Caligula
The Mad Emperor of Rome
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Narrated by:
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James Anderson Foster
About this listen
Explore all of the murder, madness and mayhem in Ancient Rome during the reign of the mad emperor, Caligula.
In this book about Rome’s most infamous emperor, expert author, Stephen Dando-Collins chronicles all the palace intrigues and murders that led to Caligula becoming emperor, and details the horrors of his manic reign and the murderous consequences brought about at the hand of his sister Agrippina the Younger, his uncle Claudius and his nephew Nero.
Skillfully researched, Dando-Collins puts the jigsaw pieces together to form an accurate picture of Caligula’s life and influences. Dando-Collins’ precise and thorough examination of the emperor’s life puts Caligula’s paranoid reign into perspective, examining the betrayals and deaths he experienced prior to his time in power and the onset of a near-fatal illness believed to have affected his mental-health.
©2019 Stephen Dando-Collins (P)2019 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.Although not as much of an emotional journey or action-packed as the above two titles, you are soon immersed in the era and intrigued by the figure of Caligula. The book starts with an interesting introduction where the author dispels some common myths, considers a few hypotheses and mentions his sources used. After that sources are also referred to occasionally but not without breaking the pace of the book. After that it's a smooth ride from start to finish. As can be expected, there are quite a few names and family relations that are not always as easy to keep track of but with a bit foreknowledge it should not be overwhelming.
There was the occasional (although brief) annoyance when the narrator completely mispronounced French and Latin (place)names. For example the famous general "Lucullus" was pronouned as "Lusullus". The French town of "Beane" as "Bee-own" and "Nîmes" as "Knees-mes". Also in expressons like "Pièce de résistance" the word "pièce" is pronounced as "peace". The name "Vercingetorix" ended up as "Ver-Sin-Gay-TOH-ricks". In short: how an American tourist would pronounce it - but from a professional narrator you expect more. After all, with some minor research this could easily have been avoided.
All in all, definitely listen to this book if you want to have a brief foray into the life of Caligula!
Another immersive book by Stephen Dando-Collins
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