I have seen Bettany Hughes on TV before so decided to read one of her early books Helen of Troy: Goddess, Princess, Whore that presumably helped make her name. Overall I was not impressed. For starters, I have never read Homer and a lot of the book seemed to be about his works in the absence of much actual evidence on the ground about the actual Helen. I found the book a bit random and speculative, and very few passages grabbed my attention. I like history of an actual period and archaeology books but this was neither being about the history of a fairly ethereal person who has become the foundation of legends and folklore. 4/10. Finding the real Helen from the available sources is beyond anyone.
I'll stick to watching Bettany on TV.
