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The History of Ancient Rome

By: Garrett G. Fagan, The Great Courses
Narrated by: Garrett G. Fagan
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Summary

Even today, the influence of Ancient Rome is indelible, with Europe and the world owing this extraordinary empire a huge cultural debt in almost every important category of human endeavor, including art, architecture, engineering, language, literature, law, and religion. At the peak of its power, Rome's span was vast. In the regional, restless, and shifting history of continental Europe, the Roman Empire stands as a towering monument to scale and stability, unified in politics and law, stretching from the sands of Syria to the moors of Scotland. And it stood for almost 700 years.

In this series of 48 spirited lectures, you'll see how a small village of shepherds and farmers rose to tower over the civilized world of its day and left a permanent mark on history. In telling Rome's riveting story, Professor Fagan draws on a wealth of primary and secondary sources, including recent historical and archaeological scholarship, to introduce the fascinating tale of Rome's rise and decline, including the famous events and personalities that have become so familiar: Horatius at the bridge; Hannibal crossing the Alps during Rome's life-or-death war with Carthage; Caesar being assassinated before a statue of his archrival Pompey; The doomed lovers Antony and Cleopatra; the mad and venal emperors Nero and Caligula; the conversion of Constantine.

The course also addresses one of history's greatest questions: Why did the Roman Empire fall? And you'll learn why most modern scholars believe that the empire did not "fall" at all, but, rather, changed into something very different - the less urbanized, more rural, early medieval world.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.

©1999 The Teaching Company, LLC (P)1999 The Great Courses
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Editor reviews

One of the most powerful and influential Empires of the Ancient world, the Roman Empire, is explored in The Great Courses' The History of Ancient Rome. This historical audiobook is skillfully narrated by Professor Garrett G. Fagan, who takes listeners through the major events and noteworthy figures, as well as a cultural exploration of this vast and resilient Empire. This book informs listeners of the historical significance this mighty Empire had on shaping the modern world we know today. It is engaging as much as it is educational. Available now from Audible.

What listeners say about The History of Ancient Rome

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Informative and Thought provoking

I thought this audio book was brilliantly done, rather than a chronological tick box exercise the speaker is adept at explaining wider themes and explaining the different narratives that make up the history of the Roman Empire without just listing dates and events.

He also has a good sense of humour at points when going into some of the more bizzare events that happened.

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1 person found this helpful

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Great Roman history

I must say i thoroughly enjoyed these lectures,I have never been to a university lecture in my life before only college lectures on engineering so I didn't really know how I would cope with this Roman history course,I must say I was most impressed with the narration and the content of the lectures,I have read quite a bit of Roman history so I was acquainted with the subject but these lectures seem to make the issues much clearer to me now.
Highly recommended

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The Narration of some of the lectures is choppy

Prof Fagan makes a bit too many pauses and hence brings the narration to a halt at times.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Superb performance

The subject was fascinating but it wouldn’t have been as addictive had it not been for Garrets awesome performance - very passionate and engaging

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Absolutely fantastic

Startlingly clear. Gripping. Right amount of speed vs depth. Bear with it past the 1st couple of lectures on methodology. It gets better fast.

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Brilliant narration, superb content

Can’t recommend this highly enough. Fagan’s delivery is engaging, learned as well as witty. It’s a tragedy that he died so young... this is a fine testimony to an historian who would no doubt be on our screens now, a la Mary Beard or Michael Scott, if he had still been around.

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Nilli secundus! Great history, and great value!

What have the Romans ever done for us?

I struggled both in Latin and History at school. The thought then of twenty four hours of lectures on Roman history would have filled me with horror!

However, I really enjoyed this course - more like a good fireside epic of the story of Rome, the habits and customs of the Roman people, the political intrigues, religious beliefs (including conversion to Christianity) and the final decline - all of which has determined the ground of so much of our own civilisation.

Professor Fagan tells the story with charm and occasional wit, never lapsing into simply repeating dull facts, but always tying it together in a narrative that bounces along enjoyably, making it always a pleasure to look forward to the next lecture. Although it is forty eight lectures long, my feeling at the end was of having only scratched the surface of this massive subject.

However, to have such a course, containing so much good teaching, for a single audiobook credit is fantastic value.

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    4 out of 5 stars
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Very good history

If you could sum up The History of Ancient Rome in three words, what would they be?

Informative, well structure and interesting

What about Professor Garrett G. Fagan’s performance did you like?

Very informative an easy style to listen to, some of the asides are quite funny.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Its too huge a subject (and too long) to do in one sitting. There is so much to absorb that I listened one or two lectures at a time.

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Excellent. Enjoyed this very much.

Well set out chapters. Easy to dip in and out. Detailed information. Will inspire you to find out more about the ancient world and how it is connected to our lives today.

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    3 out of 5 stars

Great lecture bout..

Great lecture all up to the end of Augustus reign after that it's jumps all over the place and it's hard to follow if you don't know Rome history.

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