Antigone Rising: The Subversive Power of the Ancient Myths Book Review

Myths from the ancient world are not just stories of the past. There is a universality and a humanity that still speaks to us today.

Antigone Rising: The Subversive Power of the Ancient Myths, by Helen Morales, was published last year. Using the myth of Antigone, (told to us by the play of the same name by Sophocles), she outlines how the myths from ancient Greece and Rome reflect feminist issues that were are prevalent then as they are now. Though they may seem innocent on the surface, a deeper dive reveals how these characters were to take a stand against injustice.

I loved this book. Ms. Morales is able to break down the specific elements of these tales to show us that things haven’t changed. The sexist bull shit that girls and women deal with today existed thousands of years ago. If there was one section that caught my eye, it was the chapter on the LGBTQ experience in that time period. It can be broken down by one sentence “same shit, different century”.

Do I recommend it? Absolutely.

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