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The History of the Ancient World
- From the Earliest Accounts to the Fall of Rome
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 26 hrs and 20 mins
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Publisher's summary
A lively and engaging narrative history showing the common threads in the cultures that gave birth to our own.
This is the first volume in a bold new series that tells the stories of all peoples, connecting historical events from Europe to the Middle East to the far coast of China, while still giving weight to the characteristics of each country. Susan Wise Bauer provides both sweeping scope and vivid attention to the individual lives that give flesh to abstract assertions about human history. This narrative history employs the methods of "history from beneath" - literature, epic traditions, private letters, and accounts - to connect kings and leaders with the lives of those they ruled. The result is an engrossing tapestry of human behavior from which we may draw conclusions about the direction of world events and the causes behind them.
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Just a delight for anyone interested in history !
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By: Lars Brownworth
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Alexander the Great
- Journey to the End of the Earth
- By: Norman F. Cantor
- Narrated by: Bronson Pinchot
- Length: 4 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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In this succinct portrait of Alexander the Great, distinguished scholar and historian Norman Cantor draws on the major writings of Alexander's contemporaries, as well as the most recent psychological and cultural studies to illuminate this most legendary of men - a great figure in the ancient world whose puzzling personality greatly fueled his military accomplishments.
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FIVE STAR BOOK!!!!
- By Fun Lovin Lady on 09-25-12
By: Norman F. Cantor
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The War That Made the Roman Empire
- Antony, Cleopatra, and Octavian at Actium
- By: Barry Strauss
- Narrated by: Jacques Roy
- Length: 9 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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Following Caesar’s assassination and Mark Antony’s defeat of the conspirators who killed Caesar, two powerful men remained in Rome—Antony and Caesar’s chosen heir, young Octavian, the future Augustus. When Antony fell in love with the most powerful woman in the world, Egypt’s ruler Cleopatra, and thwarted Octavian’s ambition to rule the empire, another civil war broke out. In 31 BC one of the largest naval battles in the ancient world took place—more than 600 ships, almost 200,000 men, and one woman—the Battle of Actium.
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Highly detailed accounts
- By LEE on 03-28-22
By: Barry Strauss
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Ancient Rome
- The Rise and Fall of An Empire
- By: Simon Baker
- Narrated by: Chris MacDonnell
- Length: 17 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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This is the story of the greatest empire the world has ever known. Simon Baker charts the rise and fall of the world's first superpower, focusing on six momentous turning points that shaped Roman history. Welcome to Rome as you've never seen it before - awesome and splendid, gritty and squalid. From the conquest of the Mediterranean beginning in the third century BC to the destruction of the Roman Empire at the hands of barbarian invaders some seven centuries later, we discover the most critical episodes in Roman history.
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Clear and dramatic
- By Tad Davis on 08-01-17
By: Simon Baker
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In Search of the Dark Ages
- By: Michael Wood
- Narrated by: Marston York
- Length: 14 hrs and 20 mins
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In Search of the Dark Ages is an unrivalled exploration of the origins of English identity, and the best-selling book that established Michael Wood as one of Britain's leading historians. Now, on the book's 40th anniversary, this fully revised and expanded edition illuminates further the fascinating and mysterious centuries between the Romans and the Norman Conquest.
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Brilliant!
- By Dee Goulet on 08-31-22
By: Michael Wood
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Warlords of Ancient Mexico
- How the Mayans and Aztecs Ruled for More Than a Thousand Years
- By: Peter G. Tsouras
- Narrated by: Paul Christy
- Length: 11 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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Learn the unbelievable true history of the great warrior tribes of Mexico. More than 13 centuries of incredible spellbinding history are detailed in this intriguing study of the rulers and warriors of Mexico. Dozens of these charismatic leaders of nations and armies are brought to life by the deep research and entertaining storytelling of Peter Tsouras. Tsouras introduces the reader to the colossal personalities of the period.
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Written in 1996. Narration disrespectful
- By Amazon Customer on 04-30-20
By: Peter G. Tsouras
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The Poison King
- The Life and Legend of Mithradates, Rome’s Deadliest Enemy
- By: Adrienne Mayor
- Narrated by: Paul Hecht
- Length: 15 hrs and 51 mins
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A National Book Award finalist for this epic work, Adrienne Mayor delivers a gripping account of Mithradates, the ruthless visionary who began to challenge Rome’s power in 120 B.C. Machiavelli praised his military genius. Kings coveted his secret elixir against poison. Poets celebrated his victories, intrigues, and panache. But until now, no one has told the full story of his incredible life.
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A mythic & complicated life of a charismatic King
- By Darwin8u on 06-15-13
By: Adrienne Mayor
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The Race for Paradise
- An Islamic History of the Crusades
- By: Paul M. Cobb
- Narrated by: Paul M. Cobb
- Length: 12 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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In The Race for Paradise, Paul M. Cobb offers a new history of the confrontations between Muslims and Franks we now call the "Crusades", one that emphasizes the diversity of Muslim experiences of the European holy war. There is more to the story than Jerusalem, the Templars, Saladin, and the Assassins. Cobb considers the Arab perspective on all shores of the Muslim Mediterranean, from Spain to Syria.
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A heady piece of history and a romp.
- By Meeno on 05-28-15
By: Paul M. Cobb
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Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World
- By: Jack Weatherford
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis, Jack Weatherford
- Length: 14 hrs and 20 mins
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The Mongol army led by Genghis Khan subjugated more lands and people in 25 years than the Romans did in 400. In nearly every country the Mongols conquered, they brought an unprecedented rise in cultural communication, expanded trade, and a blossoming of civilization.
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Golden Horde/Platinum Listen
- By Cynthia on 12-11-13
By: Jack Weatherford
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exactly what I've been looking for
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What listeners say about The History of the Ancient World
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Ellen S. Wilds
- 04-25-14
An Historic Achievement
If you could sum up The History of the Ancient World in three words, what would they be?
Colourful, In-Depth, Informative
Who was your favorite character and why?
Considering this book covers a vast portion of early human history it is impossible to assign particular value to a single character.
Which scene was your favorite?
Picking just one episode is difficult, but the most memorable to me was the exchange between King Croesus of Lydia and King Cyrus of Persia on the night the Persians looted the fabled wealth of the Lydians. Noting that the defeated monarch was quiet as his city burned, Cyrus asked how he felt about losing his wealth in this manner. "It is not my wealth they are stealing," Croesus replied. "It is yours." Valuable insight into the nature of conquest even today.
Any additional comments?
Although my field is 19th century Victoriana, I have an interest in many periods of history, in particular the Aegean Bronze Age and the early Celts in Europe. This book blends ancient historical accounts, myths, legends, religious texts to weave a tapestry of early human history, including civilizations as diverse as Mesopotamia, India, China and Europe. It is a massive undertaking.
I accept that accuracy is not always possible when the only texts available are those that have been translated, interpreted, and even deified. While experts may disagree on the finer points, the overall effort is worthy of credit. To keep all these many threads separate and clear is a mighty undertaking and I applaud the author for the attempt.
No historical account can be perfect as new discoveries come to light all the time, from archeological digs and manuscript finds to revisions of classic literature. If we waited for historians to agree on the details, no history would ever be written. And that would be a great loss. This is a fine historical overview and what it lacks in depth is more than made up for in breadth.
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- serine
- 01-23-16
Fast paced history
Fast paced history of the ancient world. Wile reading, I could not help but visualize the earlier humans marking their territory as they competed for power and resources, spread out from every corner of Earth to build the cities and civilizations we see today. It's always a good idea to remember from where and from whom we came. This book, though long, will take you on an extremely compact tour from the first kings of whom we are aware through the fall of Rome. It covers how power and land were gained, how laws were written and followed (or not followed), and how ideals were born or killed in different regions of our globe.
Since this book provides a history for such a long stretch of time, at no time does it go into great detail of any particular period or king. The book is already longer than most books. If Wise Bauer were to go into more detail, the book would simply be another book. Rather, this book gives the reader a mere glimpse into each time period as it races along. I made of note of the time periods and leaders I would like to read more about later.
At times the author, like all authors before her, had to construct the story from sources that are difficult to verify or are included in religious texts that might be unreliable in providing an accurate history. In those cases, she did a great job and informing the reader about the speculative nature of the narrative. Excellent writing. Excellent timeline. Excellent history.
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- dan
- 06-21-15
Great review of Ancient World History needs maps
An Excellent Ancient History Review but would be better with Outline. maps and illustrations in PDF to accompany the great lecture and make it easier to follow and understand.
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- Dan
- 05-09-15
Disappointing
Perhaps reading this would have been a better experience. It was hard (for me) to get a decent grasp of where we were in the overall storytelling. It just jumped around too much for me. Perhaps some transitional thoughts would have pulled things together...like "Meanwhile, in Persia....." or something.
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- Troy
- 04-28-14
A Fantastic Overview!
I find that in my studies of history, comprehensive and sweeping overviews are invaluable, both to help keep people and events in perspective, and to give me an idea of where I might want to dig deeper later on. I've gone through a number of such overviews over the years, though not one as ambitious as this one. From the mists of legend through to the fall of Rome as the title suggests, Bauer weaves together all of the broad strokes of human history in this time period. For the earlier accounts, history is extrapolated from mythology and archaeology, translating symbolism into human events. Another high point of praise is that most overviews like this will pick a single nation or perhaps a hemisphere. This covers East and West, putting the rise and fall of various dynasties on a timeline that allows the reader to compare and contrast in an way that I've not seen with such effectiveness. Bauer has similar titles for Medieval and Renaissance history, and I'm looking forward to connecting those stories as one larger tapestry.
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- Zombie Reader
- 08-22-16
A Sermon on World History
Any additional comments?
I wanted to like this book. I really tried. I love history. If you want a lot of history; Bauer has provided it herein. Starting with the beginning of the recorded events of humanity much like your High School and College courses likely did. Unfortunately, it drags. It really, really drags. Not a single character stands out as interesting. In the preface it is pointed out that historians, unlike archaeologists, need to hitch their version of events to the stories of the people who did interesting things and not just lists of facts and dates. Then the book goes on to be lists of names, dates & facts for thousands of years. Lists of Kings and their offspring are batched with tiny banal factoids about their reigns are followed by more lists of Kings and factoids. Narrator John Lee has an amazing voice but unfortunately it does not fit well with this material. He sounds like a Minister delivering a veeery loong Sermon and it begins to grate on the nerves. He would do better narrating Epics & Biblical novels. Bauer knows a lot of history and Lee has a booming voice and clearly a lot of work went into the material but in this format it just doesn't play well.
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- christopher
- 04-10-14
A tour de force, almost
A remarkable piece of work which gives an extraordinary overview and manages give a taste of the subject matter without getting lost in the details. The last 400 years were a bit rushed but I don't think it was necessary to do that bit. The author could comfortably stopped with the effective establishment of the Roman Empire. Pace was generally speaking good - there were few places where I just wanted to get on with it. I have come away having learned a great deal and feel that an important contribution has been made to my already 67 year old education. Then also I have to say that while I found the reader's delivery irritating on occasion, his pronunciation of those middle eastern and Chinese names with I believe perfect consistency was amazing and, perhaps surprisingly, made its own independent contribution to my enjoyment of the book.
So why "almost" ? Alright, I bought into the premise that while we have little in the way of historical documentation surviving from the three or four thousand years BC we do have myths and it is possible that within those myths there may lurk the kernel of the truth so why not let's pretend that they are actual history. So when we got to talking about David and his achievements, I could not help but recall a recent BBC documentary which argued with some force that the almost total lack of archaeological evidence for David's architectural accomplishments stongly suggests that the Biblical David is a construct designed with political intentions and with little real history behind it. Not that I believe everything that is put in front of me, but The History does at some level purport to be an academic work. The uncritical acceptance of the Biblical version of David suddenly made me a whole lot less inclined to accept myth as the basis for history, even with tongue in cheek.'
Still, I doubt if there are many works around where the author demonstrates such a grasp of her subject matter, such an ability to put it into context and such a fund of well-selected material to illustrate her work..
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- Chris Hendriks
- 02-03-16
Bloodshed
More than a little I'm disappointed for there is no attention for anything else then lust for power, no culture, no daily life, no architecture, no emerging of social phenomena, etc, only war between and within royal families, emperors, generals ...
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- J. Carpenter
- 04-09-15
Overall good
This was an incredible journey through the ancient World bouncing seamlessly from one end of it to the other and everything in between. My only real suggestion for improvement would be in the delivery. The narrator failed to pause when something momentous was to happen like the death of a ruler. He just blew through it like any of the rest of the facts. It is a tone, rate of speech and emphasis thing. To be fair, maybe that is the point. With so many leaders being poisoned, hacked to death, back stabbed, suicidal, etc. maybe it is better to just plow through.
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- S. Seccombe
- 01-10-16
Entertaining history lesson with dry telling.
I enjoyed this brief history. My only complaint is that the voice of the author is completely lost with the choice of narrator. I can hear the levity in the words, but the dry presentation of this material causes a loss of the authors attempt to make the story engaging. In fact some of her hilarious editorial comments are completely lost.
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