Caesar and Christ

The Story of Civilization, Volume 3

De: Will Durant

Narrado por: Grover Gardner

The third volume of Will Durant's Pulitzer Prize-winning series, Caesar and Christ chronicles the history of Roman civilization and of Christianity from their beginnings to A.D. 325. In this masterful work, listeners will learn about:

• The Etruscan civilization of ancient Italy
• The birth of the Roman Republic and the beginnings of Roman law
• The great reigns of Caesar and Antony
• The people of Rome - the artisans, tradesmen, and scientists
• The places of Rome's great empire
• The beginnings of Christianity and its growth
• The rise of Constantine and the fall of the empire

©2011 Will Durant (P)2014 Blackstone Audio

Knowledge

It’s incredible writing of our human civilization. It truly is enlightening to hear greed, abortion, debauchery, as well as, more positive characteristics were around for thousands of years. The rise and fall of each great power is so similar. The fall always comes from within.

Fantastic

It would be difficult to overstate Rome's significance to our current societal structure. It's also staggering how closely we're mirroring it's failures. Everyone should know this story.

Just Wonderful

The Durant series, The Story of Civilization, is remarkable. Literally. This bit of the story, Caesar and Christ, is full of history and context. Wisdom and wit. Grover Gardner is perfect in delivering the Durant prose. His apparent ease with the multiple languages and pronunciations, his pace and knowledge of the intent of the author’s words make listening a real pleasure. I ‘clipped’ many portions of the book so that I could simply hear them again and smile at the use of language and in its delivery.

The reader needs to keep in mind that this book was published in 1944, so conversions of currency and references to current events, need to be taken in that context.

I found Durant’s Epilogue to be particularly insightful, as he proposes the reasons for Rome’s fall and for its rise, with a particularly moving final sentence, given the situation in the world at the time of publication.

Wow, long but good!

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes, this book provides an in-depth window onto the life and times of the Romans.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Jesus

What does Grover Gardner bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Though his voice can put you to sleep, Grover does a good job.

Excellent addition to the series

This is very different from Gibbons work on the Roman empire, which is far superior in scope, detail, and volume. Still, this condensed, rich history of Rome and Christ is excellent, just as nearly every Durant book I have ever read is. I'm very excited to move forward in the series and to experience what's next. I have found these histories too fast to fully comprehend. Just as the book on Greece was, there's simply too many people, places, and things to get lost into. One can spend their lifetime studying the ancient civilizations and still only scratch the surface. This is a perfect overview so that you don't have to spend your whole life studying this, but you can get a taste of what life was like in this tumultuous and gargantuan civilization of the ancient world.