SPQR
A History of Ancient Rome
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Narrated by:
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Phyllida Nash
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By:
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Mary Beard
About this listen
A sweeping, revisionist history of the Roman Empire from one of our foremost classicists.
Ancient Rome was an imposing city even by modern standards, a sprawling imperial metropolis of more than a million inhabitants, a "mixture of luxury and filth, liberty and exploitation, civic pride and murderous civil war" that served as the seat of power for an empire that spanned from Spain to Syria. Yet how did all this emerge from what was once an insignificant village in central Italy?
In SPQR, world-renowned classicist Mary Beard narrates the unprecedented rise of a civilization that even 2,000 years later still shapes many of our most fundamental assumptions about power, citizenship, responsibility, political violence, empire, luxury, and beauty. From the foundational myth of Romulus and Remus to 212 CE, nearly a thousand years later, when the emperor Caracalla gave Roman citizenship to every free inhabitant of the empire, SPQR (the abbreviation of "The Senate and People of Rome") not just examines how we think of ancient Rome but challenges the comfortable historical perspectives that have existed for centuries by exploring how the Romans thought of themselves: how they challenged the idea of imperial rule, how they responded to terrorism and revolution, and how they invented a new idea of citizenship and nation.
Opening the audiobook in 63 BCE with the famous clash between the populist aristocrat Catiline and Cicero, the renowned politician and orator, Beard animates this "terrorist conspiracy", which was aimed at the very heart of the republic, demonstrating how this singular event would presage the struggle between democracy and autocracy that would come to define much of Rome's subsequent history. Illustrating how a classical democracy yielded to a self-confident and self-critical empire, SPQR reintroduces us, though in a wholly different way, to famous and familiar characters.
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Acclaimed classics scholar Edith Hall's Introducing the Ancient Greeks is the first book to offer a synthesis of the entire ancient Greek experience, from the rise of the Mycenaean kingdoms of the sixteenth century BC to the final victory of Christianity over paganism in AD 391. Each of the ten chapters visits a different Greek community at a different moment during the twenty centuries of ancient Greek history.
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Surveying the Greeks
- By Jolene on 05-31-18
By: Edith Hall
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Hadrian and the Triumph of Rome
- By: Anthony Everitt
- Narrated by: John Curless
- Length: 14 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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Acclaimed British historian Anthony Everitt delivers a compelling account of the former orphan who became Roman emperor in A.D. 117 after the death of his guardian Trajan. Hadrian strengthened Rome by ending territorial expansion and fortifying existing borders. And - except for the uprising he triggered in Judea - his strength-based diplomacy brought peace to the realm after a century of warfare.
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A Biography "too tall for the height of the cella"
- By Darwin8u on 08-23-12
By: Anthony Everitt
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Ancient Greece, Second Edition
- From Prehistoric to Hellenistic Times
- By: Thomas R. Martin
- Narrated by: John Lescault
- Length: 12 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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In this compact yet comprehensive history of ancient Greece, Thomas R. Martin brings alive Greek civilization from its Stone Age roots to the fourth century BC. Focusing on the development of the Greek city-state and the society, culture, and architecture of Athens in its Golden Age, Martin integrates political, military, social, and cultural history in a book that will appeal to students and general audiences alike. Now in its second edition, this classic work now features updates throughout.
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Just the way I like it!
- By TracyB on 07-25-18
By: Thomas R. Martin
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The Roman Republic: A Captivating Guide to the Rise and Fall of the Roman Republic, SPQR and Roman Politicians Such as Julius Caesar and Cicero
- By: Captivating History
- Narrated by: Duke Holm
- Length: 2 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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When we think of ancient Rome, the first notion that comes to mind is the one of the empire, followed by the image of a mighty emperor, his legions, colossal buildings, and the Gladiators (or the rhetoric and poetry, depending on your preferences). Some may recall the image of a “unified” Europe under a single sovereign - the emperor of Rome. However, Rome did not become remarkable at this considerably late phase. In fact, many historians see the history of Rome under the Emperors as a long, gradual decline. It was during the republic that Rome gained an empire.
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SERIOUSLY bad, 3rd grade reading level.
- By Jake on 02-26-19
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Ancient History
- A Captivating Guide to Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome
- By: Captivating History
- Narrated by: Duke Holm, Timothy Burke
- Length: 6 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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Three captivating manuscripts in one audiobook: Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece, and Ancient Rome.
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Think about our ancient cultures
- By fiona on 11-02-18
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Ancient Rome
- By: Thomas R. Martin
- Narrated by: John Lescault
- Length: 8 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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With commanding skill, Thomas R. Martin tells the remarkable and dramatic story of how a tiny, poor, and threatened settlement grew to become, during its height, the dominant power in the Mediterranean world for 500 years. Encompassing the period from Rome's founding in the eighth century BC through Justinian's rule in the sixth century AD, he offers a distinctive perspective on the Romans and their civilization by employing fundamental Roman values as a lens through which to view both their rise and spectacular fall.
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Great review and understanding of Christianity
- By David on 12-08-20
By: Thomas R. Martin
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Domina
- The Women Who Made Imperial Rome
- By: Guy de la Bédoyère
- Narrated by: Julian Elfer
- Length: 12 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, and Nero - these are the names history associates with the early Roman Empire. Yet, not a single one of these emperors was the blood son of his predecessor. In this captivating history, a prominent scholar of the era documents the Julio-Claudian women whose bloodline, ambition, and ruthlessness made it possible for the emperors' line to continue. Eminent scholar Guy de la Bedoyere, author of Praetorian, asserts that the women behind the scenes - including Livia, Octavia, and the elder and younger Agrippina - were the true backbone of the dynasty.
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Fills a Large Gap in Roman History!
- By John Allred on 12-01-19
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The Fall of the Roman Empire
- A New History of Rome and the Barbarians
- By: Peter Heather
- Narrated by: Allan Robertson
- Length: 21 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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The death of the Roman Empire is one of the perennial mysteries of world history. Now, in this groundbreaking book, Peter Heather proposes a stunning new solution: Centuries of imperialism turned the neighbors Rome called barbarians into an enemy capable of dismantling an Empire that had dominated their lives for so long. A leading authority on the late Roman Empire and on the barbarians, Heather relates the extraordinary story of how Europe's barbarians, transformed by centuries of contact with Rome on every possible level, eventually pulled the empire apart.
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A New HIstory but not a better history
- By Mario on 03-28-14
By: Peter Heather
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Ancient Rome
- The Rise and Fall of An Empire
- By: Simon Baker
- Narrated by: Chris MacDonnell
- Length: 17 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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This is the story of the greatest empire the world has ever known. Simon Baker charts the rise and fall of the world's first superpower, focusing on six momentous turning points that shaped Roman history. Welcome to Rome as you've never seen it before - awesome and splendid, gritty and squalid. From the conquest of the Mediterranean beginning in the third century BC to the destruction of the Roman Empire at the hands of barbarian invaders some seven centuries later, we discover the most critical episodes in Roman history.
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Clear and dramatic
- By Tad Davis on 08-01-17
By: Simon Baker
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Pagans
- The End of Traditional Religion and the Rise of Christianity
- By: James J. O'Donnell
- Narrated by: David Drummond
- Length: 7 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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Pagans explores the rise of Christianity from a surprising and unique viewpoint: that of the people who witnessed their ways of life destroyed by what seemed then a powerful religious cult. These "pagans" were actually pious Greeks, Romans, Syrians, and Gauls, who observed the traditions of their ancestors. To these devout polytheists, Christians who worshiped only one deity were immoral atheists who believed that a splash of water on the deathbed could erase a lifetime of sin.
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19th Century Scholarship
- By Marianne on 10-16-18
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The Restoration of Rome
- Barbarian Popes and Imperial Pretenders
- By: Peter Heather
- Narrated by: Allan Robertson
- Length: 18 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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In AD 476, the last of Rome's emperors, known as "Augustulus", was deposed by a barbarian general, the son of one of Attila the Hun's henchmen. With the imperial vestments dispatched to Constantinople, the curtain fell on the Roman empire in Western Europe, its territories divided among successor kingdoms constructed around barbarian military manpower. But, if the Roman Empire was dead, Romans across much of the old empire still lived, holding on to their lands, their values, and their institutions.
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Byzantine Empire Stands Tall!
- By Placeholder on 05-22-14
By: Peter Heather
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This foray into art history is a disappointment.
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Well Written and Detailed
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Wasn't sure but won me over
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Como culminación de cincuenta años de estudio e investigación sobre la antigua Roma, Mary Beard, profesora de la Universidad de Cambridge, nos ofrece una magistral visión de conjunto de su historia: una historia que, nos dice, «al cabo de dos mil años, sigue siendo la base de nuestra cultura y nuestra política, de cómo vemos el mundo y nuestro lugar en él».
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Tremendamente completo
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The Roman Republic was the most remarkable state in history. What began as a small community of peasants camped among marshes and hills ended up ruling the known world. Rubicon paints a vivid portrait of the Republic at the climax of its greatness—the same greatness which would herald the catastrophe of its fall.
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Story of the Fall of the republic told in a very lively manner.
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The Roman Triumph
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It followed every major military victory in ancient Rome: the successful general drove through the streets to the temple of Jupiter on the Capitoline Hill; behind him streamed his raucous soldiers; in front were his prisoners, as well as the booty he'd captured, from enemy ships and precious statues to plants and animals from the conquered territory. Occasionally there was so much on display that the show lasted two or three days. A radical reexamination of this most extraordinary of ancient ceremonies, this book explores the magnificence of the Roman triumph, but also its darker side.
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Did Mary Beard really write this book?
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Really needs a PDF
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Twenty-five hundred years after it first rose above Athens, the Parthenon remains one of the wonders of the world, its beginnings and strange turns of fortune over millennia a perpetual source of curiosity, controversy, and intrigue. At once an entrancing cultural history and a congenial guide for tourists, armchair travelers, and amateur archaeologists alike, this audiobook conducts listeners through the storied past and towering presence of the most famous building in the world.
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She made a scholarly subject so comprehensible for lay-people.
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The Other Side of History: Daily Life in the Ancient World
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Look beyond the abstract dates and figures, kings and queens, and battles and wars that make up so many historical accounts. Over the course of 48 richly detailed lectures, Professor Garland covers the breadth and depth of human history from the perspective of the so-called ordinary people, from its earliest beginnings through the Middle Ages.
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Tantalizing time trip
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Tracing the extraordinary trajectory of Julius Caesar's life, Adrian Goldsworthy covers not only the great Roman emperor's accomplishments as charismatic orator, conquering general, and powerful dictator but also lesser-known chapters. Ultimately, Goldsworthy realizes the full complexity of Caesar's character and shows why his political and military leadership continues to resonate some 2,000 years later.
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Caesar and his times
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The Roman Republic was one of the most remarkable achievements in the history of civilization. After its founding in 509 BCE, the Romans refused to allow a single leader to seize control of the state and grab absolute power. The Roman commitment to cooperative government and peaceful transfers of power was unmatched in the history of the ancient world. But by the year 133 BCE, the republican system was unable to cope with the vast empire Rome now ruled.
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Interesting, albeit a bit dry
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Confronting the Classics
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One of the world's leading historians provides a revolutionary tour of the Ancient World, dusting off the classics for the twenty-first century. Mary Beard, drawing on thirty years of teaching and writing about Greek and Roman history, provides a panoramic portrait of the classical world, a book in which we encounter not only Cleopatra and Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar and Hannibal, but also the common people - the millions of inhabitants of the Roman Empire, the slaves, soldiers, and women.
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Annoying narrator
- By Chris E on 02-27-15
By: Mary Beard
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The Colosseum
- Wonders of the World, Book 19
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Byron and Hitler were equally entranced by Rome's most famous monument, the Colosseum. Mid-Victorians admired the hundreds of varieties of flowers in its crannies and occasionally shuddered at its reputation for contagion, danger, and sexual temptation. Today it is the highlight of a tour of Italy for more than three million visitors a year, a concert arena for the likes of Paul McCartney, and a national symbol of opposition to the death penalty. Its ancient history is chock full of romantic but erroneous myths.
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Entertaining history tour with a smooth UK narrator
- By JW on 12-24-23
By: Mary Beard, and others
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Classics
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We are all classicists - we come into touch with the classics on a daily basis: in our culture, politics, medicine, architecture, language, and literature. What are the true roots of these influences, however, and how do our interpretations of these aspects of the classics differ from their original reality?
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Beard guides the reader through the Classics
- By Darwin8u on 10-29-24
By: Mary Beard, and others
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Babylon
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- By: Paul Kriwaczek
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
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Civilization was born 8,000 years ago, between the floodplains of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, when migrants from the surrounding mountains and deserts began to create increasingly sophisticated urban societies. In the cities that they built, half of human history took place. In Babylon, Paul Kriwaczek tells the story of Mesopotamia from the earliest settlements seven thousand years ago to the eclipse of Babylon in the sixth century BCE. Bringing the people of this land to life in vibrant detail, the author chronicles the rise and fall of power during this period.
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Solid overview 3000 years of history
- By Alsor2000 on 07-19-20
By: Paul Kriwaczek
What listeners say about SPQR
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Gino
- 12-27-15
Very well done
Very well thought out explanation of the history of Rome through the initial centuries of the common era .
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3 people found this helpful
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- Bella Ciao
- 10-12-16
Delightful
This book is so fun. Beard makes this time vivid and exciting. I got a good sense of how the inclusiveness and assimulation worked to build a great economic dynamo.
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3 people found this helpful
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- R. J Kaucher
- 08-06-16
An interesting and amazing book
My only complaint is that it was too short. I'd have listened to another two hours gladly.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Ken Kleinman
- 09-14-19
really could have used an audio editor
Fascinating, even with knowledge of Roman history. Reader misses emphasis in some sentences, other errors.
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2 people found this helpful
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- eyeland
- 04-15-16
Illuminating
The book engaged my imagination and made me see in my mind the streets and life in ancient Rome
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2 people found this helpful
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- J. R. Valery
- 09-04-16
Very good book
Very well written and researched, and very well read, except for the pronunciation of Latin words and phrases, which is absolutely atrocious.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Ken
- 07-15-17
Good History Lost in Poor Narration
The approach to the study of first millennial Rome was creative and interesting. Unfortunately, I found the performance to greatly diminish my overall enjoyment of the book. The dynamics of the recording are not good, sometimes so soft as to make it impossible to decipher what is being said. And I frequently found Ms. Nash's accent to be difficult to understand, which compounded the problem. I was so looking forward to hearing this; what a disappointment.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Victoria Smith
- 09-01-19
Not what I was looking for, but not bad
I wanted more information about the Caesars particularly. Not that this didn’t have that, but it was much more about the politics and less about the Emperors. Kinda felt about this as I did A Feast for Crows; I understand why it’s important and good to know, but not as interesting as the battle and adventure filled books . I learned a lot, but found it textbookish and mainly covered the first 700 years of Rome. That was interesting, but as I said, not the most intriguing years for me. Still a great and informative read.
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- Paul
- 05-25-16
Crassusnextusumbelicusfortuitous Us
This was a very interesting look at ancient Rome but in audible form it comes up a bit short. The narrator is not the author but let's forgive that because narrator does a great job. But how many Latin/Roman names can you keep straight. There's another one coming at you every 30 seconds. I haven't seen the printed version of this but I wonder if it contains pictures or statues of some of these guys (not much herstory(sic) here). The book was most interesting when the timeline intersected something I know at least a little: the assassination of Julius Caeser, the story from "I, Claudius", that's about it.
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- Nicholas
- 05-23-17
In-depth look at the Roman World
Not exactly an "easy" listen and not a book I'd recommend for a first time student of the Roman world and culture. However, it's very well researched and includes vast quotes and sources of authentic Roman era writing and clips of period speeches. She explores areas often overlooked in over Roman histories.
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