24 Hours in Ancient Athens

A Day in the Life of the People Who Lived There

By: Philip Matyszak

Narrated by: Gareth Richards

Length: 6 hrs and 38 mins

Publisher's summary

Athens, 416 BC. A tenuous peace holds. The city-state's political and military might are feared throughout the ancient world; it pushes the boundaries of social, literary, and philosophical experimentation in an era when it has a greater concentration of geniuses per capita than at any other time in human history. Yet even geniuses go to the bathroom, argue with their spouse, and enjoy a drink with friends.

Few of the city's other inhabitants enjoy the benefits of such a civilized society, though—as multicultural and progressive as Athens can be, many are barred from citizenship. No, for the average person, life is about making ends meet, whether that be selling fish, guarding the temple, or smuggling lucrative Greek figs.

During the course of a day we meet twenty-four Athenians from all strata of society—from the slave-girl to the councilman, the vase painter to the naval commander, the housewife to the hoplite—and get to know what the real Athens was like by spending an hour in their company. We encounter a different one of these characters every chapter, with each chapter forming an hour in the life of the ancient city. We also get to spy on the daily doings of notable Athenians through the eyes of regular people as the city hovers on the brink of the fateful war that will destroy its golden age.

©2019 Philip Matyszak (P)2022 Tantor

Maybe the narrator for 24 hours in Rome spoiled me

or, this narrator was dry and nasally and I incorrectly assumed it was the narrator that was fantastic and absorbing to the point where it pulls you into the descriptive, humorous, calm, and relaxing!!!! This dude does not stop at go (period) This could have easily been 2 to 3 hours longer but much more enjoyable if it was done by the formerly mentioned narrator. Also, the book is written in a much more narrative style instead of whatever style Chaucer created with Canterbury Tales, which is what 24 in Rome felt like except they weren't in a group together but you get several singular stories where some of the featured characters are in the same chapter (Hour) and it was, and still is, a great book to fall asleep too and had multiple time reading power but this one is written like it's several biographies of different people from all walks of life and the day goes by without any world building a what society did at that time of the day, not to the point Rome did but I'll listen many times to this and can hopefully not get lost in thought thinking about how annoyingly manic the narrator is

Another enthralling book by P. Matyszak

Few books I have ever read or listened to have left me saddened for their completion. “24 Hours in Athens” (and it’s sister, “24 Hours in Rome”) is just such a book. The author deftly and compassionately humanizes history.

I enjoyed the narrator’s voice and he does an admirable job at bringing further humanity to the book’s characters. His voice has a cheeky quality that really compliments some of the author’s dry wit. My only complaint is that he consistently mispronounces Greek names and words. By mispronounce, I mean that he doesn’t use the accepted English (or even Ancient Greek) pronunciations, e.g. “Tyche” (TIE-key) becomes “Tike” (rhymes with bike) and “Agoge” (a-GO-gay) becomes Agodj (rhymes with the cryptocurrency Doge Coin).

You will have no regrets buying this book.