'A Thousand Ships' by Natalie Haynes

Reviewed by Pranav Minasandra

01 Feb 2024

Wrath! Sing, Goddess, of the wrath of Achilles, Peleus’ Son, whose wrath brought on the Achaians innumerable woes, hurled down into Hades countless brave men’s souls while leaving their bodies to dogs and carrion crows. And who will sing of the fate of the women of Troy and Greece?

Despite the horrendous discourse surrounding most matters related to ancient Greece, particularly from a section of internet-dwellers who believe that white people invented culture, the great tragedy that is the myth of the Trojan war is a fiction writer’s treasure. Well, to be fair, writers and creative-types seem to love myths: how perfect a set up! The world has done your world-building for you, you get to do the more delicious stuff—the interpersonal conflicts, the reinterpretations, the soliloquies. One of the problems with myths, though, is that historically these stories have been told by, and to, men. The stories of women in myths are often relegated to the backdrop. Why is the story of Orestes, and not Clytemnestra? Why is it the story of Rama and not of Sita? Most strikingly, why is the protagonist of the Mahabharata not Draupadi, who as a character drives most of the war of Kurukshetra?

Natalie Haynes illustrates the depth of this problem by tackling the part of the Trojan war covered by the Iliad and the Odyssey: the burning of Troy, the death of Achilles, Odysseyus’ journey back to Ithaca. She also explores what is often ignored—the fates of Helen, Hecuba, Cassandra, Andromache, and many other women who drive much of this story. Haynes spares not even the gods—the dropping of the golden apple, the battle of the three goddesses, the dance of the Erinyes, the ‘madness’ of Clytemnestra; Haynes does justice to them all.

This is a very touching and moving book, but it probably won’t hit as hard if you are not already at least somewhat familiar with this mythology. There’s an amazing YouTube channel called Overly Sarcastic Productions for knowing more about this and other mythologies, histories, writing tropes, and a lot more. I thoroughly recommend bingeing it. About A Thousand Ships this is all I have to say: by the end, Natalie Haynes had me in tears.