I got this idea last Tuesday night while flipping through an old mythology book. My coffee went cold 'cause I kept staring at illustrations of Greek guys like Plato and Pericles. Thought to myself - where the hell are all the women at? Decided right then to dig up their stories properly.
First Try Was a Disaster
Woke up Wednesday buzzing to start. Opened five browser tabs thinking I'd find everything fast. Total failure. Every article started with "in ancient Greece, women had no rights" and barely named anyone. Wikipedia pages were worse - three lines about Hypatia, two about Sappho, done. Felt like hitting a brick wall.
Changing Tactics
Thursday morning I hit the library after dropping kids at school. Found this dusty history section smelling like old paper. Pulled out like fifteen heavy books. Started skimming indexes for female names - fingers turned black from printer ink. Found gold in three books:
- "Aspasia got buried" - Pericles' partner who taught Socrates
- "Pythagoras had sisters" - Theano ran his school after he died
- "Priestesses ran temples" - like Pythia giving prophecies at Delphi
The Real Struggle
Biggest headache? Ancient writers barely mentioned them. Had to read between lines like a detective. One passage would say "Pericles gave speech" but another book hinted Aspasia wrote half his stuff. Felt like piecing together a shredded document.
Also got super annoyed at philosopher names. Trypronouncing Agnodice ten times fast - I kept messing up. Made flashcards with name/achievement/dates like:
- Hypatia - math genius killed by fanatics
- Gorgo - Spartan queen who warned about Persian invasion
- Telesilla - poetess who armed women during war
Putting It Together
Spent Friday organizing chaos. Created simple categories:
- Thinkers (philosophers/scientists)
- Leaders (queens/politicians)
- Rebels (women who broke rules)
Printed maps of ancient Greece to pin their locations - Athens, Sparta, Lesbos. Realized most came from same three cities. Sketching connections helped - Aspasia linked to Socrates, Sappho influenced later poets.
Why It Hit Home
Saturday morning I almost scrapped everything. Felt pointless since their stories got erased anyway. But then remembered my granny - brilliant woman who farmed alone grandpa died young. Never got formal education but calculated crop rotations in her head.
These Greek women were like that. Even with society crushing them, Agnodice still practiced medicine disguised as a man, Theano kept Pythagorean philosophy alive. Their names deserve to be shouted from rooftops even if historians tried to mute them.
Finished by Sunday noon with handwritten notes everywhere. House looked like a paper bomb exploded. But holding those pages felt good - like uncovering buried treasure everyone said didn't exist. Made extra copies for my daughter's history teacher too.
