Ancient Empires

Explore la fascinante historia del Imperio asirio. Situado en el actual Irak, la antigua Mesopotamia, la tierra entre los grandes ríos Tigris y Éufrates, fue donde todo comenzó. Es la parte del mundo donde hace unos 6.000 años la gente finalmente se despidió de sus vidas de cazadores y recolectores, y comenzó a cultivar e iniciar la construcción de civilizaciones. La historia de Mesopotamia está llena de fronteras en constante cambio, civilizaciones en ascenso y descenso y, por supuesto, guerra y conquista.

Edward Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire occupies an immortal place in the pantheon of historical masterpieces. This recording covers the final three volumes of Gibbon's work, tracing ten centuries in the life of the eastern half of the empire, whose capital city was Constantinople.

The Crusades shook the world. But why did they happen? Their origins are revealed in a new light. As part of a medieval world war that stretched from Asia to Europe. At its center was an ancient empire Byzantium. Told for the first time as a single, linked narrative are three great events that changed history: The fall of Byzantium in the 11th century, the epic campaign of the First Crusade and the origins of modern Turkey. Nick Holmes not only presents the First Crusade in a wider global context but he also puts forwards new interpretations of the original sources.

The Roman Empire lasted a solid 500 years—an impressive number by any standard. The decline and final collapse of the Roman Empire took longer than most other empires even existed. Any historian trying to unearth the grand strategy of the Roman Empire must, therefore, always remain cognizant of the time scale. Over the centuries, the Empire's underlying economy, political arrangements, military affairs, and the myriad of external threats it faced were in constant flux, making adaptability to changing circumstances as important to Roman strategists as it is to strategists of the modern era.

Explore the most enduring empire of the ancient Near East. Few nations were able to not only parry but also defeat the mighty Roman Empire, rivaling it in almost all segments. One of those was the Parthian empire, cultural and traditional successor of the more famous Achaemenid Persian empire that was brought down by the Alexander the Great.

Get only the pertinent details of the Roman Empire’s existence. The Roman Empire is factual, concise, informative, and entertaining.

In northern Iraq, on the banks of the Tigris River, lie the ruins of the ancient city of Aššur. This was the first capital and the most important religious center of the Assyrian Empire. Underneath the cover of sand and soil are almost six meters of dense stratigraphic layers that reveal the passage of millennia. Known today as Qal'at Sherqat, and also as Kilah Shregat, the city dates back to the third millennium BCE.

Throughout the Roman Empire cities held public speeches and lectures, had libraries, and teachers and professors in the sciences and the humanities, some subsidized by the state. There even existed something equivalent to universities, and medical and engineering schools. What were they like? What did they teach? Who got to attend them? In the first treatment of this subject ever published, Dr. Richard Carrier answers all these questions and more.

Immerse yourself in an epic historical journey: The Akkadian Empire: The Rise and Fall of the World's First Empire. Welcome to a narrative of power and civilization, where history unfurls in thrilling detail and academic rigor is wrapped in a tapestry of storytelling. This is more than a book; it's a journey to the very dawn of empires and the heart of human ambition. Through this examination, the book will shine a light on the broader struggles and conflicts that tested the mettle of the Akkadian Empire.

AD 381. Five years have gone by since a Roman governor ordered the deaths of a Gothic king and his attendants at a feast in their honor. This disastrous act led to warfare in the Roman Empire and the death of the Emperor Valens. The Empire is now at peace, but the powerful brother of the murdered king has sworn revenge on the regicides, and will not rest until they are hunted down. For the eight legionaries who carried out the killings, the bloodshed is only just beginning.

180 AD. North of the Wall, Sarmatian warrior Kai and his adopted tribe, the Votadini, struggle for survival, cast into unfamiliar lands by Roman reprisals. When news arrives that an old enemy is in charge of the Votadini's hated foes, a confederation of tribes known as the Painted People, and has roused them to action, Kai heads south towards the Wall, hoping to ally with the Romans against this resurgent threat. Meanwhile, the Romans have heard tales of butchery and mayhem beyond the Wall.

After more than a decade of tumult, Roman warrior Rex and his beloved wife, Flavia, are thankful to the God they serve for the peaceful life they are living in the city of Alexandria. But with the empire in flux, such tranquility cannot last. When Rex is called away to serve Constantine in his fight against Licinius, Flavia’s loneliness and longing for a baby lead her down the road of temptation. Perhaps one of Egypt’s gods will grant her conception?

As modern empires rise and fall, ancient Rome becomes ever more significant. We yearn for Rome's power but fear Rome's ruin—will we turn out like the Romans, we wonder, or can we escape their fate? That question has obsessed centuries of historians and leaders, who have explored diverse political, religious, and economic forces to explain Roman decline. In New Rome, Paul Stephenson looks beyond traditional texts and well-known artifacts to offer a novel, scientifically minded interpretation of antiquity's end.

In this epic narrative, History Brought Alive presents a captivating dive into the legends, facts, and myths of Ancient Rome. Covering thousands of years, this audiobook brings structure and clarity to the vast and complex story of one of history’s greatest civilizations.

A dual biography of Julius Caesar and Cato the Younger that offers a dire warning: republics collapse when partisanship overrides the common good. In Uncommon Wrath, historian Josiah Osgood tells the story of how the political rivalry between Julius Caesar and Marcus Cato precipitated the end of...

The year is AD 316. Imperial persecution has officially ended. For the first time in history, the Roman emperor supports the church. But the fledgling faith’s future still hangs in the balance. Flavia, a Roman senator’s daughter, is sent from her convent by Bishop Sylvester to seek Emperor Constantine’s permission to determine the canon of scripture and build great churches where pagan temples once stood. But God’s enemies are on the move, and the path to the bishop’s goals is fraught with peril.

It is AD 312. Rome teeters on the brink of war. Constantine's army is on the move. On the Rhine frontier, Brandulf Rex, a pagan Germanic barbarian, joins the Roman army as a spy and special-forces operative. Down in Rome, Junia Flavia, the lovely and pious daughter of a nominally Christian senator, finds herself embroiled in anti-Christian politics as she works on behalf of the church.

The success of the emperors ironically brought about the worst plague in Rome’s epic history. Due to constant warfare on the borders and attempts to defend positions against various groups, Roman soldiers came into contact with foreign diseases, and they unwittingly brought them home when campaigns ended. This culminated around 165 CE, when an unidentified disease brought the empire to its knees and afflicted an untold number of individuals, one of whom may have been Lucius Verus, the co-emperor of Rome alongside Marcus Aurelius.

The Severan dynasty came shortly after the Five Good Emperors, and it also consisted of five emperors who ruled the empire from 193-235, except for a brief interlude between 217 and 218 when Macrinus held the imperial throne. The Severans' story encapsulates many highs and lows, including able and venal emperors, expansion and loss of territory, great artistic achievements, and intellectual advancements coupled with some of the worst cruelty ever perpetrated by Romans.

Claudius is particularly remembered for the conquest of Britain, as Roman power there had weakened since Julius Caesar had invaded nearly a century before. Beyond this, he established Roman colonies on the frontiers of the empire, annexed several territories in North Africa (including Thrace and Mauritania), and made Judea a province. Claudius’s rule stands out in other aspects as well. He paid great attention to Rome’s judicial system and religious policy, and the Empire’s infrastructure was improved during his reign.