Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

  • The Twelve Caesars

  • By: Suetonius
  • Narrated by: Charlton Griffin
  • Length: 14 hrs and 12 mins
  • 4.2 out of 5 stars (66 ratings)
Offer ends May 1st, 2024 11:59PM GMT. Terms and conditions apply.
£7.99/month after 3 months. Renews automatically.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
The Twelve Caesars cover art

The Twelve Caesars

By: Suetonius
Narrated by: Charlton Griffin
Get this deal Try for £0.00

Pay £99p/month. After 3 months pay £7.99/month. Renews automatically. See terms for eligibility.

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £21.99

Buy Now for £21.99

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Listeners also enjoyed...

Annals cover art
Parallel Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans cover art
The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire cover art
Histories cover art
The Peloponnesian War cover art
Nero cover art
Lives of the Twelve Caesars cover art
The Histories cover art
The March of the Ten Thousand cover art
The Aeneid cover art
I, Claudius cover art
The Complete Works of Tacitus: Volume 1: The Annals, Part 1 cover art
The Storm Before the Storm cover art
Claudius the God cover art
Cicero: The Life and Times of Rome's Greatest Politician cover art
The Thirty Years War cover art

Summary

From the dignified grace of Augustus to the cruel debauchery of Nero, this history chronicles all the vices and virtues of the first 12 rulers of Imperial Rome.

The Twelve Caesars was written based on the information of eyewitnesses and public records. It conveys a very accurate picture of court life in Rome and contains some of the raciest and most salacious material to be found in all of ancient literature.

The writing is clear, simple and easy to understand, and the numerous anecdotes of juicy scandal, bitter court intrigue, and murderous brigandage easily hold their own against the most spirited content of today's tabloids.

Public Domain (P)2009 Audio Connoisseur

What listeners say about The Twelve Caesars

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    33
  • 4 Stars
    18
  • 3 Stars
    11
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    3
Performance
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    21
  • 4 Stars
    6
  • 3 Stars
    5
  • 2 Stars
    2
  • 1 Stars
    2
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    20
  • 4 Stars
    9
  • 3 Stars
    6
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars

Labourious read.

Ok its my fault I should have listened to an except first. the narrator is monotone, great for going to sleep with, but not good enough to hold your attention. Other things I didn't like - this is a translation of the original from early AD and I think this translation is from the 1950/60's. it needs updating in translation as it reads like a poor text book. I recommend you listen to an except first before buying.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Try the abridged version

This is a grand entertainment, but if you're trying to decide between the full or an abridged version, do go abridged - there are an awful lot of lists and chunks of complicated legal procedure. The meat of this fascinating story are the awful, awful emperors. Listening to this fruity performance, you can immediately see why Robert Graves zoned in on Claudius - after the increasingly unbelievable outrages of his predecessors, a quietly competent emperor must have been a relief.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

The Twelve Caesars

The twelve Caesars is a gripping account of the lives of men who shaped the early Roman empire, and a catalog of the corrupting influence of power on Rome and its leaders. In this book you can learn about the early empire, the laws and traditions if that's what you want. However, far better than the history is the story, we learn about the personal proclivities and pecadilloes of great men and in that we come closer to them than any textbook or tv show. We hear what an eloquent citizen thought about the leadership of Rome and in his voice we can imagine a multitude. This is a must for anyone who wants to feel the basic humanity at the core of the Empire, in all its wretched glory. I enjoyed every salacious minute.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Splendidly gory

Fantastic read, superb description of 12 of the Roman emperors varying from the saintly Augustus to the Satanically evil Nero and Caligula. No holds barred with descriptions of debauchery and gore. The description of each Emperor reads a bit like a best man’s speech with an exaggerated list of his achievements and also his extremes of good or bad behaviour. Fascinating because it was written very shortly after the actual events. Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. What sort of Emperor would you have been???

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!