our political leaders are doing their best to erase our autonomy and control our lives. It was easy to feel solidarity with these (fictional) women as their full stories were revealed.

[janerawoof · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The author's take on Greek mythology, emphasizing the women in the stories who were given short shrift by the authors. The works discussed, both literary and art span millennia--from ancient to modern times. A thoughtful and worthwhile book.

[froxgirl · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

If you enjoyed Circe, this one will KNOCK YOU ON YOUR ASS! The author's prior book, A Thousand Ships, retold the Trojan War from the perspective of the women caught up in it. This one focuses on common Greek myths and features both ancient heroines, the Amazons, Penelope, Eurydice; the ones in the middle, Pandora, Jocasta, Helen, and Phaedra; and the villains, Medusa, Clytemnestra, and Medea. Haynes provides witty, thorough analysis of each character, based on her own comprehensive study and on works by ancient playwrights and philosophers as well as modern interpreters. Along with such familiars as Homer, Euripides, Ovid, Hesiod, Sophocles, Aesop, Plato, Aristotle, Seneca, Pindar, Pliny, Aeschylus, Herodotus, Virgil, Plutarch, Shakespeare, and Aristophanes, there are contributions by lesser-known Greeks, and by modern sources such as Agatha Christie, Hadestown, Black Orpheus, and Orange is the New Black. Most enjoyable are the surprising interpretations, such as her theory that perhaps Eurydice would have preferred to stay in Hades rather than go back to a life with the unreliable and selfish Orpheus. Illustrations of paintings, sculptures, and pottery add greatly to the text.Quotes: "The Greeks were enormous fans of what we might call folk-etymology, but a less generous person might describe as nonsense.""We are so often the authors of our own misfortunes because of the same qualities which make us brave, or hopeful, or loving, in the first place.”“As we saw with Clytemnestra, there were few things more alarming to Greek men than the machinations of a clever woman, and Medea is the cleverest of them all.”

[amanda4242_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A very interesting look at ten women in Greek mythology. Haynes compares the modern view of these women and contrasts them with the many variations of their myths found in ancient literature, and makes a very good case that ancient writers wrote the women with far more complexity than they are given today.Much of the material Haynes covers will be familiar to fans of her excellent podcast, Natalie Haynes Stands Up for the Classics, but there's still a wealth of information to explore here. Received via NetGalley.

[jillrhudy · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Thanks to Harper Perennial for a free ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.More literary criticism than straight retellings, Pandora's Jar delights with a feminist deep dive into different readings of famous women and demigoddesses of Greek and Roman mythology. The author encourages us to see these legends in a different light, and sometimes to view their experiences and depictions from multiple angles. Pandora's Jar has wit, snark, dazzling scholarship and parallels to modern entertainment. Since so many references, artistic renderings, and retellings exist down through the ages, Natalie Haynes has a deep literary well to draw from when questioning whether, for instance, not only whether Pandora's box was actually a box (it wasn't, as the title indicates) but even whether Medusa was truly a monster and whether Helen's face, or men's warmongering, was the real cause of the Trojan War. All of these legendary women are complex and worth re-examining, which I did with great relish, a few gasps, and many chuckles.

[helenliz_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is simply fabulous. At a basic level it aims to describe how 10 women in Greek myths have been variously represented through the ages. And it takes its selection across a range of famous and infamous women, looking at how they were presented in different plays, poetry and graphical representations of the Greek times, moving forwards to Roman authors, then into more modern times. They have changed as different ages have re-interpreted them, and not always for the better. And it is so much more than that. This is told by a highly intelligent woman who wears her learning lightly. She uses intellect as well as wit and snark to make her points about these various women and their different representations. And she is not afraid to tackle some really difficult areas, murder, infanticide, rape and false rape accusation are all covered in here as illustrative of different points. These women were not 2 dimensional, they were marvellously complex and human (even when semi divine) with motives, desires, fears and emotions that are immediately relateable. That later tellings have often diminished their role is not the myth's fault - and it points to we need more modern retellings that explore these women in full again, not just the cardboard cutout representations that we are generally faced with. She also makes some very telling points about language use and translation choices that tend to present certain women in certain ways when there may be multiple meanings to the phrases employed. It felt to me a lot like that point early in the evening with some close friends, when the wine is in the glasses, but you're all still sober enough to ask a question and discover that you have an expert in your midst, and the next 15 minutes are some of the most illuminating in your week. You all learn something, but it's enjoyable - that is this book. It was not at all highbrow or difficult to follow, she makes no apology for using examples from cinema as well as from art and ancient plays. I listened to this and it was brilliant. Probably my favourite line: "to a classicist, Marlow is modern"

[schant-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

For those of us who read Greek myths and wondered why all the women were duplicitous sluts, crazed murderers, or voiceless victims Natalie Haynes has the answer. They Weren’t! By piecing together versions of the stories created by many ancient writers and artists we discover that Helen, Pandora, Medea and others were more multifaceted than the standard images of them we experience today. With wit and humour she shows how these mythological figures have been used in more recent historic times to put women in their place, to titillate the male gaze, and even to express feminist wrath. This is an excellent book, highly recommended.