A Women's History of the Ancient World

I acquired The Missing Thread: A Women's History of the Ancient World by Daisy Dunn from a public library.  I hoped that I would learn from this book, though I also expected that there would be a great deal of content that I already knew.  When I got around to reading it, it took me ten days. 

                                               

    

Women were allowed to run in footraces  at the Olympics every four years in honor of the Goddess Hera.  The women ran on a slightly shorter track than the men.  In high school, I ran the mile on my school's track because my father had done it.  It wasn't an official event.  I ran before school, so that the boys wouldn't be using the track.  I was caught because I stayed later once than I should have.  The coach clocked me and said it was a shame that I couldn't compete.  There was no girl's track team.  In gym class, the girls ran the quarter of a mile.  I was, of course, the fastest.  When I went to college, there wasn't any women's track team there either.  This was in the early 1970's. 

    In  ancient Rome, women weren't allowed to wear colorful garments.  The married women engaged in a protest. They blocked the streets leading to the Forum.  The women then picketed the home of the Brutus family.  I never heard of these protests by Roman women.  I identify with these women as someone who has been a protestor beginning when I was teenager protesting the War in Vietnam.

This is a short review because I knew most of the content in this book, but what I did include felt significant to me.  I'm going to give this four stars on Goodreads.