Ancient Empires before Alexander
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Narrated by:
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Robert L. Dise Jr.
About this listen
Complete your knowledge of the ancient world with this comprehensive look at the dozen empires that flourished in the 2,000 years before the conquests of Alexander the Great. Over the course of 36 insightful lectures, you'll follow the Egyptians, the Mycenaean Greeks, the Persians, the Carthaginians, and others as they rise to glory, create administrative and military structures, clash with one another, and eventually collapse.
Professor Dise immerses you in the political, administrative, and military details of these thrilling civilizations, analyzing three basic questions: How did this particular empire emerge? How was it governed and defended? How and why did it ultimately fall? These questions raise a host of profound issues on the growth, development, and failures of vast imperial systems.
Grounded in a chronological approach, you'll find no better guide through the palatial halls, administrative offices, and war-torn battlefields of these empires than Professor Dise. Each lecture is packed with a range of rich sources on which our current understanding of the ancient Near East rests, including cuneiform tablets, colorful narratives, and archaeological remains.
As you comb through these intriguing records, you quickly become more informed about how the past is recorded and passed down to subsequent generations. Spanning thousands of years of human history and encompassing regions both familiar and forgotten, this course is a remarkable tour through the farthest reaches of the ancient world - in all its marvelous diversity.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your My Library section along with the audio.
©2009 The Teaching Company, LLC (P)2009 The Great CoursesListeners also enjoyed...
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Flannery O'Connor and the Scandal of Faith
- By: Jessica Hooten Wilson, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Jessica Hooten Wilson
- Length: 3 hrs and 5 mins
- Original Recording
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Across six revealing lectures, Professor Jessica Hooten Wilson will introduce you to one of the 20th century’s most fascinating and divisive writers in Flannery O’Connor and the Scandal of Faith. Beginning with an overview of her brief but remarkable life, Professor Wilson will then take you through an exploration of themes in O’Connor’s work and the hallmarks of her literary style. You’ll get a clearer picture of O’Connor’s historical and geographical context while digging into how her stories can transcend time and place.
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The author reading her own book.
- By James T Casey on 12-16-24
By: Jessica Hooten Wilson, and others
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The Pagan World
- Ancient Religions Before Christianity
- By: Hans-Friedrich Mueller, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Hans-Friedrich Mueller
- Length: 12 hrs and 34 mins
- Original Recording
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In The Pagan World: Ancient Religions Before Christianity, you will meet the fascinating, ancient polytheistic peoples of the Mediterranean and beyond, their many gods and goddesses, and their public and private worship practices, as you come to appreciate the foundational role religion played in their lives. Professor Hans-Friedrich Mueller, of Union College in Schenectady, New York, makes this ancient world come alive in 24 lectures with captivating stories of intrigue, artifacts, illustrations, and detailed descriptions from primary sources of intriguing personalities.
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The Pagan World
- By arnold e andersen md Dr Andersen on 03-28-20
By: Hans-Friedrich Mueller, and others
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The Roman Empire: From Augustus to the Fall of Rome
- By: Gregory S. Aldrete, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Gregory S. Aldrete
- Length: 12 hrs and 41 mins
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The Roman Empire: From Augustus to the Fall of Rome traces the breathtaking history from the empire’s foundation by Augustus to its Golden Age in the 2nd century CE through a series of ever-worsening crises until its ultimate disintegration. Taught by acclaimed Professor Gregory S. Aldrete of the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, these 24 captivating lectures offer you the chance to experience this story like never before, incorporating the latest historical insights that challenge our previous notions of Rome’s decline.
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Gregory S. Aldrete is a treasure
- By Laurel Tucker on 02-04-19
By: Gregory S. Aldrete, and others
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Fingerprints of the Gods
- The Quest Continues
- By: Graham Hancock
- Narrated by: Graham Hancock
- Length: 18 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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Fingerprints of the Gods is the revolutionary rewrite of history that has persuaded millions of listeners throughout the world to change their preconceptions about the history behind modern society. An intellectual detective story, this unique history audiobook directs probing questions at orthodox history, presenting disturbing new evidence that historians have tried - but failed - to explain.
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Classic in Historical Mysteries
- By Kelly on 09-05-19
By: Graham Hancock
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What listeners say about Ancient Empires before Alexander
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Elle Cast
- 01-02-21
Great narrative of the ancient world
Easiest-to-follow ancient history book/course that I've heard. highly recommend to get your bearings on the topic.
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- GEORGE R. FISHER
- 11-28-22
An interesting recitation of the early civilizations of the Mediterranean and Persia from Sumer to Carthage.
Not that I haven’t heard and read much of this before, but who can keep it straight? We all know Hammurabi, Nebuchadnezzar and Sennacherib, maybe, but who were Shamshi-Adad, Ashurbanipal and Suppilumiuma?
He presents one hypothesis the I found astonishing: the Sea Peoples were Mycenaeans. The story goes that the Heroes of Troy returned to their scattered city states and turned on each other in a civil war, the destruction of Sandy Pylos and Mycenae itself was perpetrated not by the mysterious Sea Peoples as I had thought, but by themselves, but the result was the same: the collapse of the economy and social structures. The remaining warriors and their destitute families took to the sea. The tablets of Ugarit speak of only seven ships, not a huge armada of an empire on the march. Then there’s the archeological evidence of the Philistines: their remains very closely resemble Mycenaean. And who are the Philistines? They were the remnant of the Sea People invaders of Egypt defeated and exiled by Ramses III, just a few steps ahead of Moses who dallied for 40 years in The Sinai. So … young David fought a grandson of Homer’s heroes? Certainly the story of Odysseus is a story of a pirate, why not also the sons of Menalaeus and Agamemnon?
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- Shane Ravenbane
- 06-20-23
Very Dry
Most of these courses I am barreling through in a couple of days. this one took me over a week because of the lackluster way the material is presented. Even so, it is a good course and covers a lot of material.
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- merandia
- 10-13-23
A fantastic sampler of Ancient Empires.
Absolutely loved this dive into various empires pre-Alexander. I put this on with out much enthusiasm as I typically listen to discussions on very specific periods and people's. I was a fool. I was absolutely enthralled by this presentation. Please add more! Love this professor.
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- Dragonfly Samurai
- 08-27-17
Solid Instruction on Ancient Med. Empires
Any additional comments?
This course is great to guide you through the ebb and flow of ancient in Empires of the Mediterranean region. It doesn't end when Alexander dies but continues to speak on the Roman Empire as well. The Professor may incorrectly pronounce a few words here and there, but perhaps his education has taught him differently, and I am the one who is incorrect. I enjoyed this course and found it to be a great stepping stone as I continue learning about history, and now target each individual history of the Empires spoken of in this course.
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- Kevin
- 07-17-18
Captivating and Haunting
All of these lectures were great. However the two lectures on Mycenaean civilization are two of the greatest lectures I've ever listened to. They are captivating and truly haunting, especially at the very end where he reads the contemporaneous account of the very last days and of the human sacrifices offered to Hera and Zeus as a final plea for salvation.
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- sara yasmin sternbach
- 05-23-23
Wonderful
Very interesting, informative and interesting. I enjoyed it very much and will listen to it again!
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- Stef
- 12-04-17
Thoroughly enjoyable.
Professor Dire explains interesting facts in great detail. A few corny one-liners thrown in too.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Travis
- 01-25-16
the Dream of Empire.
great courses isn't just a title this is truly a great course. I enjoyed every minute of these lectures listening for hours at a time
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5 people found this helpful
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- CHS
- 02-27-20
fabulously good
wow. this prof has both a superb mastery of the subject and extremely effective communication skills. I could hardly stop listening. I wish I had gotten his grounding in the subjects he addresses a long time ago. thank you thank you chs
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1 person found this helpful