Preview
  • Lives of the Twelve Caesars

  • By: Suetonius
  • Narrated by: Derek Jacobi
  • Length: 7 hrs and 13 mins
  • 4.1 out of 5 stars (80 ratings)

Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Lives of the Twelve Caesars

By: Suetonius
Narrated by: Derek Jacobi
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $19.65

Buy for $19.65

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.

Publisher's summary

Suetonius wrote his Lives of the Twelve Caesars in the reign of Vespasian around 70AD. He chronicled the extraordinary careers of Julius, Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, Nero, Vespasian, and Domitian and the rest in technicolour terms. They presented some high and low times at the heart of the Roman Empire. The accounts provide us with perspicacious insights into the men as much as their reigns, and it was from Suetoniaus that subsequent writers such as Robert Graves drew so much of their material.

(P)2005 NAXOS AudioBooks Ltd.; ©2005 NAXOS AudioBooks Ltd.
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

What listeners say about Lives of the Twelve Caesars

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    40
  • 4 Stars
    18
  • 3 Stars
    15
  • 2 Stars
    6
  • 1 Stars
    1
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    25
  • 4 Stars
    11
  • 3 Stars
    5
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    26
  • 4 Stars
    8
  • 3 Stars
    6
  • 2 Stars
    2
  • 1 Stars
    0

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

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Good introduction in shortened form.

I wouldn't call this a kids' book by any means, but definitely a good book to get a base understanding. Much shorter. I started listening to another longer version, and was very lost after Augustus (I could only follow until that point because of previous knowledge).

Great starting point if you want to listen to the longer versions, but have very little background in the subject.

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

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

Masterful

It felt like I was a contemporary roman listening to a wise and educated man tell the stories of the Caesars.

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

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

Derek Jacobi knocks it out of the Park

This is the finest reading of a Roman primary resource (book) I've ever heard. Derek Jacobi makes Seutonius come alive, almost like you are talking with Seutonius. Here his outstanding work in the BBC series "I, Claudius" really pays off. He knows the material inside and out. I marveled at his performance on this audio book.

Anyone who knows Roman history knows there are flaws with Seutonius; some of the information here is true; some is court gossip, rumor or innuendo. However, it is an important work, warts and all.

If you love Roman history, this is worth a try. There are so many wild, interesting and somewhat crazy anecdotes here. And some real History.

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

Translation doubts

Jacobi reads beautifully (he played Claudius, one of the Caesars in question), but Naxos, the publisher, seems strangely coy about the translator--not even in its catalog does it reveal whose English version Jacobi is reading. It's certainly not the celebrated Robert Graves translation (for that go to the Audio Connoisseurs edition) but a far looser one, and, of course, heavily abridged. Information about the translator would seem a basic courtesy to the buyer. This buyer, at least, is disappointed by the lack of it.

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

34 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars

children's version

This is the 7 hour, children's version. Do not purchase. Buy the 14 hour version instead.

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars

Reader is distracting

I found myself fixated on the reader's pronounciation rather than the book itself. Think Pontius Pilate/Michael Palin from the movie "Life of Brian", because I do whenever I listen to it.

Perhaps the choice of reader was intentional.

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

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

5 people found this helpful