Stealing Athena: A Novel | Karen Essex

Stealing Athena: A Novel | Karen Essex | Quite enjoyable

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Stealing Athena: A...

	Stealing Athena: A Novel Karen Essex Doubleday, 2008 - 464 pages average customer review:based on 15 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

The author of the bestselling Leonardo?s Swans traverses the centuries into the hearts of two extraordinary women to reveal the passions, ambitions, and controversies surrounding the Elgin Marbles.

The Elgin Marbles have been displayed in the British Museum for nearly two hundred years, and for just as long they have been the center of a raging controversy. In Stealing Athena, Karen Essex chronicles the Marbles? amazing journey through the dynamic narratives of Mary Nisbet, wife of the Earl of Elgin, the British ambassador to Constantinople, and Aspasia, the mistress of Perikles, the most powerful man in Athens during that city?s Golden Age.
At the height of the Napoleonic Wars, the twenty-one-year-old, newly wed Countess of Elgin, a Scottish heiress and celebrated beauty, enchanted the power brokers of the Ottoman Empire, using her charms to obtain their permission for her husband?s audacious plan to deconstruct the Parthenon and bring its magnificent sculptures to England. Two millennia earlier, Aspasia, a female philosopher and courtesan, and a central figure in Athenian life, plied her wits, allure, and influence with equal determination, standing with Perikles at the center of vehement opposition to his vision of building the most exquisite monuments the world had ever seen.
Rich in romance and intrigue, greed and glory, Stealing Athena is an enthralling work of historical fiction and a window into the intimate lives of some of history?s most influential and fascinating women.

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The Elgin Marbles

Stealing Athena is a wonderful historical novel about two relatively unknown women from completely separate time periods. Mary Nisbet and Aspasia of Miletus may have lived more than 2200 years apart, but Karen Essex's new book shows the similarities between them, both in their lives and in their personalities. A slightly larger portion of the book is from Mary's point of view, and we are first introduced to Aspasia when Mary begins reading Plutarch's Life of Pericles. Aspasia was the lover of Pericles, who commissioned the Parthenon Marbles. Mary's life became forever intertwined with the Elgin Marbles, as they are also known, when her husband, Lord Elgin, set out on his quest to 'rescue' the marbles from Athens for the glory of Britain. Stealing Athena spans the entirety of Mary's marriage to Lord Elgin, including the years it took to obtain the Parthenon Marbles, and parts of Aspasia's life with Pericles. Essex's book gives very interesting insights in the women's relationships and how they assist their partners in their endeavors, despite the prejudices against women in both eras. We also are given a window into the cultures and beliefs of their society, which made it easy to understand what motivated them and their peers. Overall, it is a great book to read, for either the relationships and character dynamics, or for the historical settings and culture. I personally believe if you like historical fiction or character driven novels, you'll love this book.

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Quite enjoyable

I am am avid reader of historical fiction, and am surprised I missed this one somehow until now. Essex's novel focuses on the famous Elgin marbles, and is told in both first person and third. At first, I found this jarring, but after getting used to it, I settled in and very much enjoyed the story of Mary Elgin, whose husband is obsessed with preserving the Elgin marbles.

However, my favorite part of the novel is when Aspasia begins narrating the book and we rediscover what Athens was thousands of years ago. Aspasia is a courtesan loved by Perikles, and though she experiences freedoms few other women in the city have - to go where she pleases, to discuss politics, and to talk with men freely - her profession also puts her in danger.

A novel of both the Elgin marbles and the building of the Parthenon, this book with a rare find and a true jewel. Although my specialty is Egyptology, I do know a great deal about the rest of the ancient world, which made me appreciate this book even more, since it's clear the author did her homework.

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A great combination of historical narratives

Lady Mary Elgin, recently married, is swept along by her husband on his quest to claim priceless Greek art from the Ottoman Empire for the British, under the guise of Ambassador, while relying on her fortune to pay the bills. Centuries before, Aspasia is neatly given by her brother-in-law to Greece's ruler, Perikles. In Stealing Athena, the stories of these two oddly similar women intertwine to form one powerful narrative about women's struggles in the face of never-ending male oppression, while the great marble statues of Greece are both built and taken apart.

This is how historical fiction narratives should be combined. Both stories are compelling and each time they switched, I regretted the change, only to be happy that the other woman was now featured. I did prefer Mary, in all honesty, but I agree with other reviewers because it seems that the book is more hers than Aspasia's. She gets a bit more time and it's easy to feel frustration and sympathy for her. It is also for Aspasia, but Mary's dilemmas are more numerous and almost more modern day. The stories complemented each other beautifully. In Aspasia's tale, the Parthenon is being raised, as well as many other great temples. In Mary's, they are being torn down, supposedly to save them.

In fact, therein lies my biggest problem with the book. It's a difficult tale to hear. I have issues with British pillaging of ancient treasures, despite the fact that I have only been able to enjoy them in England because of this. It's hard, as someone who loves history so much, to hear about how these priceless and completely irreplaceable marbles were carelessly handled and damaged by the British. Yes, it would have been horrible if they had been destroyed, but they could have been handled better, and treated better later at the British Museum. (No offense to the British of today, obviously, they're trying to make up for it.)

The book is well written, and each woman has her own distinctive voice. At times, they echo each other, and they show the universality of female existence; largely, that women have historically had few rights and been totally subservient to men. Each woman thwarts this in her own way, and it shows us that their condition did not actually improve. Stealing Athena is also extremely well-plotted and never drags or gets boring. I never wished for the other woman's chapter to start. With some expansion, either story could have functioned perfectly well on its own. Instead, they fit together and the book benefits from their shared experiences and the complete circle of the story, from construction to destruction.

I'd highly recommend this book, especially to historical fiction readers, but I think I'd recommend it to others as well.

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From S. Krishna's Books

Though I am a big fan of the historical fiction genre and generally interested in Ancient Greece, for some reason, the description of Stealing Athena didn't capture my interest like it should have. I wanted to read it because I have heard so many positive things about Karen Essex' novel Leonardo's Swans. So, bearing that in mind, I approached my review copy with some trepidation and discovered, to my surprise, that my apprehensions were completely without merit. Stealing Athena is a well researched story that is extremely interesting and beautifully written.

As the description suggests, the novel follows the storylines of two women: Mary and Aspasia. While these two stories are both interesting, they have their respective strong and weak points. There were times I was sorry to leave Aspasia for Mary, and also times when the opposite was true. However, the story seems to be a bit weighted in Mary's direction, as the novel seems to belong to her rather than Aspasia.

Through the novel's progression, these two women find their positions in male-dominated societies unbearable and begin to question the rules that keep their sex subjugated. They are strong-willed and determined to carry out their own wishes. Mary and Aspasia are both well written female characters, which is refreshing, especially in Aspasia's case. There are not many novels of Ancient Greece that are told from a woman's point of view.

Another important character in this novel is that of the Elgin Marbles. According to the British Museum's website:

The 'Elgin Marbles' is a popular term that in its widest use may refer to the collection of stone objects - sculptures, inscriptions and architectural features - acquired by Lord Elgin during his time as ambassador to the Ottoman court of the Sultan in Istanbul. More specifically, and more usually, it is used to refer to those sculptures, inscriptions and architectural features that he acquired in Athens between 1801 and 1805. These objects were purchased by the British Parliament from Lord Elgin in 1816 and presented by Parliament to the British Museum.

The article goes on to detail the size of the Elgin Marbles collection.

This aspect of the novel was one I knew I would dislike greatly. Essex handles the gutting of the Parthenon with as much grace as possible, but it still is painful to read. It did help that Mary had second thoughts about her husband's work many times throughout the novel. The justification that they later offer is that if they hadn't removed the items from the Acropolis, the Turks would have destroyed them. Whether true or not, it is always sad to read about or hear of archaeological treasures being removed from sites for personal gain. However, the Elgin Marbles are a subject that, to my knowledge, have not been approached in historical fiction. They are an important piece of history, and Essex writes them well. She is to be commended on her delicate handling of this difficult subject and her exceptional research into the history of their removal from Greece.

In sum, Stealing Athena is a solid piece of historical fiction. While not absolutely captivating, it is definitely interesting enough to warrant a read.

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Opulent settings

I want to give this book 3.5 stars but Amazon won't let me.

''Stealing Athena'' has a beautiful cover, one of the nicest I've seen in a long while. Rich and opulent, just like the settings for this story. A novel based on true events, it reads like a romance. The tale is a romantic one, taking place as it does in Greece (both ancient and "modern" (19th century)) and Constantinople. The author's attention to detail is wonderful; she makes you see the fascinating places she describes. I really like that she included a section telling what happened to each of the major characters, including the Elgin Marbles.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3

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