-
The Secret History
- Narrated by: David Timson
- Length: 4 hrs and 15 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
Prime members: New to Audible?Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
The Secret History
Buy for $11.99
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
Michel de Montaigne: The Complete Essays
- By: Michel de Montaigne
- Narrated by: Peter Wickham
- Length: 53 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 6
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 6
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 6
In 1572, Montaigne - nobleman, humanist, and thoroughly Renaissance man - retired to the seclusion of his estate in the Dordogne and started to write. From his pen poured a stream of "essays" - attempts to capture the observations that came to him on an idiosyncratic range of subjects, from ancient customs, cannibals, and books to thumbs, war-horses, and the wearing of clothes. He made the study of himself the starting point for investigations into how to live, and wrote with a startlingly modern candor about love, grief, friendship, sex, and death.
-
The Aeneid
- By: Virgil
- Narrated by: David Collins
- Length: 13 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 61
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 57
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 57
The masterpiece of Rome's greatest poet, Virgil's Aeneid has inspired generations of readers and holds a central place in Western literature. The epic tells the story of a group of refugees from the ruined city of Troy, whose attempts to reach a promised land in the West are continually frustrated by the hostile goddess Juno. Finally reaching Italy, their leader, Aeneas, is forced to fight a bitter war against the natives to establish the foundations from which Rome is destined to rise.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Great story, but....
- By Tad Davis on 03-19-15
By: Virgil
-
Histories
- By: Herodotus
- Narrated by: David Timson
- Length: 27 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,022
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 876
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 871
In this, the first prose history in European civilization, Herodotus describes the growth of the Persian Empire with force, authority, and style. Perhaps most famously, the book tells the heroic tale of the Greeks' resistance to the vast invading force assembled by Xerxes, king of Persia. Here are not only the great battles - Marathon, Thermopylae, and Salamis - but also penetrating human insight and a powerful sense of epic destiny at work.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Best of Audible's "The Histories" by Herodotus
- By Emily on 07-19-16
By: Herodotus
-
Paradise Lost
- By: John Milton
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 9 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,563
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,324
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,321
John Milton's Paradise Lost is one of the greatest epic poems in the English language. It tells the story of the Fall of Man, a tale of immense drama and excitement, of rebellion and treachery, of innocence pitted against corruption, in which God and Satan fight a bitter battle for control of mankind's destiny.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
The most accessible reading of Paradise Lost
- By Tony McClung on 02-21-10
By: John Milton
-
Meditations
- By: Marcus Aurelius, George Long - translator, Duncan Steen - translator
- Narrated by: Duncan Steen
- Length: 5 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 12,250
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 10,241
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 10,108
One of the most significant books ever written by a head of state, the Meditations are a collection of philosophical thoughts by the Emperor Marcus Aurelius (121 - 180 ce). Covering issues such as duty, forgiveness, brotherhood, strength in adversity and the best way to approach life and death, the Meditations have inspired thinkers, poets and politicians since their first publication more than 500 years ago. Today, the book stands as one of the great guides and companions - a cornerstone of Western thought.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Excelent reading of an excellent classic
- By David on 10-22-16
By: Marcus Aurelius, and others
-
Tom Jones
- The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling
- By: Henry Fielding
- Narrated by: Bill Homewood
- Length: 37 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 130
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 120
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 121
Tom Jones, a foundling, is brought up by the kindly Mr. Allworthy as if he were his own son. Forced to leave the house as a young man after tales of his disgraceful behavior reach his benefactor's ears, he sets out in utter despair, not only because of his banishment but because he has now lost all hope of gaining the hand of the beautiful Sophia. But she too is forced to flee her parental home to escape an undesirable marriage and their stories and adventures intertwine.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
terrific story BUT
- By tom on 01-28-14
By: Henry Fielding
-
Michel de Montaigne: The Complete Essays
- By: Michel de Montaigne
- Narrated by: Peter Wickham
- Length: 53 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 6
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 6
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 6
In 1572, Montaigne - nobleman, humanist, and thoroughly Renaissance man - retired to the seclusion of his estate in the Dordogne and started to write. From his pen poured a stream of "essays" - attempts to capture the observations that came to him on an idiosyncratic range of subjects, from ancient customs, cannibals, and books to thumbs, war-horses, and the wearing of clothes. He made the study of himself the starting point for investigations into how to live, and wrote with a startlingly modern candor about love, grief, friendship, sex, and death.
-
The Aeneid
- By: Virgil
- Narrated by: David Collins
- Length: 13 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 61
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 57
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 57
The masterpiece of Rome's greatest poet, Virgil's Aeneid has inspired generations of readers and holds a central place in Western literature. The epic tells the story of a group of refugees from the ruined city of Troy, whose attempts to reach a promised land in the West are continually frustrated by the hostile goddess Juno. Finally reaching Italy, their leader, Aeneas, is forced to fight a bitter war against the natives to establish the foundations from which Rome is destined to rise.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Great story, but....
- By Tad Davis on 03-19-15
By: Virgil
-
Histories
- By: Herodotus
- Narrated by: David Timson
- Length: 27 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,022
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 876
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 871
In this, the first prose history in European civilization, Herodotus describes the growth of the Persian Empire with force, authority, and style. Perhaps most famously, the book tells the heroic tale of the Greeks' resistance to the vast invading force assembled by Xerxes, king of Persia. Here are not only the great battles - Marathon, Thermopylae, and Salamis - but also penetrating human insight and a powerful sense of epic destiny at work.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Best of Audible's "The Histories" by Herodotus
- By Emily on 07-19-16
By: Herodotus
-
Paradise Lost
- By: John Milton
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 9 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,563
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,324
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,321
John Milton's Paradise Lost is one of the greatest epic poems in the English language. It tells the story of the Fall of Man, a tale of immense drama and excitement, of rebellion and treachery, of innocence pitted against corruption, in which God and Satan fight a bitter battle for control of mankind's destiny.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
The most accessible reading of Paradise Lost
- By Tony McClung on 02-21-10
By: John Milton
-
Meditations
- By: Marcus Aurelius, George Long - translator, Duncan Steen - translator
- Narrated by: Duncan Steen
- Length: 5 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 12,250
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 10,241
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 10,108
One of the most significant books ever written by a head of state, the Meditations are a collection of philosophical thoughts by the Emperor Marcus Aurelius (121 - 180 ce). Covering issues such as duty, forgiveness, brotherhood, strength in adversity and the best way to approach life and death, the Meditations have inspired thinkers, poets and politicians since their first publication more than 500 years ago. Today, the book stands as one of the great guides and companions - a cornerstone of Western thought.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Excelent reading of an excellent classic
- By David on 10-22-16
By: Marcus Aurelius, and others
-
Tom Jones
- The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling
- By: Henry Fielding
- Narrated by: Bill Homewood
- Length: 37 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 130
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 120
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 121
Tom Jones, a foundling, is brought up by the kindly Mr. Allworthy as if he were his own son. Forced to leave the house as a young man after tales of his disgraceful behavior reach his benefactor's ears, he sets out in utter despair, not only because of his banishment but because he has now lost all hope of gaining the hand of the beautiful Sophia. But she too is forced to flee her parental home to escape an undesirable marriage and their stories and adventures intertwine.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
terrific story BUT
- By tom on 01-28-14
By: Henry Fielding
-
Metamorphoses
- By: Ovid
- Narrated by: David Horovitch
- Length: 17 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 276
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 241
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 239
The Metamorphoses by Publius Ovidius Naso (43 B.C. - A.D. 17) has, over the centuries, been the most popular and influential work from our classical tradition. This extraordinary collection of some 250 Greek and Roman myths and folk tales has always been a popular favorite, and has decisively shaped western art and literature from the moment it was completed in A.D. 8. The stories are particularly vivid when read by David Horovitch, in this new lively verse translation by Ian Johnston.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Fantastic!
- By Tad Davis on 10-31-12
By: Ovid
-
The Faerie Queene
- By: Edmund Spenser
- Narrated by: David Timson
- Length: 33 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 88
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 76
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 75
This remarkable poem, dedicated to Queen Elizabeth I, was Spenser's finest achievement. The first epic poem in modern English, The Faerie Queene combines dramatic narratives of chivalrous adventure with exquisite and picturesque episodes of pageantry. At the same time, Spenser is expounding a deeply-felt allegory of the eternal struggle between Truth and Error....
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
High Fantasy from the Renaissance
- By Jabba on 10-03-15
By: Edmund Spenser
-
The Life of Samuel Johnson
- By: James Boswell
- Narrated by: David Timson
- Length: 51 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 136
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 123
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 118
Charming, vibrant, witty and edifying, The Life of Samuel Johnson is a work of great obsession and boundless reverence. The literary critic Samuel Johnson was 54 when he first encountered Boswell; the friendship that developed spawned one of the greatest biographies in the history of world literature. The book is full of humorous anecdote and rich characterization, and paints a vivid picture of 18th-century London, peopled by prominent personalities of the time.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Wonderful!
- By Tad Davis on 02-02-18
By: James Boswell
-
Swann's Way (AmazonClassics Edition)
- By: Marcel Proust, Charles Kenneth Scott Moncrieff - translator
- Narrated by: Tim Bruce
- Length: 20 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 21
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 19
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 20
When the narrator of Swann's Way dips a petite madeleine into hot tea, the act transports him to his childhood in the French town of Combray. Out of his Pandora's box of reflections comes a memory of an old family friend, Swann - a man who was long ago undone by romantic desire and cruel reality. In this reverie lie the insights the author seeks about his own life and ageless truths about the ephemeral nature of emotions, places, and, ultimately, love.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
Gasping for air!
- By Tom Dolan on 01-03-19
By: Marcel Proust, and others
-
The Tale of Genji, Volume 1
- By: Murasaki Shikibu, Dennis Washburn - translator
- Narrated by: Brian Nishii
- Length: 35 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 137
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 113
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 112
Murasaki Shikibu, born into the middle ranks of the aristocracy during the Heian period (794-1185 CE), wrote The Tale of Genji, widely considered the world's first novel, during the early years of the 11th century. Expansive, compelling, and sophisticated in its representation of ethical concerns and aesthetic ideals, Murasaki's tale came to occupy a central place in Japan's remarkable history of artistic achievement and is now recognized as a masterpiece of world literature.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Tales of Genji
- By Amazon Customer on 02-24-20
By: Murasaki Shikibu, and others
-
Tristram Shandy
- By: Laurence Sterne
- Narrated by: Anton Lesser
- Length: 19 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 219
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 199
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 194
Laurence Sterne’s most famous novel is a biting satire of literary conventions and contemporary 18th-century values. Renowned for its parody of established narrative techniques, Tristram Shandyis commonly regarded as the forerunner of avant-garde fiction. Tristram’s characteristic digressions on a whole range of unlikely subjects (including battle strategy and noses!) are endlessly surprising and make this one of Britain’s greatest comic achievements.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Like discovering Frank Zappa in 250 years
- By Darwin8u on 01-02-14
By: Laurence Sterne
-
The Time Traveler's Guide to Regency Britain
- By: Ian Mortimer
- Narrated by: Ian Mortimer
- Length: 17 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 124
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 109
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 107
In the latest volume of his celebrated series of Time Traveler's Guides, Ian Mortimer turns to what is arguably the most-loved period in British history—the Regency, or Georgian England. A time of exuberance, thrills, frills, and unchecked bad behavior, it was perhaps the last age of true freedom before the arrival of the stifling world of Victorian morality. At the same time, it was a period of transition. Conveying the sights, sounds, and smells of the Regency period, this is history at its most exciting—the past not as something to be studied, but as lived experience.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
SKIP THIS BOOK
- By Lady Aristotle on 09-05-22
By: Ian Mortimer
-
Dialogues of Plato
- By: Plato
- Narrated by: Pat Bottino
- Length: 5 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 402
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 301
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 299
The Dialogues of Plato rank with the writings of Aristotle as the most important and influential philosophical works in Western thought. In them Plato cast his teacher Socrates as the central disputant in colloquies that brilliantly probe a vast spectrum of philosophical ideas and issues.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Not Complete Dialogues
- By Jill on 08-30-07
By: Plato
-
Common Sense
- By: Thomas Paine
- Narrated by: Adrian Cronauer
- Length: 1 hr and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 223
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 109
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 109
This pamphlet, first published in 1776, set in print the word every American was thinking about, but none dared say: independence! It was published anonymously in New York, selling 120,000 copies in the first 3 months and half a million in that same year. Its author, Thomas Paine, wrote in a language that could be understood by any reasonably literate colonist. But more important than it being so well received, is that it captured the American colonists' imaginations and was a primary catalyst to the independence movement in the United States. Noted American historian Bernard Bailyn called it "the most brilliant pamphlet written during the American Revolution, and one of the most brilliant ever written in the English language."
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
revolutionary ideas for sure
- By reggie p on 08-20-03
By: Thomas Paine
-
The Conquering Family
- By: Thomas B. Costain
- Narrated by: David Case
- Length: 13 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 216
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 155
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 148
Thomas B. Costain's four-volume history of the Plantagenets begins with The Conquering Family and the conquest of England by William the Conqueror in 1066, closing with the reign of John in 1216. The troubled period after the Norman Conquest, when the foundations of government were hammered out between monarch and people, comes to life through Costain's storytelling skill and historical imagination.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
An Entrancing History of the Early Plantegenets
- By Peter on 01-20-09
-
The Assassination of Julius Caesar
- A People's History of Ancient Rome
- By: Michael Parenti
- Narrated by: David Stifel
- Length: 7 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 73
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 59
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 58
Most historians, both ancient and modern, have viewed the Late Republic of Rome through the eyes of its rich nobility - the one percent of the population who controlled 99 percent of the empire's wealth. In The Assassination of Julius Caesar, Michael Parenti recounts this period, spanning the years 100 to 33 BC, from the perspective of the Roman people. In doing so, he presents a provocative, trenchantly researched narrative of popular resistance against a powerful elite.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
another side to Roman history
- By Darksnovia on 04-16-22
By: Michael Parenti
-
The Peloponnesian War
- By: Thucydides
- Narrated by: Charlton Griffin
- Length: 26 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 502
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 442
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 439
Historians universally agree that Thucydides was the greatest historian who has ever lived, and that his story of the Peloponnesian conflict is a marvel of forensic science and fine literature. That such a triumph of intellectual accomplishment was created at the end of the fifth century B.C. in Greece is, perhaps, not so surprising, given the number of original geniuses we find in that period. But that such an historical work would also be simultaneously acknowledged as a work of great literature and a penetrating ethical evaluation of humanity is one of the miracles of ancient history.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
You better know the events before listening
- By David A. Montalvo on 05-25-16
By: Thucydides
Publisher's summary
Procopius appeared to be a loyal part of the Byzantine establishment, his official writing glorifying the deeds of the Emperor Justinian (d. AD 565). However, he also produced a work that he knew could never be published within the Emperor’s lifetime: The Secret History, a vitriolic indictment of the rule of Justinian and his wife Theodora.
In The Secret History, the general Belisarius is presented as an idiot who is manipulated by his conniving wife Antonina, while the Emperor is depicted as a demon king, a dishonest and autocratic destroyer of established institutions. The Empress Theodora doesn’t escape Procopius’ invective–she is portrayed as the antithesis of the traditional Roman matron: depraved, brutal and bloodthirsty.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
More from the same
Related to this topic
-
The Secret History
- By: Procopius
- Narrated by: James Cameron Stewart
- Length: 5 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 56
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 43
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 45
The Secret History, written by the sixth-century Byzantine historian Procopius, is one of the most extraordinary and scandalous documents to have survived from the early Byzantine period. Procopius, the leading official historian of his time, lived during the testing and indulgent time of Emperor Justinian the Great and wrote the official records of the successful wars and the grand building projects of his ruler. These were words of aggrandisement. But covertly, Procopius kept a very different record....
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
A Bit Hyperbolic
- By HalfWit on 10-13-19
By: Procopius
-
Parallel Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans
- By: Plutarch
- Narrated by: Charlton Griffin
- Length: 83 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 269
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 247
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 247
Plutarch (c. AD 46-AD 120) was born to a prominent family in the small Greek town of Chaeronea, about 20 miles east of Delphi in the region known as Boeotia. His best known work is the Parallel Lives, a series of biographies of famous Greeks and Romans, arranged in pairs to illuminate their common moral virtues and vices. The surviving lives contain 23 pairs, each with one Greek life and one Roman life as well as four unpaired single lives.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
For the Very Dedicated
- By John Pinkerton on 03-13-18
By: Plutarch
-
Lives of the Twelve Caesars
- By: Suetonius
- Narrated by: Derek Jacobi
- Length: 7 hrs and 13 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 80
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 41
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 42
Suetonius wrote his Lives of the Twelve Caesars in the reign of Vespasian around 70AD. He chronicled the extraordinary careers of Julius, Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, Nero, Vespasian, and Domitian and the rest in technicolour terms. They presented some high and low times at the heart of the Roman Empire. The accounts provide us with perspicacious insights into the men as much as their reigns.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Translation doubts
- By Elizabeth on 05-20-07
By: Suetonius
-
The Jugurthine War & The Conspiracy of Cataline
- By: Sallust, Cicero
- Narrated by: Charlton Griffin
- Length: 9 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 129
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 85
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 82
A bloody revolt by a North African prince and a plot to seize control of Rome are the subjects of two short masterpieces of ancient history by the illustrious Roman chronicler, Sallust. He could not have chosen two more dramatic episodes in the long history of this city.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Excellent Production
- By cbrann on 04-22-05
By: Sallust, and others
-
Utopia
- By: Sir Thomas More
- Narrated by: James Adams
- Length: 4 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 1,083
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 924
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 923
Utopia is the name given by Sir Thomas More to an imaginary island in this political work written in 1516. Book I of Utopia, a dialogue, presents a perceptive analysis of contemporary social, economic, and moral ills in England. Book II is a narrative describing a country run according to the ideals of the English humanists, where poverty, crime, injustice, and other ills do not exist.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
More's unobtainable vision of the ideal society
- By Darwin8u on 06-12-13
By: Sir Thomas More
-
The Antiquities of the Jews
- By: Flavius Josephus
- Narrated by: Allan Corduner
- Length: 51 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 96
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 84
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 84
Among the many important historical documents from the Classical world of Greece and Rome The Antiquities of the Jews by Flavius Josephus is one of the most distinctive and characterful. Josephus (37-c100 CE) set out with the clear purpose of telling the history of the Jews from the creation in Genesis to the Jewish revolt against the Romans in 66 CE. Born in Jerusalem as Yosef ben Matityahu, he rose to become a leading participant in the First Jewish Revolt (66-73 CE).
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Narrator surprisingly good Worth way more than $10
- By Jim Davis on 10-05-21
By: Flavius Josephus
-
The Secret History
- By: Procopius
- Narrated by: James Cameron Stewart
- Length: 5 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 56
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 43
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 45
The Secret History, written by the sixth-century Byzantine historian Procopius, is one of the most extraordinary and scandalous documents to have survived from the early Byzantine period. Procopius, the leading official historian of his time, lived during the testing and indulgent time of Emperor Justinian the Great and wrote the official records of the successful wars and the grand building projects of his ruler. These were words of aggrandisement. But covertly, Procopius kept a very different record....
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
A Bit Hyperbolic
- By HalfWit on 10-13-19
By: Procopius
-
Parallel Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans
- By: Plutarch
- Narrated by: Charlton Griffin
- Length: 83 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 269
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 247
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 247
Plutarch (c. AD 46-AD 120) was born to a prominent family in the small Greek town of Chaeronea, about 20 miles east of Delphi in the region known as Boeotia. His best known work is the Parallel Lives, a series of biographies of famous Greeks and Romans, arranged in pairs to illuminate their common moral virtues and vices. The surviving lives contain 23 pairs, each with one Greek life and one Roman life as well as four unpaired single lives.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
For the Very Dedicated
- By John Pinkerton on 03-13-18
By: Plutarch
-
Lives of the Twelve Caesars
- By: Suetonius
- Narrated by: Derek Jacobi
- Length: 7 hrs and 13 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 80
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 41
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 42
Suetonius wrote his Lives of the Twelve Caesars in the reign of Vespasian around 70AD. He chronicled the extraordinary careers of Julius, Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, Nero, Vespasian, and Domitian and the rest in technicolour terms. They presented some high and low times at the heart of the Roman Empire. The accounts provide us with perspicacious insights into the men as much as their reigns.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Translation doubts
- By Elizabeth on 05-20-07
By: Suetonius
-
The Jugurthine War & The Conspiracy of Cataline
- By: Sallust, Cicero
- Narrated by: Charlton Griffin
- Length: 9 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 129
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 85
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 82
A bloody revolt by a North African prince and a plot to seize control of Rome are the subjects of two short masterpieces of ancient history by the illustrious Roman chronicler, Sallust. He could not have chosen two more dramatic episodes in the long history of this city.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Excellent Production
- By cbrann on 04-22-05
By: Sallust, and others
-
Utopia
- By: Sir Thomas More
- Narrated by: James Adams
- Length: 4 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 1,083
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 924
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 923
Utopia is the name given by Sir Thomas More to an imaginary island in this political work written in 1516. Book I of Utopia, a dialogue, presents a perceptive analysis of contemporary social, economic, and moral ills in England. Book II is a narrative describing a country run according to the ideals of the English humanists, where poverty, crime, injustice, and other ills do not exist.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
More's unobtainable vision of the ideal society
- By Darwin8u on 06-12-13
By: Sir Thomas More
-
The Antiquities of the Jews
- By: Flavius Josephus
- Narrated by: Allan Corduner
- Length: 51 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 96
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 84
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 84
Among the many important historical documents from the Classical world of Greece and Rome The Antiquities of the Jews by Flavius Josephus is one of the most distinctive and characterful. Josephus (37-c100 CE) set out with the clear purpose of telling the history of the Jews from the creation in Genesis to the Jewish revolt against the Romans in 66 CE. Born in Jerusalem as Yosef ben Matityahu, he rose to become a leading participant in the First Jewish Revolt (66-73 CE).
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Narrator surprisingly good Worth way more than $10
- By Jim Davis on 10-05-21
By: Flavius Josephus
-
Dialogues of Plato
- By: Plato
- Narrated by: Pat Bottino
- Length: 5 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 402
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 301
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 299
The Dialogues of Plato rank with the writings of Aristotle as the most important and influential philosophical works in Western thought. In them Plato cast his teacher Socrates as the central disputant in colloquies that brilliantly probe a vast spectrum of philosophical ideas and issues.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Not Complete Dialogues
- By Jill on 08-30-07
By: Plato
-
The Age of Reason
- By: Thomas Paine
- Narrated by: Robin Field
- Length: 8 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 478
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 410
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 414
Thomas Paine's The Age of Reason; Being an Investigation of True and Fabulous Theology, published in three parts from 1794, was a best seller in America, where it caused a short-lived deistic revival. Promoting a creator-God while advocating reason in the place of revelation, Paine’s controversial pamphlet caused his native British audience, fearing the results of the French Revolution, to receive it with more hostility than their American counterparts.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Amazed by the energy, originality & bravery
- By Darwin8u on 10-06-12
By: Thomas Paine
-
The Age of Caesar
- Five Roman Lives
- By: Plutarch, James Romm - preface and notes, Pamela Mensch - translator
- Narrated by: Michael Page
- Length: 11 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 31
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 28
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 28
Pompey, Caesar, Cicero, Brutus, Antony: the names resonate across thousands of years. Major figures in the civil wars that brutally ended the Roman republic, their lives still haunt us as examples of how the hunger for personal power can overwhelm collective politics, how the exaltation of the military can corrode civilian authority, and how the best intentions can lead to disastrous consequences. Plutarch renders these history-making lives as flesh-and-blood characters.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Terrific
- By Michael on 06-13-23
By: Plutarch, and others
-
The Jewish War
- By: Flavius Josephus
- Narrated by: Charlton Griffin
- Length: 23 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 388
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 346
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 342
In AD 66, nationalist and religious revolutionaries in Judaea led a ferocious revolt of the Jewish people against the authority of mighty Rome, culminating in the greatest upheaval and savagery the world had known up to that time. By the end of the conflict seven years later, over one million Jews had perished and tens of thousands were sold into slavery. Until the Holocaust, it remained the greatest tragedy ever endured by a people. How had this once prosperous region been laid low, and by what process did its fratricidal feuds take it down a slippery slope to utter annihilation? Fortunately for us, there was an eyewitness.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
mispronunciations are irritating
- By DR on 01-22-18
By: Flavius Josephus
-
Dying Every Day
- Seneca at the Court of Nero
- By: James S. Romm
- Narrated by: Paul Woodson
- Length: 8 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 40
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 33
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 33
James Romm seamlessly weaves together the life and written words, the moral struggles, political intrigue, and bloody vengeance that enmeshed Seneca the Younger in the twisted imperial family and the perverse, paranoid regime of Emperor Nero, despot and madman.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Outstanding
- By michael bobadilla on 05-04-23
By: James S. Romm
-
Common Sense
- By: Thomas Paine
- Narrated by: Adrian Cronauer
- Length: 1 hr and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 223
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 109
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 109
This pamphlet, first published in 1776, set in print the word every American was thinking about, but none dared say: independence! It was published anonymously in New York, selling 120,000 copies in the first 3 months and half a million in that same year. Its author, Thomas Paine, wrote in a language that could be understood by any reasonably literate colonist. But more important than it being so well received, is that it captured the American colonists' imaginations and was a primary catalyst to the independence movement in the United States. Noted American historian Bernard Bailyn called it "the most brilliant pamphlet written during the American Revolution, and one of the most brilliant ever written in the English language."
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
revolutionary ideas for sure
- By reggie p on 08-20-03
By: Thomas Paine
-
The End of the Ancient World and the Beginnings of the Middle Ages
- By: Ferdinand Lot
- Narrated by: Charlton Griffin
- Length: 17 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 52
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 46
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 47
Ferdinand Lot (1866-1952) was one of the great historians of his generation, and the transition from Roman to Medieval civilization was a process that fascinated him most of his life. Rather than placing the emphasis for Rome’s fall on purely political or military reasons, Lot put forth multiple explanations for the birth of the Middle Ages which embrace not only politics and war, but linguistic, geographic, cultural, social and economic factors.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
A Rome "too vast, too complicated and too cunning"
- By Philo on 11-26-15
By: Ferdinand Lot
-
A Brief Account of the Destruction of the Indies
- By: Bartolome de las Casas
- Narrated by: Jason McCoy
- Length: 3 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 51
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 45
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 45
A Brief Account of the Destruction of the Indies is the story of the Spanish Dominican priest Bartolome de las Casas, who came to the Americas in the 16th century. Immediately he was struck by the inhumane ways in which the native peoples were treated by the European explorers and conquerors, Las Casas went on to be a leading opponent of slavery, torture, and genocide of the Native Americans by the Spanish colonists.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
History written from who witnessed
- By Leonardo on 07-09-20
-
Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds
- By: Charles MacKay
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 27 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 111
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 98
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 99
Why do otherwise intelligent individuals form seething masses of idiocy when they engage in collective action? We may think that the Great Crash of 1929, junk bonds of the '80s, and over-valued high-tech stocks of the '90s are peculiarly 20th century aberrations, but Mackay's classic - first published in 1841 - shows that the madness and confusion of crowds knows no limits, and has no temporal bounds.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
People don't change
- By J. on 07-05-16
By: Charles MacKay
-
The Assassination of Julius Caesar
- A People's History of Ancient Rome
- By: Michael Parenti
- Narrated by: David Stifel
- Length: 7 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 73
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 59
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 58
Most historians, both ancient and modern, have viewed the Late Republic of Rome through the eyes of its rich nobility - the one percent of the population who controlled 99 percent of the empire's wealth. In The Assassination of Julius Caesar, Michael Parenti recounts this period, spanning the years 100 to 33 BC, from the perspective of the Roman people. In doing so, he presents a provocative, trenchantly researched narrative of popular resistance against a powerful elite.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
another side to Roman history
- By Darksnovia on 04-16-22
By: Michael Parenti
-
The Peloponnesian War
- By: Thucydides
- Narrated by: Charlton Griffin
- Length: 26 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 502
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 442
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 439
Historians universally agree that Thucydides was the greatest historian who has ever lived, and that his story of the Peloponnesian conflict is a marvel of forensic science and fine literature. That such a triumph of intellectual accomplishment was created at the end of the fifth century B.C. in Greece is, perhaps, not so surprising, given the number of original geniuses we find in that period. But that such an historical work would also be simultaneously acknowledged as a work of great literature and a penetrating ethical evaluation of humanity is one of the miracles of ancient history.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
You better know the events before listening
- By David A. Montalvo on 05-25-16
By: Thucydides
-
Nero
- Matricide, Music, and Murder in Imperial Rome
- By: Anthony Everitt, Roddy Ashworth
- Narrated by: Greg Patmore
- Length: 13 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 55
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 49
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 49
The Roman emperor Nero’s name has long been a byword for cruelty, decadence, and despotism. As the stories go, he set fire to Rome and thrummed his lyre as it burned. He then cleared the charred ruins and built a vast palace. He committed incest with his mother, who had schemed and killed to place him on the throne, and later murdered her. But these stories, left behind by contemporary historians who hated him, are hardly the full picture, and in this nuanced biography, celebrated historian Anthony Everitt and investigative journalist Roddy Ashworth reveal the contradictions inherent in Nero
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
An amazing 360 degree portrait
- By Cooper A Day on 01-01-23
By: Anthony Everitt, and others
People who viewed this also viewed...
-
The Secret History
- By: Procopius
- Narrated by: James Cameron Stewart
- Length: 5 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 56
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 43
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 45
The Secret History, written by the sixth-century Byzantine historian Procopius, is one of the most extraordinary and scandalous documents to have survived from the early Byzantine period. Procopius, the leading official historian of his time, lived during the testing and indulgent time of Emperor Justinian the Great and wrote the official records of the successful wars and the grand building projects of his ruler. These were words of aggrandisement. But covertly, Procopius kept a very different record....
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
A Bit Hyperbolic
- By HalfWit on 10-13-19
By: Procopius
-
The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Volume One
- By: Edward Gibbon
- Narrated by: Charlton Griffin
- Length: 40 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 41
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 38
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 38
Gibbon's masterpiece on Rome is a monument of literature and a model of modern historical research. There has never been anything quite like it since its publication between 1776 and 1788. Although some of Gibbon's views are considered controversial today, there is no doubt that his research and patient devotion to scholarship produced one of the most valuable and renowned histories of all time.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
the standard
- By Mark on 11-22-13
By: Edward Gibbon
-
The Metamorphoses
- By: Ovid
- Narrated by: Charlton Griffin
- Length: 16 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 502
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 344
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 345
An undeniable masterpiece of Western Civilization, The Metamorphoses is a continuous narrative that covers all the Olympian legends, seamlessly moving from one story to another in a splendid panorama of savage beauty, charm, and wit. All of the gods and heroes familiar to us are represented. Such familiar legends as Hercules, Perseus and Medusa, Daedelus and Icarus, Diana and Actaeon, and many others, are breathtakingly recreated.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Not that translation mentioned in Amazon reviews
- By IPEVOINC on 05-24-13
By: Ovid
-
Justinian
- Emperor, Soldier, Saint
- By: Peter Sarris
- Narrated by: Mark Elstob
- Length: 15 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 27
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 25
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 25
Justinian is a radical reassessment of an emperor and his times. In the sixth century CE, the emperor Justinian presided over nearly four decades of remarkable change, in an era of geopolitical threats, climate change, and plague. From the eastern Roman—or Byzantine—capital of Constantinople, Justinian’s armies reconquered lost territory in Africa, Italy, and Spain. But these military exploits, historian Peter Sarris shows, were just one part of a larger program of imperial renewal.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Excellent, engaging and informative
- By Kevin on 02-22-24
By: Peter Sarris
-
The Ancient City
- A Study on the Religion, Laws, and Institutions of Ancient Greece and Rome
- By: Numa Denis Fustel de Coulanges
- Narrated by: Charlton Griffin
- Length: 15 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 80
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 69
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 69
One of the most remarkable historical works of the 19th century came from the pen of French historian Numa Denis Fustel de Coulanges, a native of Paris. This amazing analysis of family and religious life among the ancient Greeks and Romans is the key to understanding ancient Mediterranean civilizations. The story begins in the misty period of the Bronze Age as the Indo-Europeans began to filter down into the Italian and Greek peninsulas. They brought with them a patriarchy that was based on ancestor worship and the veneration of hearth gods.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
One of the best books I've ever read
- By g on 06-14-22
-
The Secret History of the World
- By: Mark Booth
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 15 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 1,539
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,314
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 1,319
In this groundbreaking new work, Mark Booth embarks on an enthralling intellectual tour of our world's secret histories. Starting from a dangerous premise - that everything we've been taught about our world's past is corrupted, and that the stories put forward by the various cults and mystery schools throughout history are true - Booth produces nothing short of an alternate history of the past 3,000 years.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
A unique perspective
- By Robin on 04-09-12
By: Mark Booth
-
The Secret History
- By: Procopius
- Narrated by: James Cameron Stewart
- Length: 5 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 56
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 43
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 45
The Secret History, written by the sixth-century Byzantine historian Procopius, is one of the most extraordinary and scandalous documents to have survived from the early Byzantine period. Procopius, the leading official historian of his time, lived during the testing and indulgent time of Emperor Justinian the Great and wrote the official records of the successful wars and the grand building projects of his ruler. These were words of aggrandisement. But covertly, Procopius kept a very different record....
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
A Bit Hyperbolic
- By HalfWit on 10-13-19
By: Procopius
-
The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Volume One
- By: Edward Gibbon
- Narrated by: Charlton Griffin
- Length: 40 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 41
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 38
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 38
Gibbon's masterpiece on Rome is a monument of literature and a model of modern historical research. There has never been anything quite like it since its publication between 1776 and 1788. Although some of Gibbon's views are considered controversial today, there is no doubt that his research and patient devotion to scholarship produced one of the most valuable and renowned histories of all time.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
the standard
- By Mark on 11-22-13
By: Edward Gibbon
-
The Metamorphoses
- By: Ovid
- Narrated by: Charlton Griffin
- Length: 16 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 502
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 344
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 345
An undeniable masterpiece of Western Civilization, The Metamorphoses is a continuous narrative that covers all the Olympian legends, seamlessly moving from one story to another in a splendid panorama of savage beauty, charm, and wit. All of the gods and heroes familiar to us are represented. Such familiar legends as Hercules, Perseus and Medusa, Daedelus and Icarus, Diana and Actaeon, and many others, are breathtakingly recreated.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Not that translation mentioned in Amazon reviews
- By IPEVOINC on 05-24-13
By: Ovid
-
Justinian
- Emperor, Soldier, Saint
- By: Peter Sarris
- Narrated by: Mark Elstob
- Length: 15 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 27
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 25
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 25
Justinian is a radical reassessment of an emperor and his times. In the sixth century CE, the emperor Justinian presided over nearly four decades of remarkable change, in an era of geopolitical threats, climate change, and plague. From the eastern Roman—or Byzantine—capital of Constantinople, Justinian’s armies reconquered lost territory in Africa, Italy, and Spain. But these military exploits, historian Peter Sarris shows, were just one part of a larger program of imperial renewal.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Excellent, engaging and informative
- By Kevin on 02-22-24
By: Peter Sarris
-
The Ancient City
- A Study on the Religion, Laws, and Institutions of Ancient Greece and Rome
- By: Numa Denis Fustel de Coulanges
- Narrated by: Charlton Griffin
- Length: 15 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 80
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 69
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 69
One of the most remarkable historical works of the 19th century came from the pen of French historian Numa Denis Fustel de Coulanges, a native of Paris. This amazing analysis of family and religious life among the ancient Greeks and Romans is the key to understanding ancient Mediterranean civilizations. The story begins in the misty period of the Bronze Age as the Indo-Europeans began to filter down into the Italian and Greek peninsulas. They brought with them a patriarchy that was based on ancestor worship and the veneration of hearth gods.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
One of the best books I've ever read
- By g on 06-14-22
-
The Secret History of the World
- By: Mark Booth
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 15 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 1,539
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,314
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 1,319
In this groundbreaking new work, Mark Booth embarks on an enthralling intellectual tour of our world's secret histories. Starting from a dangerous premise - that everything we've been taught about our world's past is corrupted, and that the stories put forward by the various cults and mystery schools throughout history are true - Booth produces nothing short of an alternate history of the past 3,000 years.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
A unique perspective
- By Robin on 04-09-12
By: Mark Booth