SPQR

A History of Ancient Rome

By: Mary Beard

Narrated by: Phyllida Nash

Length: 18 hrs and 30 mins

Publisher's summary

A sweeping, revisionist history of the Roman Empire from one of our foremost classicists.

Ancient Rome was an imposing city even by modern standards, a sprawling imperial metropolis of more than a million inhabitants, a "mixture of luxury and filth, liberty and exploitation, civic pride and murderous civil war" that served as the seat of power for an empire that spanned from Spain to Syria. Yet how did all this emerge from what was once an insignificant village in central Italy?

In SPQR, world-renowned classicist Mary Beard narrates the unprecedented rise of a civilization that even 2,000 years later still shapes many of our most fundamental assumptions about power, citizenship, responsibility, political violence, empire, luxury, and beauty. From the foundational myth of Romulus and Remus to 212 CE, nearly a thousand years later, when the emperor Caracalla gave Roman citizenship to every free inhabitant of the empire, SPQR (the abbreviation of "The Senate and People of Rome") not just examines how we think of ancient Rome but challenges the comfortable historical perspectives that have existed for centuries by exploring how the Romans thought of themselves: how they challenged the idea of imperial rule, how they responded to terrorism and revolution, and how they invented a new idea of citizenship and nation.

Opening the audiobook in 63 BCE with the famous clash between the populist aristocrat Catiline and Cicero, the renowned politician and orator, Beard animates this "terrorist conspiracy", which was aimed at the very heart of the republic, demonstrating how this singular event would presage the struggle between democracy and autocracy that would come to define much of Rome's subsequent history. Illustrating how a classical democracy yielded to a self-confident and self-critical empire, SPQR reintroduces us, though in a wholly different way, to famous and familiar characters.

©2015 Mary Beard (P)2015 Recorded Books

Very well done

Very well thought out explanation of the history of Rome through the initial centuries of the common era .

An interesting and amazing book

My only complaint is that it was too short. I'd have listened to another two hours gladly.

really could have used an audio editor

Fascinating, even with knowledge of Roman history. Reader misses emphasis in some sentences, other errors.

Illuminating

The book engaged my imagination and made me see in my mind the streets and life in ancient Rome

Delightful

This book is so fun. Beard makes this time vivid and exciting. I got a good sense of how the inclusiveness and assimulation worked to build a great economic dynamo.

Very good book

Very well written and researched, and very well read, except for the pronunciation of Latin words and phrases, which is absolutely atrocious.

Good History Lost in Poor Narration

The approach to the study of first millennial Rome was creative and interesting. Unfortunately, I found the performance to greatly diminish my overall enjoyment of the book. The dynamics of the recording are not good, sometimes so soft as to make it impossible to decipher what is being said. And I frequently found Ms. Nash's accent to be difficult to understand, which compounded the problem. I was so looking forward to hearing this; what a disappointment.

Not what I was looking for, but not bad

I wanted more information about the Caesars particularly. Not that this didn’t have that, but it was much more about the politics and less about the Emperors. Kinda felt about this as I did A Feast for Crows; I understand why it’s important and good to know, but not as interesting as the battle and adventure filled books . I learned a lot, but found it textbookish and mainly covered the first 700 years of Rome. That was interesting, but as I said, not the most intriguing years for me. Still a great and informative read.

Crassusnextusumbelicusfortuitous Us

This was a very interesting look at ancient Rome but in audible form it comes up a bit short. The narrator is not the author but let's forgive that because narrator does a great job. But how many Latin/Roman names can you keep straight. There's another one coming at you every 30 seconds. I haven't seen the printed version of this but I wonder if it contains pictures or statues of some of these guys (not much herstory(sic) here). The book was most interesting when the timeline intersected something I know at least a little: the assassination of Julius Caeser, the story from "I, Claudius", that's about it.

In-depth look at the Roman World

Not exactly an "easy" listen and not a book I'd recommend for a first time student of the Roman world and culture. However, it's very well researched and includes vast quotes and sources of authentic Roman era writing and clips of period speeches. She explores areas often overlooked in over Roman histories.