Review: Twilight Cities by Katherine Pangonis

★★★★☆ | Book 48 of 2024 — another exquisite book from Katherine Pangonis.

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Twilight Cities: Lost Capitals of the Mediterranean is Katherine Pangonis’s second book, with her first being Queens of Jerusalem: The Women Who Dared to Rule. Twilight Cities is dedicated to the history of five prominent and ‘lost’ cities from history: Tyre, Carthage, Syracuse, Ravenna, and Antioch. This book seamlessly blends Katherine’s personal experiences and travels through the modern areas and ancient remains of these once glittering jewels of the ancient and medieval world, and the sweeping histories of each of the cities from their inception to their decline and transition into modern spaces. Interwoven through the historical and archaeological evidence for these places are the myths and legends, most significantly their founding stories and legendary figures associated with them. Katherine’s sparking prose sweeps the reader along for the ride, as if you were walking alongside her.

The book has been dedicated both to the people of the Mediterranean that Katherine came across on her travels, but also those who lost their lives and livelihoods during the devastating earthquakes of 2023. This catastrophic event that rocked the city of Antakya (ancient Antioch) is often referred to through her own personal experience with the natural disaster, and essentially becomes another layer in the long history of the city. It gives the reader a feeling both of sadness, and of heightened awareness of the ‘sameness’ of the ancient world and the modern.

The names of Tyre, Carthage, Syracuse, Ravenna and Antioch have endured, but the true reality of the ancient cities have been lost. These cities are not the same as they were, and their glory has dimmed. But a city only dies when the ideas it was built with fade, as much as when fires tear down its walls or earthquakes shatter them. The ideas of these cities have persisted. Their memories remain. Not always necessarily in the minds of the residents, but preserved in texts, and the stone monuments that still grasp the earth around the Mediterranean. The air in these cities hang heavy with legend. (254)

Each chapter, which is dedicated to a different city, begins with Katherine’s personal history of the city. This includes her first visit to the city (such as her first visit to Syracuse at the age of twenty-one), and also gives the reader an insight into the city today and what you might expect to see if you were to visit. Then, each city is explored chronologically, starting with the founding of the city (both real or mythological), and then moves through time to the present day. By the end of the chapter, the reader is left with an intimate knowledge of the changes the city has gone through, it’s periods of strength and weakness, and all of the different groups of people who one called it home. This breadth of information is conveyed through the use of surviving texts with the archaeological remains of the cities.

The book is supplemented with a map at the beginning to orient the reader within the wider region, and the geographical spread of the five cities of interest, as well as an insert of colour images depicted some of the key places and people explored in the book. Additionally, each chapter starts with a quote to set the scene, and a lovely illustration. If you listen to the audiobook (well-narrated by Katherine herself), a PDF is also supplied with these supporting graphics.

I thought this was a wonderful book, beautifully written (and narrated), bringing these once glorious cities back into the limelight. Their long, and sometimes arduous histories, are recounted in a way that lets each city have its own moment to shine, but also highlights its interconnectedness with the other cities featured in this book (as well as the wider Mediterranean world). Many figures pop up numerous times and some events are mentioned in multiple chapters which allows the reader to grasp how interlinked this part of the world is, and has always been.

Review: Lost Cities of the Ancient World by Philip 'Maty' Matyszak

★★★★☆.5 | — I was provided a finished hardback copy from Thames and Hudson — thankyou!

You can also watch my interview with Maty all about this book on YouTube with World History Encyclopedia!

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Lost Cities of the Ancient World by Dr Philip ‘Maty’ Matyszak compiles lost cities from around Europe, the Middle East and Asia into one volume, linking cities thousands of years and thousands of kilometres apart with the simple fact that in some way or another, they are or once were, lost. Following on from his earlier book Forgotten Peoples of the Ancient World, Maty introduces and reacquaints his readers with cities that were abandoned, sunk or destroyed many years ago, and he does so in an engaging and exciting way. This book, aimed at the general history enthusiast, still includes pieces of fascinating history that those acquainted with the sites might not know. Despite being familiar with many of the sites explored in the book, I not only learnt something new about many of them, but was also introduced to various sites I had never heard of. Of particular fascination to me are the submerged cities of antiquity, lost to us beneath the waves and rising seas, which made learning about Thonis in Egypt one of the highlights of this book.

Lost Cities is a book that is so wonderfully accessible, so vibrant and full of incredible imagery, but also informative and a joy to read. The book is split up into general time periods ranging from the Neolithic and oldest cities of Çatalhöyük and Skara Brae to cities within and on the edges of the Roman world. This book could be read from beginning to end, travelling in time and space, or you could just as easily dip in and out, reading of Troy one day, and Palmyra the next. With that in mind, it would be difficult for this book not to capture everyone’s interest in some way or another, with the wide range of sites and civilisations discussed.

Considering the geographical and temporal range of the book, each city is presented drawing on a range of available evidence. Each place is shown on a map, and followed by the introduction of archaeological, and where possible, textual evidence of the city. For example, when discussing the infamous city of Troy, Maty draws upon the Iliad to discuss the mythological importance of the city, and for the city of Persepolis, texts composed by Darius the Great highlight the city's political importance. Overall, the interconnectivity of the ancient world runs as an undercurrent to the book with an emphasis on the trade and movement of people, things, and ideas.

Much like Egyptian Mythology - A Travelers Guide from Aswan to Alexander by Garry Shaw, Maty not only introduces the history of a city, its humble beginnings, times of strength and its descent into obscurity, but he also includes the city today. Great for those who want to know if these cities are still physically lost, or may want to visit them one day to check for sure that they really have been found, Maty divulges the current state of the city, and what a tourist today could expect to see when on a visit. This book does a wonderful job of introducing the most important sites in the relevant regions that have been lost in some way or another, and brings them back into the public consciousness. I thought this was a wonderful book introducing numerous important cities from the ancient world and would recommend it to those who love the ancient world, and those who love a book with incredible imagery.

Review: The Story of Tutankhamun by Garry Shaw

★★★★☆.5 | paperback | book twenty-four of 2022 — I was provided a free paperback Advance Uncorrected Bound Proof, and finished hardback copy from Yale University Press — thankyou!

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The Story of Tutankhamun by egyptologist Garry J. Shaw is a brilliantly written new biography of the boy king, spanning from his birth and early life under his father Akhenaten’s new religious regime, all the way up to his death and the discovery and subsequent treatment of his mummy and burial goods in the twenty-first century. This is truly a wonderful addition to the centenary celebration of the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb in 1922 by Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon.

The Story of Tutankhamun undertakes a monumental challenge of synthesising everything that we do and do not know about Tutankhamun and displaying that information in a digestible manner that readers of all knowledge levels could not only understand, but enjoy. Shaw’s book utilises the most recent scholarship and scientific data to construct a hypothetical narrative of the boy king’s life, which I absolutely adored. Shaw draws on archaeological evidence, images, texts and all sorts of available data and research to reconstruct Tutankhamun’s life beginning in Amarna under pharaoh Akhenaten. If you aren’t familiar with the reign of Akhenaten, Egypt under this particular pharaoh was radically different as Akhenaten raised the sun disk the ‘Aten’ as the supreme deity of the region. He closed the temples and moved the capital of Egypt to Akhenaten (known today as Tell-el-Amarna). So, Tutankhamun was probably born in Amarna and was definitely born into a unique and radical time in ancient Egypt’s history. Shaw introduces us to how Tutankhamun's early life may have looked, and then goes on to give a really intimate look into just how difficult it would have been for the young boy (because he really was only a boy when he acme pharaoh), to navigate his years as king of Egypt.

Shaw then basically reconstructs the rest of Tutankhamun’s life, and the important things he undertook during his very short reign, and he does this by including as many of the artefacts found in the young king’s burial as possible. There is something deeply intimate about reconstructing the life of a boy who died over three-thousand years ago using artefacts that he would have owned, touched, used, and were deemed important enough to be buried with him to take to the next life.

Shaw doesn't finish his book at the death of Tutankhamun, but goes on to describe ancient Egypt after his death, and the following destruction of his name and image by his successors. Then, he moves thousands of years into the future, and to the incredible discovery of the tomb, and the mummy. I loved reading about the steps involved not only to the initial discovery and why it took so long to be found, but also the arduous and somewhat destructive process it was cataloguing and emptying the tomb.

This new biography of the young king doesn't necessarily add any new information to the wealth of knowledge of Tutankhamun, but that’s not the point. Garry Shaw has done a remarkable job synthesising everything we know and don’t know about Tutankhamun and created a compelling narrative-style breakdown of his life. This book is both a wonderful place for those who are new to Tutankhamun to learn about not only what was found, but how it may have been used during the king’s life, but with all of the recent scholarship to back it up. Not to mention the book is full of stunning colour images of artefacts and historical images which just adds to the tale.

If you are a lover of ancient Egypt, or you would like to learn a bit more about the household name Tutankhamun, then I could not recommend this book enough!

Review: River Kings by Cat Jarman

★★★★☆ — thanks to Pegasus Books for providing me with the e-book of River Kings! In true Kelly fashion though, I did eventually go out and buy a paperback edition as well.

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River Kings, written by bioarchaeologist Cat Jarman (who is also a field archaeologist who specialises in the Viking Period) takes a small carnelian bead found in the site of Repton and follows what may have been its journey through the Viking world all the way to Baghdad and India. Jarman works with DNA analysis, isotope analysis and radiocarbon dating of the archaeological finds to trace the Vikings from Britain, through Scandinavia and ultimately uncovers greater interaction and movement between the west and the east. Jarman uses these new scientific methods to gain new information from the bones and teeth of bodies we have known about for years, but now we can understand through the isotope analyses of bones and teeth where these people were born, their some of their migration history and even the type of diet they had. Using new scientific discoveries, archaeological evidence and the historical record (taking into account their bias and unreliability), Jarman starts in Repton, Darbyshire and follows the journey of a single carnelian bead through the world of the Vikings, using other objects as stepping stones to gain a new understanding of the movement and trade in the Viking world between Britain and as far as Gujarat, India, where the carnelian bead may have begun its journey.

At the beginning of each chapter, Jarman contextualises the object that will be the focus of the coming chapter in either a fictional or non-fictional way, imagining how it may have been used in the Viking world, or telling us of its modern history such as when it was discovered. It made me think of the structure of The Real Valkyrie which did something very similar at the beginning of each chapter! Early on, Jarman highlights issues she and other scholars and archaeologists face when interpreting evidence from the Viking world and doesn't hesitate to err on the side of caution when proposing solutions for issues in the book. Jarman introduced the old information, the new scientific information and even the biased and unreliable historical information and then proposes a tentative conclusion that gives the reader the opportunity to agree with her interpretation of the evidence, or to disagree. Her own personal experiences and insights really enriched the book, and gave weight to her suggestions and conclusions throughout the book.

The graves we find are multifaceted: we have no way of knowing whether those items even belonged to the deceased or whether they were gifts placed there by the mourners. They may not even reflect much about the person’s life… The dead do not bury themselves. (21)

…but unless you have another form of proof, it is practically impossible to prove the intention behind their death (38).

I am fascinated with the archaeology of death, and Jarman takes the time to highlight the issues surrounding interpretations of bodies, grave goods, identities and even the intention behind violent deaths and she does it succinctly, and early on in her book which really sets the tone for her interpretations and tentative conclusions later on. Jarman suggests caution when interpreting scientific evidence, and that we can only glean so much from the bones and the teeth about an individual. Honestly, it completely blew my mind, the things that we can learn from the different types of scientific dating and analysis.

Jarman dedicates much of her book to women in the Viking world and their place in the archaeological record, as well as slaves and their lack of representation in the record despite the lucrative slave trade we know was being conducted during this time. So much of this book fascinated me, and one of those things was how the early work at Repton overlooked women due to their skewed views on women at the time. Not to mention the dispute over the warrior woman found at Birka and the interesting discourse surrounding her. It has been questioned that just because she was buried with weapons does that make her a warrior in life, but these kinds of questions aren’t ever asked about men buried with weapons… Another topic of personal fascination is the discussion around how we cannot know the social significance and meaning of exotic goods in the Viking social context, and the recontextualising of material objects between different groups and cultures can transform their purpose and function. Were they a show of status and wealth? Did exotic goods show an individual’s power?

…genetics is not going to give us the ultimate answers: cultures and identities are far more complex and there is no such thing as a ‘genetic Viking.’ (128)

River Kings is like a stepping stone to even more answers about the Vikings, the objects they left behind and their, movement throughout their known world. As more testing is conducted and new evidence is found, more and more will be understood about the Vikings, and this book is like the first piece of the puzzle on the journey to understanding the whole picture. Not only does Jarman work to understand how a single carnelian bead ended up in a Viking burial at Repton, but she stresses the importance of our understanding of how these types of objects fit into the wider Viking world. This book is a truly rich insight into the trade and movements of people, beliefs and objects in the Viking world, and I could not recommend it enough to any lover of archaeology, ancient trading and the Vikings.

Have you read River Kings? What did you think of it? Do you have any book recommendations for lovers of Vikings? Let me know in the comments of this post, or over on my Instagram @kell_read ✨

Review: Queens of Jerusalem - The Women Who Dared To Rule by Katherine Pangonis

★★★★☆.5 | ebook | book eleven of 2022 — I was provided a free PDF copy of Queens of Jerusalem from Pegasus Books

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Queens of Jerusalem: The Women Who Dared To Rule by Katherine Pangonis is a non-fiction book focussed on the lives of the royal women who ruled in the Medieval Middle East (or Outremer) from 1099 to Saladin’s conquest of Jerusalem in 1187. These women have been consistently overshadowed by the kings and leaders of the crusades, and this book strives to change that. By putting the Queens of Jerusalem, the Princesses of Antioch, and the Countesses of Tripoli and Edessa to the fore, readers not only get a brand new look into the history of Outremer during the early crusades but they are reminded that women were present and active during this time in history. It is about time these strong, ruling ladies were brought to the forefront of history, and Queens of Jerusalem does just that.

They have been remembered as the wives, mothers, daughters and sisters of powerful men, not as autonomous individuals and active leaders with their own political agency (Pg. 22)

Pangonis begins with Morphia of Melitene, Queen of Jerusalem and mother of four more influential women in Outremer history; Queen Melisende of Jerusalem, Princess Alice of Antioch, Countess Hodierna of Tripoli and Abbess Yvette of Bethany and describes the lives, events and obstacles overcome by all of these women and their daughters, nieces and step-daughters including Princess Constance of Antioch, Agnes of Courtenay and Queen Sibylla of Jerusalem among others. Of course, Pangonis hasn’t failed to include probably the most well known Queen during this time period, and that is Eleanor of Aquitaine. Although Eleanor of Aquitaine wasn’t a ruling woman of Outremer but instead Queen of France, and then Queen of England, Pangonis makes a very convincing argument that Eleanor’s time with her husband during the Second Crusade in Outremer affected her in later life and shaped her into the woman she has been remembered as.

As someone who has learnt about the Crusades and Medieval Europe, I was embarrassed to admit the only name I recognised in this list of influential women was Eleanor of Aquitaine, but now that has all changed. Pangonis has done an exceptional job relating the history of Outremer and the Holy City of Jerusalem from the coronation of Queen Morphia of Jerusalem to the resilient Sibylla, Queen of Jerusalem who defended her city and her people against Saladin. Her writing style is accessible, entertaining and clear. At times, I forgot I was reading a non-fiction account of real people, such is Pangonis’ talents at recounting the lives of these women. Often embroiled in scandal the lives of the elite of Outremer read like a Medieval sitcom with whispers of affairs and men choosing to marry the daughter instead of the mother. It is equally surprising (given how interesting these women were) and unsurprising (given the time period in which they lived) that the main chronicler of the time, William of Tyre, gave so little mention to the queens, princesses and countesses of Outremer. William began the trend of excluding the women of Jerusalem from the records, but this book works tirelessly to undo his shortsightedness.

He [William] does not give much credit to the notion that the women he writes about were individuals as complex as the men, and he prefers to cast women as literary tropes rather than depict them as living, breathing humans (Pg. 36)

A most interesting discussion that is carried through the book is the difference between having power and having authority. For example, Constance the rightful princess of Antioch had authority as the daughter of Bohemond II, the granddaughter of Bohemond I and the mother of Bohemond III but only half of the surviving charters her husband Raymond issued were with her consent (158-9). This suggests that although she was a princess and held that position of authority in her own right, she didn’t seem to wield any political power. Pangonis demonstrates this difference between power and authority numerous times throughout her book, and often brings in the other women to make comparisons with, such as Constance and Raymond compared to the reigning couple her aunt Melisende and Faulk.

Queens of Jerusalem truly gives the voice back to the ruling women of Outremer from 1099 to Saladin’s conquest of Jerusalem in 1187 and is a wonderful read for lovers of medieval history, revisionist history and books on the lives of women. It has been written with care and consideration of both bias from the medieval chroniclers, and the issues involved in modern terminology and views of feminism and misogyny.

The way women are presented within chronicles may not actually reflect the reality of their standing in society. With this in mind, the word ‘misogyny’ can only be uncomfortably applied to medieval society, but it may be more comfortably applied to medieval chronicles (Pg. 35)

This was a wonderful and incredibly insightful read, filling a gap in the literature of the Medieval Ages that has been empty for too long. If you have read this book, I would love to hear your opinions! Make sure to let me know in the comments or you can find me @kell_read on Instagram ✨

Review: The Celtic Myths That Shape the Way We Think by Mark Williams

★★★☆☆.75 I was provided a copy of The Celtic Myths That Shape the Way We Think by Thames and Hudson.

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What is the book about?

The Celtic Myths That Shape the Way We Think by Mark Williams is a new look at the history and development of the tales at the centre of Celtic Mythology. Not only that, but he highlights the issues surrounding them, and ways in which they have been retold and reimagined for millennia. By the time the ‘Celtic myths’ were written down in the Middle Ages, not only were they already hundreds of years old, but were written after the influence of the Catholic Church. Williams works from the roots of these tales, he interrogates the sources in which we have drawn these legends and stories from, and unpacks the multiple meanings of, and the cultural impacts made by these legends.

Irish saga is remarkable for the richness and agency of its female characters. (171)

Thoughts and feelings

It is clear that this book has been researched, developed and written by someone with an incredible depth of knowledge and understanding both of the languages he is working with, and the entire corpus of source material. One of the highlights of this book is the times in which Williams includes his own translations to the tales in focus, which will definitely help the lay reader (me). It is these times that it becomes clear that you are reading a book written by a person who could not be more qualified to do so, not to mentioned the translated snippets were so helpful for someone like me who isn’t familiar with the tales focussed on in the book. Williams takes you on a journey through Celtic mythology, with first introducing what Celtic mythology is (which is especially important given that the writings of Celtic mythology all come from the medieval ages, and the term ‘Celtic’ is a very broad term), and then dives into well known figures like Arthur and Merlin, and perhaps less well known figures like Branwen, Cú Chulainn and Blodeuwedd. As William puts it in his introduction to The Nature of Celtic Mythology:

…for us, as for many heroes in Welsh and Irish tales, there is a fall of mist, and we find we have to enter an unfamiliar world with different rules. (7)

I’m torn with this book, because on the one hand I really enjoyed reading it, but on the other, I wish I knew more about the general history of England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales and their development of mythology and literature before jumping into this book. You can definitely enjoy it and get a lot out of it without any preexisting knowledge on Celtic literature and mythology, but Williams truly deep dives into the cultural history and impact of these legends as well as the development of the tales that you would definitely get more out of it if you were already at least familiar with the characters and stories he explores. Even just having some sort of familiarity with the Celtic/Irish/Welsh languages you will have an easier time reading it for the pure fact that you won’t get all the names and characters mixed up like I did. There is a pronunciation guide at the back though, which was so incredibly helpful though, a good touch and very appreciated! Every now and then Williams made some really fascinating comparisons to other ancient literature, like the parallels between The Aeneid and Rome’s founding story and Britains founding story in Chapter Four titled ‘Brutus,’ as well as the comparison between the tale of Deirdriu in Chapter Nine (‘The Celtic Love Triangle’) and the structure and features of Greek tragedy.

Once again we are reminded that what we call ‘Celtic mythology’ is not a pure substance handed down from the pagan past, but a rich amalgam that developed over centuries.’ (213)

This quote really encapsulates the essence of William’s book - he is both introducing stories and characters that may or may not have been developed in the ‘pagan past,’ and aims to reconcile what we do know about it, how we know it, and how we came to think about these particular tales and characters in the modern day. Truly, this is a monumental task, and the sheer amount of information in this book is unfathomable.

The book itself is beautiful, with green foiling on the naked hardback and a beautifully designed dusk cover and end pages. It is also gotten with images, both coloured and black and white which is always a plus for me! There were a few grammatical errors in this book, and it’s not like, one time a word is misspelled which happens in most books - but at one point a character had her name spelt three different ways on one page. A couple of times it felt like words were missing, and there were sentences that seemed to be cut off and unfinished. These were scattered throughout the book and although overall it didn't affect my ability to understand what was going on, it just feels like it might have needed one more edit to pick up on these errors prior to publication.

We must remember that these stories are not myths, though there is definite myth in them: they are medieval tales, written in medieval Irish for a medieval audience. (252)

The Celtic Myths That Shape the Way We Think is now available to purchase, and I would recommend this book to those who are looking to really sink their teeth into the intricate and layered history of Celtic Mythology, it’s development, history and prevalence in modern day pop culture.

Review: Egyptian Mythology - A Travelers Guide from Aswan to Alexandria by Garry J. Shaw

★★★★☆ I was provided a hardback edition of this book by Thames and Hudson.

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What is the book about?

Egyptian Mythology: A Travelers Guide from Aswan to Alexandria by Egyptologist Garry Shaw takes you on a journey up the Nile as if on a tour of Egypt’s most historically rich and important sites. This tour up the Nile transports you to Ancient Egypt with evocative imagery and descriptions of what the landscape once looked like. Shaw has gone to great lengths to synthesise the fragments of texts, the wall paintings, and the surviving archaeology to present the gods, goddesses, myths and legends of each of the main sites on his tour. This includes different versions myths, the layout of building and temples long since ruined and how these deities were worshipped and praised. At the end of each chapter, after delving into the mythological history and the way it shaped the lives of the sites population, Shaw provides a quick overview of the history of the site, and what you can expect to find today. This section gives tips on what to see when visiting the ruins today.

All the best tales are fluid, reshaped again and again by storytellers for their readers or listeners.

My thoughts about the book

As with every single non fiction book I read, it took me a bit to get into the flow of it, but once I got used to it, I was hooked. Shaw has completed a monumental task, and he has done a superb job of it. He begins the book with the section titled Preparing for a Journey Along the Nile, in which he proceeds not only to describe the journey you are about to take, but takes you through terminology and chronology that you will help in your reading journey. Written as if you are about to truly set sail down the Nile River, Shaw’s poignant writing style truly makes you feel as if you’re about to embark on a great adventure through Egypt’s long history.

Each chapter begins with a snapshot into the site as it is today, with beautiful descriptive language describing what you would hear, smell and feel if you were standing at the site right now. Shaw then delves into the history of the site, Pharaoh’s who ruled, and the main gods venerated. He explores the multitudes of myths associated with the site as well as the main gods and goddesses venerated at the site. He doesn’t settle with just the main myth, no. Shaw goes on to describe fragments of myths, variations of well known tales and ways in which the central deities of this site were viewed, worshipped and developed throughout the history of the site, and Egypt. Of course, many myths and sites overlap, and notes in the text linking the stories to other chapters makes it easy to cross between the two sections. At the end of each chapter not only is each site looked at in history and today with a whistlestop rundown of the overall history of the site, but Shaw gives you handy tips for visiting the site today. This includes things to see, how long it takes to get places and things to look out for. On top of all of that, there is also a handy table at the end of each chapter which highlights the key dates and remains of the site.

Every stone, hill, temple and town that you pass as you fly over the land has a meaning, tied to the actions of divine forces.

I absolutely loved reading this book. Not only is it incredibly in depth with it’s stories of myths and tales from each site, but Shaw has written it in such an accessible and intriguing way. As you read it, you get hilarious comments from Shaw as if he were giving you a tour of the site, or telling you the myth in person. It makes the book all the more enjoyable, and a bunch of times his commentary was exactly what I was thinking! Egyptian Mythology is far less structured than that of Greece or Rome, gods turn into other gods, and they change and develop throughout time. Shaw has made Egyptian Mythology incredibly digestible, whilst linking it all to present-day Egypt in a unique and entertaining way. Any lover of Egyptian Mythology or travel (or both if you’re like me) needs to get their hands on this book. Not to mention it’s absolutely beautiful with both the dust cover and naked (and the paper is really good quality which might seem like a weird thing to add, but honestly, I love when the paper is think and good quality).

Review: The Real Valkyrie: The Hidden History of Viking Warrior Women by Nancy Marie Brown

★★★★☆ I was provided this ARC for a review from St. Martin’s Press. You can find my interview with Nancy on Youtube, and a reduced transcription of it on World History Encyclopedia!

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What’s the book about?

The Real Valkyrie: The Hidden History of Viking Warrior Women by Nancy Marie Brown is, at its core, working to dispel the myth that Viking women stayed at home whilst the Viking men raided and traded. In 2017, DNA tests revealed that the body buried in grave Bj581 outside the Swedish town of Birka between 913 and 980 wasn’t the body of a male Viking warrior as initially assumed, but that of a female in her thirties or forties. Buried with the body was numerous weapons including an axe blade, spearheads a two-edges sword, a sax knife and a short bladed knife as well as a set of game pieces, a whetstone, traders weights, a comb, a bronze bowl and two horses (among other things). The assemblage of this burial initially caused assumption that the body was of a male, and specifically a warrior, but since we now know that it’s a woman buried with this warriors assemblage, Nancy has taken it upon herself to write a book highlighting what feels like all the times women proved their worth in the Viking Age, and the times their strength, cunning and ruthlessness was assumed as myth.

Thoughts on the book

It is obvious that this book was extensively researched. Nancy utilises sagas, poems and epics of the Vikings in conjunction with archaeological and historical evidence to question the way in which females from the Viking Age have been viewed for centuries. Rather than simply providing the evidence that women from the Viking Age have been sorely misremembered thanks to the act of sexing graves by metal, the reflection of Victorian sensibilities of the nineteenth century placed on the Viking Age and the tendency for Icelandic writers of the 12th and 13th centuries (I’m looking at you Snorri Sturluson) to mythologise and generalise the female warriors as valkyries, Nancy merges fiction and solid evidence which captures the readers interest. In order to humanise the skeleton found in Birka, Nancy names the body from Bj581 Hervor, which translates to something like Aware of Battle, after the warrior woman from the old Norse poem Hervor’s Song. Nancy begins each chapter with a fictionalised story, a bit of what Hervor from burial Bj581’s life could have been like, based upon the historical, textual and archaeological evidence provided throughout the book. Nancy not only provides the evidence for warrior women, but then imagines just how a Viking woman could have lived during the time of Bj581’s life. I found it incredibly fascinating and enjoyable to read how the physical evidence may have been interacted with during the Viking Age, in addition to these imagined sections being a breath of fresh air amidst a detailed and well researched book. One thing that annoyed me through this book was when ‘an archaeologist states,’ or an ‘expert historian says…’ I’d LOVE to know which one.

Not only does Nancy debunk common beliefs that Viking women were buried with keys which signified their role as housewives, (whereas men were buried with weapons which signified their roles as warriors, raiders and traders), she exposes the bias placed onto the sagas, poems and written sources we have of the Viking Age which were all written a few hundred years after the fact. These biases come from both the values of Victorian society and Christianity, where women were confined to the home. These strict gender lines, as shown through the extensive historical and archaeological evidence provided by Nancy, simply were not there during the Viking Age. Looking at Viking women’s graves alone shows how weapons were more commonplace than keys. I loved the incorporation of other female warriors which we know of from poems as saga’s, as well as historical Viking queens detailed in concurrence with archaeological evidence found throughout the Viking world. Going into detail about clothing, textiles, trade, architecture, boats, social hierarchies, Norse legends, historical and mythological figures and everything in between, no stone is left unturned in this detailed look at the importance of women, their roles and their importance in the Viking world. If you’re interested in relearning everything you think you know about women, queens and female warriors in the Viking Age, then you should definitely pick this book up.

Review: Venus & Aphrodite: History of a Goddess by Bettany Hughes

★★★★☆.5 I am only now getting into reading non-fiction books for fun, and not for uni or work so I’m still working on how I feel about rating them. With that being said, overall I really enjoyed reading this book.

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What's the book about?

Venus & Aphrodite: History of a Goddess by Bettany Hughes is a light, easy read which follows the history of the goddess best known as Venus or Aphrodite, from her beginnings to the modern reception of the goddess. Using archaeological evidence with textual sources and more recent artworks and literature, Bettany traces the origins of the goddess of love, and both her movements and developments through history.

As some will know, Aphrodite is the Ancient Greek goddess of love, desire, beauty and sexuality, and Venus is the Roman counterpart to Aphrodite, and held dominion over fertility, prostitution and victory. However, as Bettany delves into in the first few chapters of her book, Aphrodite didn’t just appear in the artwork and literature of Ancient Greece suddenly, but evolved from both the Cypriot spirit of procreation and fertility, as well as the Near Eastern goddesses of war Inanna, Astarte and Ishtar. Beginning from both the mythological beginnings of Aphrodite (with the castration of Ouranos, and the goddess emerging from the sea foam caused by the god’s genitals falling into the ocean), as well as the archaeological beginnings, and moving all the way through the renaissance depictions and the morphing of her dominions and depictions through to the modern-day, Bettany has provided an accessible and easy to read guide to the goddess and her history.

“A potent idea, given a name and a face across five millennia, this deity is the incarnation of fear as well as love, of pain as well as pleasure, of the agony and ecstasy of desire”

thoughts and feelings

From the very first page, I knew this was going to be a far easier read than I was initially anticipating. Bettany has written this book as if she was just chatting to a mate, and honestly, I loved that. Although it initially caught me off guard, it made it so much more appealing, and tempted me to pick it up more often knowing that the language used was easygoing. The colloquial language, however, doesn’t take away from the importance of this goddess, and her significance throughout history, especially in ancient civilisations. What Bettany has done, is a thorough investigation on the goddess, and then turned that hard evidence into a book that is easily understood and accessible to anyone. Bettany has achieved the goal of bringing archaeological and historical facts into the world in an easy to read and enjoyable book, and I love it! Her addition of images throughout the book, both in black and white dispersed through the book, and in the middle which is full of coloured images, makes it all the more interesting, especially in the discussions around the changes in the physical depictions of the goddess.

“It [desire] is the life force that spurs us on to do, to be, to think.”

I love that it was a short, easy read. It means that there’s a far better chance that more people will pick it up (and I love the idea that the ancient world is becoming something more open and available). But, some points Bettany made, I felt like I wanted more evidence that backed up her conclusion. I am sure that she has done her research, and I don’t doubt any of the statements or conclusions she has come to in this fascinating history, but I would have loved just a bit more depth into some of the evidence (whether it be archaeological or textual), that she has used to form her conclusions. In saying that, I always want more out of my books, and I commend her for making this book so full of information, and yet so easy to read.

I definitely feel like the goddess Aphrodite/Venus has been simplified into the goddess of sex and desire with little substance, and this book is out here to remind the world that she is so much more. Bettany explores the goddesses roots in the war-goddesses of the Near East (Inanna, Ishtar and Astarte), and brings to the forefront the seemingly contradictory beginnings of this goddess through love, desire and war. This book details just how much the attitudes towards the goddess has developed throughout the millennia, and what her body and her symbols have meant throughout the years. The complexities of Aphrodite/Venus have been written and painted out of history in the last thousand years, and this book is bringing back the intricacy of this goddess, which will hopefully culminate in the respect and adoration she deserves.

Have you read Venus & Aphrodite: History of a Goddess by Bettany Hughes? What did you think of it? I would love to chat about this book, either in the comments below, or find me over on Instagram @kell_read.

Review: The Book of Five Rings by Miyamoto Musashi (Translated by William Scott Wilson)

★★★☆☆.5

The Book of Five Rings (translated by William Scott Wilson) is a manifesto written by the undefeated Samurai Miyamoto Musashi. Born in either the Harima Province of Japan or the small village Miyamoto in Mimasaka in 1584, Musashi won his first fight against the swordsman Arima Kihei at just 13 years old. Other than the small amount of information he writes about himself, (literally half a page in his book), everything else we know of this incredibly successful samurai has been pieced together from bits of sources here and there. At the age of 62, in 1645 Musashi died as an undefeated warrior, and not long before his death, he wrote down his Ways. 

The Book of Five Rings, detailing Musashi’s beliefs and practices of his Way of Truth. The book is really easy to read, and accompanied by an insightful introduction and a great bibliography at the end. Coming into this with no prior information about Japanese samurai culture didn’t feel like a disadvantage after reading the introduction, and the accessible way in which it has been written. It can be understood as Musashi’s guide book on how to be a successful samurai, and hints many times at the things he thinks you should research more thoroughly, or practice consistently. 

The book is split up into five sections ‘The Earth Chapter’ ‘The Water Chapter’ ‘The Fire Chapter’ ‘The Wind Chapter’ and ‘The Emptiness Chapter,’ and each deals with a separate facet of Musashi’s practice and beliefs, known as his ‘Way’. Chapter one is the Earth Chapter and is an introduction into Musashi’s Way, and give an overview of what he is going to cover in the next four chapters. Chapter two is the Water Chapter, which uses water as a model for the mind, and focusses on the swordsmanship of his Way. Musashi detail practical knowledge and tips to holding and handling swods, specifically in his preferred style of the ‘Two-Sword Style. Of course, he takes the time to tell you why his style is the correct one, and why any other style is inferior. Musashi runs through a number of different scenarios and the ways in which you can defeat your opponent. He also stresses the importance of the mind and the body; specifically, the eyes, hands, feet, head, neck, and posture when learning the Ways. The use of a sword is a full-body experience.

"You should consider these principles as though they were discovered from your own mind, and continually make great efforts to make them a physical part of yourself."

Miyamoto Musashi

The Fire Chapter is chapter three, and in this section, he uses fire as an analogy for battle since, like fire, battles can be small or large. This section focusses on the use of your mind in every situation to your advantage. This is also the section in which he explains ways you can use your physical surroundings to your advantage. Where the best place to stand is in regards to the light source, and the strategies to keep in mind when fighting. This is also the section that focusses more on issues that may arise during battles, and different tactics to gain the upper hand, like using fear to your advantage, and working with the rhythm of your opponent. The Wind Chapter is pretty much all about why the other ways of martial arts are wrong, and why his is superior. And finally, The Emptiness Chapter (which is the shortest chapter) was written: "so that you might naturally enter the Way of Truth.”

“Fear resides in all things, and the great of fear is in the unexpected”

Miyamoto Musashi

This book was a VERY interesting read. As I was getting into the rhythm of the writing style and the content of the manifesto, I started to make comparisons to how you can use his rules and tips in your everyday life. One of the sections that resonated with me was ‘Renewel’ in which Musashi writes ‘when you and your opponent are fighting and nothing is going right, nor is there progress, be of mind to throw off your former intention and start entirely anew.’ When I read this I thought of the times that I got in the way of myself, and how switching up a routine or starting something anew after being stuck in a lull gave me a fresh perspective and renewed energy or enthusiasm for a project or task. If you are going to read this, keep an open mind and try and see how you might be able to use some of Musashi’s tips in your own life.

This was a bit of a different read for me, but still really enjoyable! Let me know if you’ve read this, or something similar, or if you have knowledge of the history of samurai’s in Japan! I would love to learn more about this history!