The Gallic War

By: Julius Caesar

Narrated by: Laura Orlando

The Gallic War is Julius Caesar's autobiographical diary of the wars in what is now France, Belgium, and parts of Britain, Germany, and Switzerland, in which he describes the battles that took place from 58 to 51 BCE when he fought the Germanic and Celtic peoples that opposed Roman conquest. Modern-day Provence and Languedoc-Roussillon were already under Roman control, so Caesar’s Gaul referred to the regions that the Romans had not yet conquered. The book comprises seven parts and chronicles the wars against the Helvetii, Belgae, Britons, Eburones, Suebi, Veneti, among others. At the end, Gaul was a Roman Province with the Rhine as eastern frontier.

The work contains descriptions of the tribes and geography of the region, although Caesar made some errors in his geographic descriptions. Caesar wrote The Gallic War as a third-person narrative and the Latin work has served as an ideal textbook for generations of students of the language.

Public Domain (P)2020 Museum Audiobooks

poor narrator

The lady reading butchers nearly every name. That said fans of Antiquity should probably read this themselves anyway, since the names and story are hard to track in audiobook format. Even as a self proclaimed classicist who has read many books on rome, particularly the late republic, i struggled to follow where the book was in the gallic campaign at any given time. Not sure if i wasn't paying attention or the terrible voice over, but I dont even recall the Battle of Alesia being covered.

Where did you find this narrator?

The narrator has clearly never seen any of the tribe names in this book. Particularly egregious is the way she butchers the name "Vercingetorix" . It's phonetic. A little research would go a long way.

Brilliant Tactical Education

Caesar’s detailed discussions of the tactics and weaponry of the Romans and the peoples they fought is enlightening and fascinating. I disagree with the listeners criticizing the narrator. I admit I expected not to like a female narration of Caesar’s classic work, but because it’s told in the third person, it’s actually not weird at all. Also, this narrator has clear, well-paced diction. And she applies emphasis where it is warranted. This is not one of those miserable, dry narrations like so many of those out there of the classics. I liked her narration so much, I sought out other titles narrated by her.

Horrible narration

The woman reading this has the worst voice for narration I’ve ever heard. I couldn’t finish the book. I’ll have to find a better version. My fault for not listening to a sample first.