Quo Vadis

A Narrative of the Time of Nero

By: Henryk Sienkiewicz

Narrated by: Frederick Davidson

Length: 22 hrs and 6 mins

Publisher's summary

Written over a century ago and translated into over 50 languages, this masterpiece of historical fiction is one of the best-selling novels in history and the inspiration for the MGM motion picture of 1951. An epic of love and courage in Nero's time, it illustrates the conflict of moral ideas within the Roman Empire at the dawn of Christianity.

Marcus, a Roman officer in Nero's army, risks his career, his family, and even his life when he falls in love with a Christian woman named Callina. In order to win Callina's love, Marcus must come to understand the true meaning of her religion, even as Rome sinks under the excesses of Nero and Christians are thrown to the lions. Quo Vadis brims with passion and life as it explores one of the turning points in history.

Public Domain (P)1999 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

You will smell Rome burning!

Any additional comments?

Sienkiewizc makes Nero's Rome come alive with a fascinating story made compelling by accurate historical detail and reified ancient and fictional persons.

Quo Vadis intertwines multiple love stories: Nero's love of himself, Vinicius' love of Lygia, Petronius' love of elite pleasures, the Augustan's love of power and prestige, Chilon's love of money, the new sect of Christians' love of Christ, and, ultimately, Christ's love for Rome.

Sienkiewizc accomplishes several things rarely found in such novels:

1. The historical detail is integral to the story, and provides not only the setting but sets up the story's twists and turns.

2. The Christians are portrayed realistically -- neither as morons nor as unbelievable saints. Even the real "saints" (Peter and Paul) are depicted as flesh and blood humans trying to make sense of their beliefs in light of Nero's persecution.

3. The familiar historical events depicted in the story, particularly the burning of Rome in 64 AD and the subsequent persecution of Christians, are made vivid in ways that your history class never did.

The most striking feature of the novel is the portrayal of Christianity as a new and unique sect in the midst of polytheistic and skeptical Rome. In our day, Christianity is rarely distinct from the rest of culture, except for a couple of unique social convictions and some individual beliefs. Sienkiewizc portrays the still nascent Christianity in its most simple yet most compelling form, bereft of the past two millennia of doctrinal, political and moral disputes and scandals.

Life Altering

Beautiful. Tragic. Stirring. A great book for all. Inspiring for Christians young and old. The narration is excellent. Soon the high language becomes natural to your ear and beautiful. I highly recommend it.

Edifying and Entertaining

I greatly enjoyed this book and found it to encourage me in my Christian faith. Learning about the persecutions and sufferings that the early Christians endured made me even more aware of how much of a wimp I am. Finally I spot checked the historical facts with the chapter on Ancient Rome in Norman Davies “Europe” and they all checked out.

Wonderful!

Excellent presentation of this classic story of Rome’s persecution of Christians.
Could not stop listening.
Great narration.

inspiring

Tender and terrible. Romans up close and personal . A gruesome, moving, incredible transformation, which is historically well researched and uplifting. A historical love story.

not a big fan of the story

the narrator was pretty good but the story was poor. I liked the voice change

loved every word

I don't understand some of the other reviews ! Not only is Frederick Davidson THE best narrator on Audible he also does a perfect job in reading this book. There can be hardly anything said about the story for it is known to most of us, and may it even be from the picture made in in the 60ies, starring the unforgetable Sir Peter Ustinov. The criticism about the "ancient ttranslation" is not very well founded. Sure, there are a lot of "thou" and "thee" but this makes the story more interesting and does not affect the fluency of the book. I read this book many years ago and this "audio delicasy" brought back old memories. All in all it was extremely enjoyable listening to this great tale.

Poor sound quality

I sometimes found it difficult to focus on the content because of the poor sound quality. The pitch and volume of the voice would go up or down haphazardly, which was quite annoying.

A very good book, overall!!

A very good story line . peppered with true historical nuggets. a bit a of roman Catholicism, but discernable. a good reading for a any Christian. the great theme is that Christ Kingdom has and continues to thrive amid Persecution!!!!

Loved the story

A great classic! Great descriptions & well researched. I did not care for the readers “voices” or intonation but was able to listen anyway for the sake of the great story.