Thomas Block

Apparently everybody was an Aryan/Scythian

Reviewed: 02-12-24

It is impossible to take this work seriously. Based on a handful of words, predominately the word Aryan, the author seeks to find that word in almost all ancient cultures as a self-designation which always means Royal Scythian descent. Thus the Medes, Persians, Chinese, Koreans all called themselves Aryans. They also were bilingual in their native language and Scythian (though for some reason they always recorded themselves only in their native language). They also had no agency, only the Scythians had that, just as only the Scythians developed true philosophy.
I could go on but there is little point. The Scythians did play some role in transmitting cultural traits to other cultures, but it is almost impossible to tell what that really was from this book. On a positive note, the narrator has a very pleasant voice and does a Heraclean job of pronunciation,

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1 person found this helpful

The man-hating gets tiring after awhile

Reviewed: 05-14-23

I started out really enjoying this listen. A smart, insightful, cutting analysis of Ancient Greek myth. As the stories went i began to notice how Haynes would select and focus on variants and incidents that had a strong theme of women being oppressed (mostly by men). While I valued this as a corrective to a too-male-centric perspective that has been the predominant perspective in the past, it goes too far in the opposite extreme. Haynes perspective seems to me as partisan and one-sided as the earlier writings she is reacting against. In analyzing the myth of Orpheus and Eurydike, we end on a modern poem about what a self-absorbed sh*t he is. Really? No mention of Rilke’s incredible modern poem, this instead? Her reading of Medea’s toxic femininity as sympathetic. Surely there is a broader perspective that synthesizes a more-encompassing gendered reading of these myths. Unfortunately I did not find it in this listen.

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1 person found this helpful

Insightful look into lives in the Ancient Near East

Reviewed: 04-18-23

This is by far the best audiobook on the Ancient Near East. The author tells the history of the region from the 4th millennium BC to the Persian conquest by giving us snapshots of people’s lives throughout the time frame. These are told from the cuneiform tablets found and show the amazing details about those lives that can be deduced from these tablets. So one gets both a sense of the larger sweep of the history combined with an intimate portrait of the lives of specific individuals. The narration is enhanced by the author herself (an eminent scholar in the field) performing it. She has a very pleasing and warm voice. Highly recommended.

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5 people found this helpful

Short on actual discussion of Babylon

Reviewed: 01-30-23

You would think a book with the title Babylon would be about, you know, Babylon and the ancient Near East. Instead, this is more an account by a journalist whose has read some books about the ancient Near East, describing his insights and anecdotes of research. These "insights" are either 2nd hand or 2nd rate, regurgitating partially understood or obsolete perspectives, applying modern "relevance" to the materials, and a failure to look at things more on the terms of the materials themselves (which he is unqualified for). I suppose I should have checked out the book more before buying it. On a positive note, the narrator is excellent.

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1 person found this helpful

Disappointing

Reviewed: 01-27-23

I was really looking forward to this listen. An 18 hour scholarly exposition of the Achaemenid empire! An illuminating exploration of this extremely interesting period in history. Instead, I gave up after a few hours. The Introduction is for some reason a rant about out the Greeks and British imperialist have ruined the history of this period. Then a statement of how this book is instead going to be an informed exposition based on the real, Persian sources (Great!). Instead the actual chapters are either those same Greek sources or stuff he is just making up! He knows what Mandane told to Cyrus and how Cyrus received the information????! He knows how Cyrus felt looking out at his garden? When it comes to interpretation, he is at best a 2nd-rate mind (and often contradicts himself within a page or two-Persian history did not have dynastic disputes which is why it didn't decay and fall. Ugh-Cambyses/Bardiya to Darius was not a dynastic dispute?) The strength of the empire was that it was I, Claudius told 500 years earlier? I was hoping at least to get a detailed narrative of facts and sources despite the interpretation but there is just too much of the later (and the imagining of what went on in the mind of the characters) to make this worthwhile. On a postive note, I really did like hearing the pronunciation of all of the Persian names.

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8 people found this helpful

Great narration and translation

Reviewed: 05-16-22

The translation by Flynn is an excellent balance of clarity yet faithful word choice. Narrator does an excellent job. Highly recommend.

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Very insightful analysis

Reviewed: 05-11-22

Irving Finkel here reads his on book on the Flood tradition, starting with the cuneiform sources. Finkel is one of the foremost scholars in cuneiform studies, and has a very delightful style in talking about the material. I found it an enchanting listen, helped by Finkel's melodious voice. Finkel shows how he thinks through the fragmentary evidence and manages to squeeze an amazing amount of information from them. Highly recommended.

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Modern translation, but narrator not to my taste

Reviewed: 03-03-22

The translation is recent and is more accurate than the older Guest translation. I was really interested in an audio version to hear the pronunciations of the many Welsh names. My dissatisfaction is there is something about the narrator’s voice that i find unpleasant to listen to. Others may not find this so, in which case i would recommend this title for them.

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One of the best audiobooks I have listened to

Reviewed: 03-01-22

This is a great audiobook. First, this is one of the great novels of the ancient world. It tells of the ribald misadventures of a traveler turned into a donkey as a result of his curiosity in magic and the supernatural. The translation is from 1914, Bohn Classical Library. Second, Jonathan Keeble narrates an innumerable set of English accents that is simply a wonder to listen to. This is one of the best narrations I have ever listened to! It really adds a liveliness to the translation that I would never have experienced by reading it to myself. A tour de force.

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