Listen free for 30 days
-
The Golden Fleece
- Narrated by: Nigel Carrington
- Length: 19 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged Audiobook
- Categories: Literature & Fiction, Classics
Add to basket failed.
Add to wishlist failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Listen with a free trial
Buy Now for £22.99
No valid payment method on file.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
Cromwell vs the Crown: God’s Revolution
- A BBC Radio 4 Full-Cast Historical Drama
- By: Don Taylor
- Narrated by: full cast, Bernard Hepton, Nigel Anthony, and others
- Length: 11 hrs and 19 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
England, 1647. Oliver Cromwell's New Model Army has routed the Royalists, and the king, having fled to Scotland, has been ransomed, sent back across the border and imprisoned. It seems the war is over, but there is trouble ahead. Parliament wants to disband the army and install its own militia - an act that looks, to Cromwell's loyal soldiers, like outright betrayal.
-
-
Absolutely riveting. A tour de force.
- By Mr. R. Jarmain on 05-02-22
-
Count Belisarius
- By: Robert Graves
- Narrated by: Laurence Kennedy
- Length: 19 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The sixth-century Roman Empire is a dangerous place, threatened on all frontiers by invaders. But soon the attacking armies of Vandals, Goths, and Persians grow to fear and respect the name of one man, Belisarius: horseman, archer, swordsman, and military commander of genius. As Belisarius triumphs in battles from the East to North Africa, his success causes him to become regarded with increasing jealousy and suspicion. In his palace in Constantinople, the Emperor Justinian, dominated by his wife Theodora, plots the great general’s downfall.
-
-
A Hero Maligned (in so many ways)
- By Tally Pendragon on 17-07-15
-
Claudius the God
- By: Robert Graves
- Narrated by: Derek Jacobi
- Length: 5 hrs and 10 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Read in the style of a secret diary, this famous sequel to I, Claudius gives a wry and human view of the Roman world, bringing to life some of the most scandalous and violent times in history. Claudius has survived the murderous intrigues of his predecessors to become, reluctantly, Emperor of Rome. He recounts his surprisingly successful rule; how he cultivates the loyalty of the army to repair the damage caused by his nephew Caligula; his friendship with the Jewish King Herod Agrippa; and his invasion of Britain.
-
-
Abridged, unfortunately, otherwise impeccable.
- By Mary Carnegie on 12-04-16
-
The Last of the Wine
- By: Mary Renault
- Narrated by: Barnaby Edwards
- Length: 16 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Alexias, a young Athenian of good family, grows up just as the Peloponnesian War is drawing to a close. The adult world he enters is one in which the power and influence of his class have been undermined by the forces of war, and more and more Alexias finds himself drawn to the controversial teachings of Sokrates.
-
-
An Unforgetable Novel
- By ne5566 on 31-05-15
-
The Bull from The Sea
- By: Mary Renault
- Narrated by: Kris Dyer
- Length: 11 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This second instalment in the story of the legendary hero begins with Theseus' triumphant return from Crete after slaying the Minotaur. Having freed the city of Athens from the onerous tribute demanded by the ruler of Knossos - the sacrifice of noble youths and maidens to the appetite of the Labyrinth's monster - Theseus has returned home to find his father dead and himself the new king. But his adventures have only just begun: He still must confront the Amazons; capture their queen, Hippolyta; and face the tragic results of Phaedra's jealous rage.
-
-
Ancient history brought to life
- By nicolette king on 22-07-18
-
I, Claudius
- By: Robert Graves
- Narrated by: Derek Jacobi
- Length: 5 hrs and 8 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The politics of empire-building and the hypocrisies, back-stabbings, and corruptions of Rome's first family come to light. First published in 1934, the book retains a marvelously modern and often comic tone, and is written in the form of Claudius' autobiography. This is gripping stuff, read by one of our finest actors, who also starred as Claudius in the classic television series.
-
-
Shame it's abridged.
- By Mary Carnegie on 11-04-16
-
Cromwell vs the Crown: God’s Revolution
- A BBC Radio 4 Full-Cast Historical Drama
- By: Don Taylor
- Narrated by: full cast, Bernard Hepton, Nigel Anthony, and others
- Length: 11 hrs and 19 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
England, 1647. Oliver Cromwell's New Model Army has routed the Royalists, and the king, having fled to Scotland, has been ransomed, sent back across the border and imprisoned. It seems the war is over, but there is trouble ahead. Parliament wants to disband the army and install its own militia - an act that looks, to Cromwell's loyal soldiers, like outright betrayal.
-
-
Absolutely riveting. A tour de force.
- By Mr. R. Jarmain on 05-02-22
-
Count Belisarius
- By: Robert Graves
- Narrated by: Laurence Kennedy
- Length: 19 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The sixth-century Roman Empire is a dangerous place, threatened on all frontiers by invaders. But soon the attacking armies of Vandals, Goths, and Persians grow to fear and respect the name of one man, Belisarius: horseman, archer, swordsman, and military commander of genius. As Belisarius triumphs in battles from the East to North Africa, his success causes him to become regarded with increasing jealousy and suspicion. In his palace in Constantinople, the Emperor Justinian, dominated by his wife Theodora, plots the great general’s downfall.
-
-
A Hero Maligned (in so many ways)
- By Tally Pendragon on 17-07-15
-
Claudius the God
- By: Robert Graves
- Narrated by: Derek Jacobi
- Length: 5 hrs and 10 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Read in the style of a secret diary, this famous sequel to I, Claudius gives a wry and human view of the Roman world, bringing to life some of the most scandalous and violent times in history. Claudius has survived the murderous intrigues of his predecessors to become, reluctantly, Emperor of Rome. He recounts his surprisingly successful rule; how he cultivates the loyalty of the army to repair the damage caused by his nephew Caligula; his friendship with the Jewish King Herod Agrippa; and his invasion of Britain.
-
-
Abridged, unfortunately, otherwise impeccable.
- By Mary Carnegie on 12-04-16
-
The Last of the Wine
- By: Mary Renault
- Narrated by: Barnaby Edwards
- Length: 16 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Alexias, a young Athenian of good family, grows up just as the Peloponnesian War is drawing to a close. The adult world he enters is one in which the power and influence of his class have been undermined by the forces of war, and more and more Alexias finds himself drawn to the controversial teachings of Sokrates.
-
-
An Unforgetable Novel
- By ne5566 on 31-05-15
-
The Bull from The Sea
- By: Mary Renault
- Narrated by: Kris Dyer
- Length: 11 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This second instalment in the story of the legendary hero begins with Theseus' triumphant return from Crete after slaying the Minotaur. Having freed the city of Athens from the onerous tribute demanded by the ruler of Knossos - the sacrifice of noble youths and maidens to the appetite of the Labyrinth's monster - Theseus has returned home to find his father dead and himself the new king. But his adventures have only just begun: He still must confront the Amazons; capture their queen, Hippolyta; and face the tragic results of Phaedra's jealous rage.
-
-
Ancient history brought to life
- By nicolette king on 22-07-18
-
I, Claudius
- By: Robert Graves
- Narrated by: Derek Jacobi
- Length: 5 hrs and 8 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The politics of empire-building and the hypocrisies, back-stabbings, and corruptions of Rome's first family come to light. First published in 1934, the book retains a marvelously modern and often comic tone, and is written in the form of Claudius' autobiography. This is gripping stuff, read by one of our finest actors, who also starred as Claudius in the classic television series.
-
-
Shame it's abridged.
- By Mary Carnegie on 11-04-16
-
King Jesus
- By: Robert Graves
- Narrated by: Philip Bird
- Length: 18 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Robert Graves's controversial historical novel is a bold reworking of the story of Christ. Here Jesus is not the son of God, but the result of a secret marriage - the descendant of Herod and true King of the Jews. Written from the perspective of a lowly official at the end of the first century AD, King Jesus recounts Jesus's birth, youth, life as a charismatic 'wonder worker' and the unorthodox, bitter nature of his death and resurrection. Portraying Jesus not as divine but as a flawed human bent upon his own doom, this retelling of the gospels is a compelling blend of research
-
The King Must Die
- By: Mary Renault
- Narrated by: Kris Dyer
- Length: 15 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The epic of Thesus, the boy-king of Eleusis, ritually preordained to die after one year of marriage to the sacred queen but who defies God's decree and claims his inheritance - the throne of Athens. This re-creation of a Greek myth is written by the author of The Last of the Wine.
-
-
narrated like a Famous Five story
- By Kate Legum on 20-05-21
-
Seamus Heaney II Collected Poems (published 1979-1991)
- Field Work; Station Island; The Haw Lantern; Seeing Things
- By: Seamus Heaney
- Narrated by: Seamus Heaney
- Length: 5 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Volume two of the definitive collection of Seamus Heaney reading his own work, recorded in 2009 by RTE. Volume two contains four collections published between 1979 and 1991: Field Work, Station Island, The Haw Lantern and Seeing Things.
-
-
A real shame the poems are not listed
- By J D on 15-05-20
-
The Untouchable
- By: John Banville
- Narrated by: Bill Wallis
- Length: 15 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Victor Maskell has been betrayed. After the announcement in the Commons, the hasty revelation of his double life of wartime espionage, his photograph is all over the papers. His disgrace is public, his position as curator of the Queen’s pictures terminated… Maskell writes his own testament, in an act not unlike the restoration of one of his beloved pictures, in order for the process of verification and attribution to begin.
-
-
A nest of gentlefolk who spy
- By Mary Carnegie on 05-04-16
-
1415: Henry V's Year of Glory
- By: Ian Mortimer
- Narrated by: James Cameron Stewart
- Length: 25 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this ground-breaking audiobook, Ian Mortimer portrays Henry in the pivotal year of his reign. Recording the dramatic events of 1415, he offers the fullest, most precise and least romanticised view we have of Henry and what he did. At the centre of the narrative is the campaign which culminated in the battle of Agincourt: a slaughter ground intended not to advance England’s interests directly but to demonstrate God’s approval of Henry’s royal authority on both sides of the Channel.
-
-
Impressively scholarly but dull at times
- By Kirstine on 02-04-19
-
Then and Now
- By: W. Somerset Maugham
- Narrated by: Andrew Wincott
- Length: 7 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Maugham found a parallel to the turmoil of our own times in the duplicity, intrigue, and sensuality of the Italian Renaissance. Then and Now enters the world of Machiavelli, and covers three important months in the career of that crafty politician, worldly seducer, and high priest of schemers.
-
-
Is this how The Prince was conceived and written?
- By DAVID on 31-07-20
-
Sappho's Leap
- A Novel
- By: Erica Jong
- Narrated by: Erica Jong
- Length: 12 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Sappho's Leap is a journey back 2,600 years into the heart and mind of the greatest romantic poet the world has ever known. At the age of 14, Sappho is seduced by the beautiful poet Alcaeus and plots with him to overthrow the dictator of their island. Sappho is caught and married off to a repellent older man in hopes that marriage will cause her to behave. Instead, it leads to a series of amorous adventures with both men and women, taking her from Delphi to Egypt, to the Land of the Amazons and the realm of Hades.
-
Mythos
- By: Stephen Fry
- Narrated by: Stephen Fry
- Length: 15 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Greek myths are amongst the greatest stories ever told, passed down through millennia and inspiring writers and artists as varied as Shakespeare, Michelangelo, James Joyce and Walt Disney. They are embedded deeply in the traditions, tales and cultural DNA of the West. You'll fall in love with Zeus, marvel at the birth of Athena, wince at Cronus and Gaia's revenge on Ouranos, weep with King Midas and hunt with the beautiful and ferocious Artemis.
-
-
Boring version of the Greek myths
- By IoBB on 22-08-19
-
The Fears of Henry IV
- The Life of England's Self-Made King
- By: Ian Mortimer
- Narrated by: James Cameron Stewart
- Length: 22 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
King Henry IV survived at least eight plots to dethrone or kill him in the first six years of his reign. However, he had not always been so unpopular. In his youth he had been a great chivalric champion and crusader. In 1399, at the age of 32, he was greeted as the saviour of the realm when he ousted from power the tyrannical King Richard II. But Henry had to contend with men who supported him only as long as they could control him; when they failed, they plotted to kill him. Adversaries also tried to take advantage of his questionable right to the crown.
-
-
I learned a lot about two Reigns
- By Kirstine on 27-03-19
-
Persian Fire
- The First World Empire, Battle for the West
- By: Tom Holland
- Narrated by: Mark Meadows, Tom Holland
- Length: 15 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 480 BC, Xerxes, the King of Persia, led an invasion of mainland Greece. Its success should have been a formality. For 70 years, victory had seemed the birthright of the Persian Empire. In the space of a single generation, they had swept across the Near East, shattering ancient kingdoms, storming famous cities, putting together an empire which stretched from India to the shores of the Aegean. Yet somehow, astonishingly, against the largest expeditionary force ever assembled, the Greeks of the mainland managed to hold out.
-
-
Accessible telling of fascinating history
- By Connor Sampson on 24-12-20
-
Roman Mythology: Captivating Roman Myths of Roman Gods, Goddesses, Heroes and Mythological Creatures
- By: Matt Clayton
- Narrated by: Randy Whitlow
- Length: 3 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
If you're looking for a collection of Roman myths that speaks to all ages then keep listening....Feats of strength and skill, monsters, magic, divine interventions, and the overcoming of impossible odds by larger-than-life figures all feature in this audiobook. The Roman myths contained in this collection will be brought to life so all the details are more than merely a bunch of dry facts. Not only does this audiobook offer captivating stories for you to enjoy, but it also gives you impressive knowledge about history.
-
-
Useful Book
- By Emma Clara on 15-09-18
-
Funeral Games
- A Novel of Alexander the Great
- By: Mary Renault
- Narrated by: Roger May
- Length: 13 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Alexander the Great died at the age of thirty-three, leaving behind an empire that stretched from Greece and Egypt to India.After Alexander's death in 323 B.C. his only direct heirs were two unborn sons and a simpleton half-brother. Every long-simmering faction exploded into the vacuum of power. Wives, distant relatives and generals all vied for the loyalty of the increasingly undisciplined Macedonian army. Most failed and were killed in the attempt.
-
-
Testament to succession planning
- By Petra on 08-06-17
Summary
In order to reclaim his father's kingdom, Jason has been sent on an impossible mission: to take the golden ram's fleece that lies far away, guarded by a dragon. Jason, who is so attractive that women fall instantly in love with him, sets sail in the Argo, along with the greatest heroes of ancient Greece, including the surly (and often drunk) Hercules, the enchanting musician Orpheus and the warring twins Castor and Pollux. As they battle clashing rocks, monsters, and seductresses, watched over by pitiless gods, they will learn that victory comes at a price. In The Golden Fleece Robert Graves transforms Greek myth into a thrilling and richly imagined story, bringing the ancient world vividly alive.
Robert von Ranke Graves (24 July 1895-7 December 1985) was an English poet and novelist, scholar, translator, and writer of antiquity, specialising in Classical Greece and Rome. During his long life he produced more than 140 works. Graves's translations and innovative analysis and interpretations of the Greek myths, the memoir of his early life, Good-Bye to All That, and his speculative study of poetic inspiration, The White Goddess, have never been out of print. Graves earned his living by writing popular historical novels, including I, Claudius (for which he was awarded the James Tait Black Memorial Prize), King Jesus, The Golden Fleece and Count Belisarius. He was elected Professor of Poetry at Oxford in 1961 and made an honorary fellow of St John’s College, Oxford, in 1971.
Critic reviews
More from the same
What listeners say about The Golden Fleece
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- The_price_of_bottled_water
- 17-04-22
an ancient story embellished by an erudite poet
well read. I suspect that I don't know enough classical mythology to get some of the references. But enjoyable adventure.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Darryl
- 28-08-13
nice "factual" recreation
Graves was a scholar of ancient lit and history and myth and I like the realistic approach to the story. and then you also see how these events would lend themselves later to the myths. I would say however that the first 1/3 of the novel was more interesting for me as he dealt with many explanations of how certain rituals etc evolved and their purposes and meanings. as the story progressed this element faded somewhat amid the storyline and the whole thing went on a bit too long, got a bit too drawn out and dry.
I found myself wishing for Mary Renault's King Must Die and Bull From the Sea, similar in the more realistic approach to events and how they became the myth of Theseus, but in general I was more engaged in her novel pair and would love to revisit them, hopefully they'll show up here some day.
and though there is some controversy and disagreement over Graves ideas concerning myths and origins and meanings, I find his ideas compelling. His Greek Myths is very interesting and detailed and thought provoking even if the root of controversy.
and there is an interesting historical appendix in the novel that is for some reason excluded from the audio, wherein Graves outlines some of his reasoning for certain elements in the story, wish it had been included, but perhaps of interest more to me than others.
8 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Jefferson
- 02-08-14
A Violent, Comical, Encyclopedic, Mythic Feast
"But remember, no lies! The dead may speak the truth only, even when it discredits themselves." So ends the "Invocation" that begins Robert Graves' The Golden Fleece (1944), Graves having asked the ghost of Little Ancaeus, the last survivor of the Argonauts, to "unfold the whole story" of their quest to retrieve from far Colchis the sacred Fleece. The account begins years after the famous voyage with the death of Ancaeus, when he tried to live among the Maiden, Nymph, and Mother worshiping people of Majorca, because on his home island of Samos the Triple Goddess had been replaced by the Olympian pantheon. Ironically, the priestess who interviews Ancaeus decides that his knowledge of "indecent" and "topsy-turvy" Greek culture (in which, unbelievably, people worship fathers and women are forced to marry men and remain faithful to them and let them ride on top when making love) is too dangerous to let loose on her island and so has her Goat men servants stone him to death.
The conflict between the original Triple Goddess and matriarchal culture of the Mediterranean on the one hand and the Olympians and patriarchal culture of the invading Greeks on the other moves the entire story of the Golden Fleece. Readers who can remain patient through a few chapters of such "historical" context setting are in for a treat, for The Golden Fleece is a bawdy, beautiful, comical, exciting, and violent adventure set in the ancient age of myth, a "real" account of events before they were transformed into legends, an exotic travelogue, and a satiric clash of cultures and genders. And it's just so full of life in all its brutality, brevity, humor, and pathos.
The Golden Fleece is an encyclopedic novel of all things Greek and pre-Greek. Graves incorporates or refers to many myths and legends, from the cosmogony through the trade war between Troy and Greece and the Twelve Labors of Hercules. And from various cultures, including Pelasgian, Cretan, Thracian, Colchian, Taurean, Albanian, Amazonian, Troglodyte, and of course Greek, he works into his novel many interesting customs, about fertility orgies, weddings, births, funerals, and ghosts; prayers, sacrifices, omens, dreams, and mystery cults; boar hunting, barley growing, trading, and ship building, sailing, and rowing; feasting, singing, dancing, story telling, and clothes wearing; boxing, murdering, warring, and treaty negotiating; and more. It all feels vivid, authentic, and strange.
Because Graves writes the novel from the point of view of someone living in the time and place of the Golden Fleece, many fantastic things are recounted matter of factly. For example, people who eat sacred oranges in the sacred manner live as long as they want, gods and goddesses speak to people through oracles and dreams, an augur can understand the speech of birds, Hercules has superhuman strength, and so on. Graves also realistically treats some traditionally fantastic things. For instance, hybrid creatures like centaurs, minotaurs, and satyrs are men belonging to horse, bull, and goat fraternities; cyclops are smiths who squint while doing their work; any woman can cow men by making "gorgon grimaces" (distorting her face and hissing); the sons of gods were born to prostitutes of the temples of those gods; and so on.
And the heroes are so human! Butes the bee keeper loves honey too much. Idas provokes everyone (even Zeus) with his obnoxious jests. Sharp-eyed Lynceus doesn't warn anyone about the malevolent ghosts only he can see. Atalanta the virgin huntress sends mixed signals to Meleager. Echion the herald speaks so smoothly that he believes his own lies. "Accidents" happen to people who get in the way of Peleus. Hercules doesn't know his own strength, is prone to berserk rages, harms more friends than foes, and suffocatingly loves his boy-ward Hylas. Jason is an indecisive, sullen, "wild and witless young man," envied or despised by other men. No great warrior, seaman, painter, orator, or wizard, he leads the Argonauts only because women fall in love with him at first sight, a gift he abuses by using the same "my heart began a golden dance" pick up lines on different women and then loving and leaving them. The jealousies of the heroes are potent: "'How generous you are, prince Hercules,' cried Jason, wishing him dead and securely buried under a towering barrow of earth and stone." Indeed, Orpheus is vital to the quest because he must regularly calm the Argonauts with his music when their egos spark conflicts.
The Golden Fleece is rich with epic similes: "After so long a period of abstinence, [the women of Lemnos] are wallowing in the pleasures of love as Egyptian crocodiles wallow in the fertile ooze of the Nile."
And with pithy lines: "For drunken men have short memories."
And with vivid descriptions, whether beautiful ("Here the mountain, which was shaggy with wild olive and esculent oak, sloped sharply down to the sea, five hundred feet below, at that time dappled with small banks of mist, like sheep grazing as far as the horizon line"), spare ("The wind made the pyres roar lustily, and soon there was nothing left of the dead men but glowing bones"), or sensual ("The orange is a round, scented fruit, unknown elsewhere in the civilized world, which grows green at first, then golden, with a hot rind and cold, sweet, sharp flesh").
Nigel Carrington gives an excellent reading of the novel, speaking an elegant and educated British English for the aristocratic heroes, a gruff, boneheaded, and crafty voice for Hercules, a crude cockney for the savage boxer King Amicus, stately voices for the Goddess and her priestesses, and so on. Every pause and emphasis and trick he employs enhances the story.
Fans of Robert Graves' other novels, like I Claudius, or of Greek myths and culture, or of exotic historical adventures, would probably enjoy this book.
5 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Amazon Customer
- 29-10-21
Excellent Narration; Story Thoroughly Enjoyable
Only about 20% of the story was boring for me, and fortunately the boring bits were scattered throughout, so it was exciting, even in the boring parts, to anticipating the next elevation. Packed full of thrilling details, and worth listening to the entire story a second and third time.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Ben
- 17-07-18
A great tale for the imagination
Graves is so wonderful in his writing; how it stays with you. My girlfriend and I did a 6hour session on a longhaul flight - I recommend this experience
Great reader, Thanks Nigel