The History of Ancient Rome
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The History of Ancient Rome
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Narrated by:
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Garrett G. Fagan
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Written by:
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Garrett G. Fagan
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The Great Courses
About this listen
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 CoursesWhat listeners say about The History of Ancient Rome
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Liam
- 2019-08-15
Another incredible course from this team!
Great Courses is a huge part of my life now! Every day I learn something new and with real academic detail instead of YouTube entertainment format.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Walter
- 2022-08-21
Outstanding course
So insightful and very enjoyable. The topic is very well covered and easy to listen to. Thanks so much
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Langer MD
- 2022-09-13
Spectacular AudioCourse
One-time TarHeel and active (at the time of recording) PennState Professor of Classical Studies Garrett G. Fagan designs & executes a straight-up brilliant Undergraduate-level *survey* of Roman history (Yes, it's 48 lectures - and 24 hours long - but the series is a relatively superficial review tackling a HUGE topic.. the dearth of in-depth discussion is completely understandable).
Fagan remarkably sticks to his syllabus - organizing & stating the factual events & well-established societal and political characteristics - but isn't afraid to inject his own opinions (while making clear where they are HIS), tackles areas of controversy & debate among historians, and judiciously selects fascinating & entertaining anecdotes to bring names and dates to life. In addition, the producers make it clear that they're recording an actual lecture (you can occasionally hear audience members laughing out loud at Fagan's off-the-cuff homorous comments, for example). This isn't a scholar reading his dissertation into a microphone in a studio somewhere - it's an award winning teacher talking to a curious audience. 👍👍
Professor Fagan takes some uncomfortably long pauses to refocus his thoughts at times (the delays are corrected by setting playback speed at 1.15X), but his cadence is otherwise great and his diction, clarity, and tone are beyond reproach. In addition, Fagan's light Irish accent is easy to listen to for hours.
The appended PDF is furthermore one of the best that I have encountered (and I have listened to a number of these courses). It could have used some maps, but the lecture-by-lecture summaries are excellent, the timeline is absolutely invaluable, and the Glossaries of terms and notable figures are much appreciated. 'The Learning Company'/'The Great Courses' outdid itself on this project.
Overall, this is one of the best lecture series that I have come across. 'The History Of Ancient Rome' is obviously introductory - but exactly what I was hoping for when I downloaded it (you don't need to be even passably familiar with the topic to get a ton of edification from it - as is the case with many of these audiocourses). I am very grateful to Audible for offering it as a 'Plus' selection.. because this 9.5/10 star recording would easily rate a Credit.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 2017-12-20
Excellent
I really enjoyed this. It was my first exposure to “the great courses” and if others are on par with this, I know I won’t be disappointed.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 2019-06-20
Enjoyable history
Well laid out history and easy to follow. I was recently in Italy and found the history interesting. These lectures are very much like a good story. Not so deep that I was lost. I listened about 1 hour a day. I very much enjoyed the lecture for the fact the speaker would say the history may not be accurate but is widely accepted.. Sometimes gave multiple viewpoints on a topic as not everything can be confirmed as proof. Enjoyed.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Mark Harcourt
- 2018-12-03
very well rounded survey
An excellent general history of one of Europe's most influential early societies. Touches on various debates on Roman history and gives a solid foundation for more specific study.
Some trouble with vocal modulation, making some passages difficult over external background noises, but overall well presented.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Jeff Longon
- 2018-09-13
A very entertaining presentation.
I found this series of lectures to be both very entertaining as well as very informative. The lecturer presents the material in a easy to grasp fashion while keeping the listener engaged. Well worth a listen to anyone interested in this era of history. #Audible1
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Jordan
- 2024-06-26
Highly Recommend
This was a great course and I learned a lot. The course was very well structured and the speaker presented the information very well.
Perhaps my only disappointment is there were topics the speaker couldn't dive into more due to time constraints (the course is already 21 hr+ long). This course did a fantastic job on the timeline of Rome and now I will have to look elsewhere get into the intricate details of the timeline.
I highly recommend this course and will be using Great Course for future history study.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Peter
- 2018-09-01
great, slightly dry
Very comprehensible, probably the right balance of detail & survey for such an enormous subject. Compared to other teaching company lecturers, Fagan is not the most bouyant speaker, but he does a good job.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Grant
- 2020-09-16
Short but sweet
Necessarily but unfortunately brief survey of ancient Rome. I would have preferred more time on the third century crisis and emperors like Aurelian and Diocletian.
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