-
Spartacus
- Narrated by: Charlton Griffin
- Length: 8 hrs and 18 mins
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Buy for $33.90
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Publisher's summary
Spartacus is one of the most unusual historical novels of the 20th century and certainly one of the most realistic. In a whirlwind of savagery, despair, and desperation, the listener is suddenly and violently plunged into the great Roman slave revolt of 73 BC. The author, Lewis Grassic Gibbon, does not waste time by slowly setting up his characters, nor in leisurely describing domestic scenes. From the first word, you are literally hurled into the frenetic life of an escaped Greek slave by the name of Kleon. As the novel rapidly unfolds, you experience vicariously the harsh reality of being a slave on the Italian peninsula during the first century before Christ: the brutality, the fear, and the hatred. All of the characters are real people whose names have come down to us from the ancient accounts of Plutarch, Sallust, and Appian. Though the three historians differ somewhat in their accounts, Gibbon has deftly combined the historic narratives into a seamless, dramatic whole. Spartacus, Crixus, Crassus (“the Lean”), and all the others are masterfully presented to us in all their terrible existence. The listener is urged to seek out the Wikipedia article “Third Servile War” in order to study the maps displaying the complex and sometimes baffling movements of Spartacus and his slave army. Follow along as Spartacus and a band of mighty warriors escape from a gladiator school in Capua and attract tens of thousands of followers. It is a revolt that will shake Rome to its foundations...and it almost succeeded.
Lewis Grassic Gibbon was the pen name of James Leslie Mitchell, a Scottish writer who left behind a series of literary masterpieces that are still revered in Scotland to this day. Tragically, Mitchell died young in 1933, soon after completing Spartacus.
Critic reviews
"The clear message of the closing pages of Gibbon's novel is that the butchering of the slave leader by Crassus and his men by no means marks the end of the rebellion, any more than the ghastly crucifixions on the Appian Way broke the spirit of humankind in the search for justice and freedom." (Ian Campbell)
Related to this topic
-
Empires of Bronze: Son of Ishtar
- By: Gordon Doherty
- Narrated by: Jonathan Keeble
- Length: 15 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
1315 BC: Tensions soar between the great powers of the Late Bronze Age. The Hittites stand toe-to-toe with Egypt, Assyria and Mycenaean Ahhiyawa, and war seems inevitable. More, the fierce Kaskan tribes - age-old enemies of the Hittites - amass at the northern borders. When Prince Hattu is born, it should be a rare joyous moment for all the Hittite people. But when the Goddess Ishtar comes to King Mursili in a dream, she warns that the boy is no blessing, telling of a dark future where he will stain Mursili’s throne with blood and bring destruction upon the world.
-
-
Great story!! Cant wait for book two!
- By David Stansbury on 09-24-19
By: Gordon Doherty
-
The Serpent Sword
- The Bernicia Chronicles, Book 1
- By: Matthew Harffy
- Narrated by: Barnaby Edwards
- Length: 12 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Beobrand is compelled by his brother's almost-certain murder to embark on a quest for revenge in the war-ravaged kingdoms of Northumbria. The land is rife with danger, as warlords vie for supremacy and dominion. In the battles for control of the region, new oaths are made and broken, and loyalties are tested to the limits. With no patronage and no experience, Beobrand must form his own allegiances and learn to fight with sword and shield. Relentless in pursuit of his enemies, he faces challenges which transform him from a boy to a man.
-
-
Amazing story, needs a warning in the description.
- By Lisa Schilling on 04-12-17
By: Matthew Harffy
-
The Time of the Wolf
- A Novel of Medieval England (Hereward, Book 1)
- By: James Wilde
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 11 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A rousing historical novel that rescues one of England’s forgotten heroes from the mists of early medieval history and brings him to brutal and bloody life in 1062. With the English King Edward heirless and ailing, across the grey seas in Normandy the brutal William the Bastard waits for the moment when he can drown England in a tide of blood. The ravens of war are gathering. But as King Edward’s closest advisors scheme and squabble amongst themselves, hopes of resisting the naked ambition of the Norman duke come to rest with just one man: Hereward.
-
-
Compelling Story
- By Ryan on 04-19-17
By: James Wilde
-
Taliesin
- The Pendragon Cycle, Book 1
- By: Stephen R. Lawhead
- Narrated by: Wanda McCaddon
- Length: 19 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It was a time of legend, as the last shadows of the mighty Roman conqueror faded from the captured Isle of Britain. Meanwhile, across a vast sea, bloody war shattered a peace that had flourished for 2,000 years in the doomed kingdom of Atlantis. This is the remarkable adventure of Charis, the courageous princess from Atlantis who escapes the terrible devastation of her land, and of the fabled seer and druid prince Taliesin, singer at the dawn of the age. It is a story of an incomparable love that joins two astonishing worlds....
-
-
A Classic interpretation of a Classic tale
- By John on 08-11-03
-
The Silmarillion
- By: J. R. R. Tolkien
- Narrated by: Martin Shaw
- Length: 14 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The complete unabridged audiobook of J.R.R Tolkien's The Silmarillion. The Silmarillion is an account of the Elder Days, of the First Age of Tolkien’s world. It is the ancient drama to which the characters in The Lord of the Rings look back, and in whose events some of them such as Elrond and Galadriel took part.
-
-
Finally!
- By Brian on 11-22-18
By: J. R. R. Tolkien
-
A Gathering of Ravens
- A Novel (The Grimnir Series, Book 1)
- By: Scott Oden
- Narrated by: Paul Woodson
- Length: 12 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
To the Danes, he is skraelingr; to the English, he is orcnéas; to the Irish, he is fomóraig. He is Corpse-maker and Life-quencher, the Bringer of Night, the Son of the Wolf and Brother of the Serpent. He is Grimnir, and he is the last of his kind - the last in a long line of monsters who have plagued humanity since the Elder Days. Drawn from his lair by a thirst for vengeance against the Dane who slew his brother, Grimnir emerges into a world that’s changed. A new faith has arisen. The Old Ways are dying; even still, Grimnir’s vengeance cannot be denied.
-
-
Like The Last Unicorn, Only the Unicorn is an Orc
- By ArcaneBard on 04-22-20
By: Scott Oden
-
Empires of Bronze: Son of Ishtar
- By: Gordon Doherty
- Narrated by: Jonathan Keeble
- Length: 15 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
1315 BC: Tensions soar between the great powers of the Late Bronze Age. The Hittites stand toe-to-toe with Egypt, Assyria and Mycenaean Ahhiyawa, and war seems inevitable. More, the fierce Kaskan tribes - age-old enemies of the Hittites - amass at the northern borders. When Prince Hattu is born, it should be a rare joyous moment for all the Hittite people. But when the Goddess Ishtar comes to King Mursili in a dream, she warns that the boy is no blessing, telling of a dark future where he will stain Mursili’s throne with blood and bring destruction upon the world.
-
-
Great story!! Cant wait for book two!
- By David Stansbury on 09-24-19
By: Gordon Doherty
-
The Serpent Sword
- The Bernicia Chronicles, Book 1
- By: Matthew Harffy
- Narrated by: Barnaby Edwards
- Length: 12 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Beobrand is compelled by his brother's almost-certain murder to embark on a quest for revenge in the war-ravaged kingdoms of Northumbria. The land is rife with danger, as warlords vie for supremacy and dominion. In the battles for control of the region, new oaths are made and broken, and loyalties are tested to the limits. With no patronage and no experience, Beobrand must form his own allegiances and learn to fight with sword and shield. Relentless in pursuit of his enemies, he faces challenges which transform him from a boy to a man.
-
-
Amazing story, needs a warning in the description.
- By Lisa Schilling on 04-12-17
By: Matthew Harffy
-
The Time of the Wolf
- A Novel of Medieval England (Hereward, Book 1)
- By: James Wilde
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 11 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A rousing historical novel that rescues one of England’s forgotten heroes from the mists of early medieval history and brings him to brutal and bloody life in 1062. With the English King Edward heirless and ailing, across the grey seas in Normandy the brutal William the Bastard waits for the moment when he can drown England in a tide of blood. The ravens of war are gathering. But as King Edward’s closest advisors scheme and squabble amongst themselves, hopes of resisting the naked ambition of the Norman duke come to rest with just one man: Hereward.
-
-
Compelling Story
- By Ryan on 04-19-17
By: James Wilde
-
Taliesin
- The Pendragon Cycle, Book 1
- By: Stephen R. Lawhead
- Narrated by: Wanda McCaddon
- Length: 19 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It was a time of legend, as the last shadows of the mighty Roman conqueror faded from the captured Isle of Britain. Meanwhile, across a vast sea, bloody war shattered a peace that had flourished for 2,000 years in the doomed kingdom of Atlantis. This is the remarkable adventure of Charis, the courageous princess from Atlantis who escapes the terrible devastation of her land, and of the fabled seer and druid prince Taliesin, singer at the dawn of the age. It is a story of an incomparable love that joins two astonishing worlds....
-
-
A Classic interpretation of a Classic tale
- By John on 08-11-03
-
The Silmarillion
- By: J. R. R. Tolkien
- Narrated by: Martin Shaw
- Length: 14 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The complete unabridged audiobook of J.R.R Tolkien's The Silmarillion. The Silmarillion is an account of the Elder Days, of the First Age of Tolkien’s world. It is the ancient drama to which the characters in The Lord of the Rings look back, and in whose events some of them such as Elrond and Galadriel took part.
-
-
Finally!
- By Brian on 11-22-18
By: J. R. R. Tolkien
-
A Gathering of Ravens
- A Novel (The Grimnir Series, Book 1)
- By: Scott Oden
- Narrated by: Paul Woodson
- Length: 12 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
To the Danes, he is skraelingr; to the English, he is orcnéas; to the Irish, he is fomóraig. He is Corpse-maker and Life-quencher, the Bringer of Night, the Son of the Wolf and Brother of the Serpent. He is Grimnir, and he is the last of his kind - the last in a long line of monsters who have plagued humanity since the Elder Days. Drawn from his lair by a thirst for vengeance against the Dane who slew his brother, Grimnir emerges into a world that’s changed. A new faith has arisen. The Old Ways are dying; even still, Grimnir’s vengeance cannot be denied.
-
-
Like The Last Unicorn, Only the Unicorn is an Orc
- By ArcaneBard on 04-22-20
By: Scott Oden
-
Battle of Kings
- By: M. K. Hume
- Narrated by: Steven Crossley
- Length: 17 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the town of Segontium a wild storm washes a fugitive ashore. He brutally rapes the granddaughter of the ruler of the Deceangli tribe, leaving her to bear his son, Myrddion Merlinus (Merlin). Spurned as a demon seed, the child is raised by his grandmother and, as soon as he turns nine, he is apprenticed to a skilled alchemist who hones the boy’s remarkable gift of prophecy. Meanwhile, the High King of the Britons, Vortigern, is rebuilding the ancient fortress at Dinas Emrys.
-
-
Underrated book author and narrator!
- By Zachary on 04-15-22
By: M. K. Hume
-
The Lost Queen
- A Novel
- By: Signe Pike
- Narrated by: Toni Frutin
- Length: 17 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a land of mountains and mist, tradition and superstition, Languoreth and her brother Lailoken are raised in the Old Way of their ancestors. But in Scotland, a new religion is rising, one that brings disruption, bloodshed, and riot. And even as her family faces the burgeoning forces of Christianity, the Anglo-Saxons, bent on colonization, are encroaching from the east. When conflict brings the hero Emrys Pendragon to her father’s door, Languoreth finds love with one of his warriors. Her deep connection to Maelgwn is forged by enchantment, but she is promised in marriage to Rhydderch, son of a Christian king.
-
-
Lost no more!
- By Beckersly on 09-13-18
By: Signe Pike
-
The Eagle of the Ninth
- By: Rosemary Sutcliff
- Narrated by: Charlie Simpson
- Length: 4 hrs and 32 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Marcus Flavius Aquila, a young centurion in Roman Britain, is forced into retirement after receiving a wound in his first major engagement against a rebel British tribe. It allows him the freedom to embark upon a dangerous mission to find out what happened to the Ninth Legion, which, years before, disappeared in the savage lands of the Picts. Will he find out what happened to the men, led by his father, who never returned? And will he recover the Eagle, the symbol of Roman dominance and power?
-
-
Give it to us unabridged!
- By C. Liddiard on 01-12-11
-
Children of Telm: The Complete Trilogy
- By: Dean F. Wilson
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 25 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The complete epic fantasy trilogy set in the world of Iraldas, where gods and mortals mingle, collected together for a huge, immersive fantasy adventure. With the Beast, Agon, threatening to break free from his chains in the Underworld, the surviving bloodline of the dead god Telm are tasked with stopping his reign of destruction. Contains The Call of Agon, The Road to Rebirth, and The Chains of War, books 1-3 of the Children of Telm series.
-
-
Solid Fantasy Story, Good Value
- By JollyGreenGoblin on 07-05-20
By: Dean F. Wilson
-
Macbeth: A Novel
- By: A. J. Hartley, David Hewson
- Narrated by: Alan Cumming
- Length: 9 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Macbeth: A Novel brings the intricacy and grit of the historical thriller to Shakespeare’s tale of political intrigue, treachery, and murder. In this full-length novel written exclusively for audio, authors A. J. Hartley and David Hewson rethink literature’s most infamous married couple, grounding them in a medieval Scotland whose military and political upheavals are as stark and dramatic as the landscape in which they are played.
-
-
Narrator choice inspired
- By Beverly on 07-10-11
By: A. J. Hartley, and others
-
Honored Enemy
- Legends of the Riftwar, Book 1
- By: Raymond E. Feist, William R. Forstchen
- Narrated by: Matt Bates
- Length: 13 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the frozen Northlands of Midkemia, Captain Dennis Hartraft’s Marauders have just had a disastrous encounter with their sworn enemy, the Tsurani. Wounded and disheartened, the Mauraders set out for the shelter of a frontier garrison. They don’t know that a Tsurani patrol is sent to support an assault on that same garrison.
-
-
Easily summed up...
- By MizLady on 02-22-21
By: Raymond E. Feist, and others
-
Fire from Heaven
- A Novel of Alexander the Great
- By: Mary Renault
- Narrated by: Roger May
- Length: 18 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Alexander's beauty, strength and defiance were apparent from birth, but his boyhood honed those gifts into the makings of a king. His mother, Olympias, and his father, King Philip of Macedon, fought each other for their son's loyalty, teaching Alexander politics and vengeance from the cradle. His love for the youth Hephaistion taught him trust, while Aristotle's tutoring provoked his mind and Homer's Iliad fuelled his aspirations.
-
-
Renewed Pleasure
- By James on 01-28-15
By: Mary Renault
-
Marie
- By: H. Rider Haggard
- Narrated by: Shelly Frasier
- Length: 10 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Allan Quatermain, hero of King Solomon's mines, tells a moving tale of his first wife, the Dutch-born Marie Marais, and the adventures that were linked to her beautiful, tragic history. This moving story depicts the tumultuous political era of the 1830s, involving the Boers, French colonists and the Zulu tribe in the Cape colony of South Africa. Hate and suspicion run high between the home government and the Dutch subjects.
-
-
Confusing narration!
- By Browsing on 02-22-14
By: H. Rider Haggard
-
Raiders from the North: Empire of the Moghul
- By: Alex Rutherford
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 14 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Raiders from the North ushers in a bold, panoramic new historical series that tells the unknown story of the Moghul emperors, chronicling the rise and fall of one of the most powerful, opulent, and glittering dynasties in history.
-
-
History Lesson
- By Jim "The Impatient" on 09-08-12
By: Alex Rutherford
-
Sir Nigel
- By: Arthur Conan Doyle
- Narrated by: James Joy
- Length: 11 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
"Sir Nigel" is a historical novel by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, set in the beginning of the Hundred Years' War, spanning 1350 to 1356. It is the background to Doyle's novel, The White Company, and describes the early life of that book's hero Nigel Loring, a knight in the service of King Edward III. The character is loosely based on the historical knight Neil Loring. The tale, at its outset, traces the fortunes of the family of Loring of the Manor of Tilford in Surrey, many of whose scions had been prominent in the service of the Norman and Angevin Kings of England, against the backdrop of the Black Death.
-
-
Captivating
- By Ben S. on 04-25-23
-
Leaves of Grass
- By: Walt Whitman
- Narrated by: Robin Field
- Length: 18 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
One of the great innovators in American letters, Walt Whitman created a daringly new kind of poetry that became a major force in world literature. Leaves of Grass is his masterpiece, written in a pure, uninhibited style, combining sensual and mystical sensibilities. Its bold, joyous voice, its expansive optimism, and its transcendental vision made it uniquely American.
-
-
No chapters! Can't skip to a particular poem :(
- By April Antoniou on 02-08-13
By: Walt Whitman
-
Dragon's Child
- The King Arthur Trilogy, Book 1
- By: M. K. Hume
- Narrated by: Steven Crossley
- Length: 18 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The future of Britain is at stake. In the turbulent times of the Dark Ages, the despotic Uther Pendragon, High King of Celtic Britain, is nearing death, and his kingdom is being torn apart by the squabbling of minor kings. But only one man can bring the Celts together as a nation and restore peace - King Arthur. Artorex (Arthur) doesn't yet seem like the great man he will grow into. We meet him as a shy, subservient twelve-year-old living in the foster home of Lord Ector, who took in Artorex as a babe to protect him from murderous kin.
-
-
A Dry, Dull Tale, Marred in "Realism"
- By Steven on 09-21-15
By: M. K. Hume
What listeners say about Spartacus
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- noah
- 07-23-23
A great book and a great narration
my only complaint is the small oversight by the author that velites disappeared from roman military by time book takes place, but the book was written in the 30s so the author can be forgiven for not having instantaneous access to all aspects modern archeology as the reader does, if this fact was even known at the time.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!