Women's Roles

[Cristina Chifane]

One of the things I liked about Linnea Tanner's novel is the portrayal of strong women. What is more, there are both positive and negative female characters such as Catrin, Queen Rhiannon, Vala, Mor or Rhan.

What do you think of their roles in the novel?
Is there any difference between the way Celts and Romans saw women and their roles?
Was the Celtic system genuinely promoting gender equality or not?

[gali]

One of the things I liked about Linnea Tanner's novel is the portrayal of strong women. What is more, there are both positive and negative female characters such as Catrin, Queen Rhiannon, Vala, Mor or Rhan.

What do you think of their roles in the novel?
Is there any difference between the way Celts and Romans saw women and their roles?
Was the Celtic system genuinely promoting gender equality or not?

I liked that too.

There was certainly difference between the way Celts and Romans' women. The Celt women had more freedom, were equal to the men, and could choose their own husbands (most times), while the Roman treated women as inferior. I am not sure the Celtic system genuinely promoted gender equality, as in some cases the women were forced to marry people of the other tribes in order to strength political connections.

[PeaceLoveNature44]

I loved how they showed strong women right from the beginning.

I think the Romans were more harsh towards women. Treating them as nothing except for sex and birthing. Celtics show more like it was equal, or treated them better then what the Romans did. I think the Celtic men looked towards the women as well for advice. I guess they knew women knew better.

[CommMayo]

I'm not sure if the Romans were actually that dismissive of women in history. I did a little reading, and I think it was exaggerated a bit for the novel...which is totally fine.

[Facennagoss]

I think there was more equality amongst the Celts than the was with the Romans but I certainly wouldn’t split it 50/50. Having said that, I don’t think we are any further ahead today than the Celts were all those years ago.

[edith38]

One of the things I liked about Linnea Tanner's novel is the portrayal of strong women. What is more, there are both positive and negative female characters such as Catrin, Queen Rhiannon, Vala, Mor or Rhan.

What do you think of their roles in the novel?
Is there any difference between the way Celts and Romans saw women and their roles?
Was the Celtic system genuinely promoting gender equality or not?

I really like that the author had made this comparison between the women's role in two such major civilizations. What was the actual historical Celtic system is probably just a guessing game. Though as far as I have understood the Celtic background was nature religions (in AR's included through the female druids, ravens etc.) and there are plenty of examples in the nature of genders being equal or often female more in the leader position.

[CommMayo]

Having said that, I don’t think we are any further ahead today than the Celts were all those years ago.

Amen on that one, sister...

[Bukari]

We are all made differently, whether male or female. There are women who are very brave and curious about their ambitions. So these women will try to do whatever it takes to achieve their goals.

[AliceofX]

Is there any difference between the way Celts and Romans saw women and their roles?
Was the Celtic system genuinely promoting gender equality or not?

So I've been doing some reading and from what I understand there was no such thing as "Celts." Instead, it was various different tribes and people from the British Isles to Anatolia. There is no answer to that question because there was no such thing as a Celtic system.

Besides that, as a history lover, I have grown extremely skeptical about claims of ancient matriarchal or gender-equal societies. There's no solid evidence for them, just wishful thinking that doesn't align with reality. I'm just sick of certain feminists who think rewriting history is going to "inspire women" or something like that when all it does is delegitimize the movement and makes them appear like quacks.

[JuliaKay]

I did enjoy the role of strong females in this book. I think that the Celts did have more acceptance for females than Romans in the story. In Greek and Roman history, women were seen as conniving and deceptive; however, Greek and Roman women were also known for being strong.

[amandathebibliophile]

I’m getting ready to read this book now, but from the sample alone I can state that I already loved the dichotomy between sisters. I’m also always a fan of strong female lead roles in fiction. The more the merrier!!

[CommMayo]

I’m getting ready to read this book now, but from the sample alone I can state that I already loved the dichotomy between sisters. I’m also always a fan of strong female lead roles in fiction. The more the merrier!!

I hope you enjoy this book, but I admit to being pretty disappointed by the main female lead.

[Lil Reads]

Celtic women did tend to have more freedom and greater influence than their Roman equivalents, but in interactions with the Romans, Celtic women did not have the same power. For example, when Prasutagus, the husband of Boudicca, died without a son, he willed half his lands/property to Roman and half to his daughters and Boudicca. The Romans instead took all of it and brutalized all three.

[Kajori Sheryl Paul]

Is there any difference between the way Celts and Romans saw women and their roles?
Was the Celtic system genuinely promoting gender equality or not?

So I've been doing some reading and from what I understand there was no such thing as "Celts." Instead, it was various different tribes and people from the British Isles to Anatolia. There is no answer to that question because there was no such thing as a Celtic system.

Besides that, as a history lover, I have grown extremely skeptical about claims of ancient matriarchal or gender-equal societies. There's no solid evidence for them, just wishful thinking that doesn't align with reality. I'm just sick of certain feminists who think rewriting history is going to "inspire women" or something like that when all it does is delegitimize the movement and makes them appear like quacks.

I completely agree with you. These attempts of rewriting history only makes the movement seem more flimsy. However, I have read that some matriarchal societies still exists in parts of India. Though I am not sure how much their ideals go with the established notions of Feminism.

[gen_g]

I think there was more equality amongst the Celts than the was with the Romans but I certainly wouldn’t split it 50/50. Having said that, I don’t think we are any further ahead today than the Celts were all those years ago.

There has never been a truer statement than this! I do think we are still really far off, especially since nowadays the obstacles are generally not tangible.