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The Histories
- The Persian Wars
- Narrated by: Charlton Griffin
- Length: 27 hrs and 58 mins
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Publisher's summary
Herodotus was a Greek historian born in Halicarnassus, subject at the time of the great Persian Empire. He lived in the fifth century BC (c. 484 - c. 425 BC), a contemporary of Socrates. He is often referred to as "The Father of History", a title originally conferred by Cicero.
Herodotus was the first historian known to have broken from Homeric tradition in order to treat historical subjects as a method of investigation, specifically by collecting his materials in a critical, systematic fashion and then arranging them into a chronological narrative. The Histories (also known as The Persian Wars) is the only work Herodotus is known to have produced. It is a record of his inquiry into the origins of the Greco-Persian Wars, including a wealth of geographical and ethnographical information. Some of his stories were fanciful and others inaccurate. Yet he states that he was reporting only what he was told. A sizable portion of the information he provided was later confirmed by historians and archaeologists.
Despite Herodotus' historical significance, very little is known of his personal life and academic history. The work is divided into nine sections, or "books". This version of The Histories is by A. D. Godley, first published in 1920.
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As the most celebrated European to explore Asia, Marco Polo was the original global traveler and the earliest bridge between East and West. A universal icon of adventure and discovery, he has inspired six centuries of popular fascination and spurious mythology. Now, from acclaimed author Laurence Bergreen, comes the first fully authoritative biography of one of the most enchanting figures in world history.
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Educational and Entertaining but a bit repetitive
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Beric the Briton
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- Narrated by: Jim Hodges
- Length: 13 hrs and 18 mins
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Beric, a boy chief of a British tribe, takes a prominent part in the insurrection against Rome under Queen Boadicea. These efforts are useless against the mighty Roman army. For a short time, Beric and his companions continue the fight but are ultimately defeated and taken as prisoners to Rome. Through the eyes of Beric, the listener learns of life in AD 61 Rome, the gladiatorial schools, the great fire, and life in Nero's court.
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A lot of interesting historical information
- By justkeepswimming on 06-12-19
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The Travels of Marco Polo
- By: Marco Polo, Rustichello da Pisa
- Narrated by: Peter Wickham
- Length: 10 hrs and 55 mins
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The Travels of Marco Polo is the classic account of Marco Polo's journey to China from Venice, and his discoveries as an emissary to the great Kublai Khan. Polo explores everywhere from Baghdad, Armenia and Russia to the Caspian Sea, the Gobi Desert and the small fishing villages of China, describing the geography, architecture and customs of these exotic places.
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Disappointing
- By Laura Harley on 05-22-20
By: Marco Polo, and others
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The Story of the Volsungs
- The Volsunga Saga
- By: Anonymous
- Narrated by: Antony Ferguson
- Length: 4 hrs and 34 mins
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Originally written in Icelandic in the 13th century AD by an anonymous author, The Story of The Volsungs is a legendary saga based on Norse mythology. The epic describes the legendary history and heroic feats of several generations of mythic Viking families and derives from many sources, including preexisting Edda, or heroic poems, Norse legends, historical events, and orally transmitted folklore. The saga is imbued throughout with themes of power, jealousy, love, vengeance, and fear.
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Passionate, Poetic, Bloody, Heroic, & Tragic Saga
- By Jefferson on 03-28-12
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Roman Mythology: Captivating Roman Myths of Roman Gods, Goddesses, Heroes and Mythological Creatures
- By: Matt Clayton
- Narrated by: Randy Whitlow
- Length: 3 hrs and 42 mins
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If you're looking for a collection of Roman myths that speaks to all ages then keep listening....Feats of strength and skill, monsters, magic, divine interventions, and the overcoming of impossible odds by larger-than-life figures all feature in this audiobook. The Roman myths contained in this collection will be brought to life so all the details are more than merely a bunch of dry facts. Not only does this audiobook offer captivating stories for you to enjoy, but it also gives you impressive knowledge about history.
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I'm Happy With This
- By Autumn in Spring on 09-15-18
By: Matt Clayton
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The Rise of Athens
- The Story of the World's Greatest Civilization
- By: Anthony Everitt
- Narrated by: Michael Page
- Length: 16 hrs and 25 mins
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Filled with tales of adventure and astounding reversals of fortune, The Rise of Athens celebrates the city-state that transformed the world - from the democratic revolution that marked its beginning through the city's political and cultural golden age to its decline into the ancient equivalent of a modern-day university town. Anthony Everitt constructs his history with unforgettable portraits of the talented, tricky, ambitious, and unscrupulous Athenians who fueled the city's rise.
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Good but not great. With some disturbing opinions.
- By Anthony on 06-25-19
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Alexander the Great
- By: Philip Freeman
- Narrated by: Michael Page
- Length: 12 hrs and 34 mins
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Alexander was born into the royal family of Macedonia, the kingdom that would soon rule over Greece. Tutored as a boy by Aristotle, Alexander had an inquisitive mind that would serve him well when he faced formidable obstacles during his military campaigns. Shortly after taking command of the army, he launched an invasion of the Persian Empire, and continued his conquests as far south as the deserts of Egypt and as far east as the mountains of present-day Pakistan and the plains of India.
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Great book!
- By BadGuidance on 06-18-17
By: Philip Freeman
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The History of the Peloponnesian War
- By: Thucydides
- Narrated by: Mike Rogers
- Length: 22 hrs and 36 mins
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The rivalry between two of the dominant city states of Ancient Greece, Athens and Sparta, erupted into a war lasting nearly 30 years and was to have a dramatic effect on the balance of power in the area. Between 431 and 404 BCE, the two cities battled it out on land and sea, aided by their alliances with neighbouring states: Athens’ Delian League vigorously opposed Sparta’s Peloponnesian League in a conflict which effectively involved the whole region.
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Full frontal of war, politics, diplomacy, destruction, plunder
- By Jeff Lacy on 05-27-20
By: Thucydides
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The Story of the Goths
- By: Henry Bradley
- Narrated by: Charlton Griffin
- Length: 9 hrs and 45 mins
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The Goths are the most enigmatic of all the ancient German tribes. Their name today is still widely in use for a variety of cultural and artistic movements. But unlike other famous German tribes whose names are still descriptive of nations they founded - the Franks, the Lombards, the Angles, the Saxons and the Alemanni - the Goths simply disappeared. The subject of Henry Bradley's splendid short history is tracing the rise, the migrations, and the impact of the Goths on European history along with their spectacular fall.
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Interesting Book about a little understood people
- By Mark on 07-29-15
By: Henry Bradley
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Alexander of Macedon
- By: Harold Lamb
- Narrated by: Charlton Griffin
- Length: 14 hrs and 58 mins
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The enigma of Alexander the Great has remained with us for 2,300 years. In spite of the best efforts of historians, Alexander is no less a mystery to us now than he probably was during his own lifetime. There was no one like him before or since. In the pages of Harold Lamb's intriguing Alexander of Macedon, we find some of the answers to the great riddle of his character.
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Read Arrian first
- By cbrann on 10-16-05
By: Harold Lamb
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Warlords of Ancient Mexico
- How the Mayans and Aztecs Ruled for More Than a Thousand Years
- By: Peter G. Tsouras
- Narrated by: Paul Christy
- Length: 11 hrs and 27 mins
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Learn the unbelievable true history of the great warrior tribes of Mexico. More than 13 centuries of incredible spellbinding history are detailed in this intriguing study of the rulers and warriors of Mexico. Dozens of these charismatic leaders of nations and armies are brought to life by the deep research and entertaining storytelling of Peter Tsouras. Tsouras introduces the reader to the colossal personalities of the period.
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Written in 1996. Narration disrespectful
- By Amazon Customer on 04-30-20
By: Peter G. Tsouras
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TABLE of CONTENTS here:
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One of the masterpieces of classical literature, the "Histories" describes how a small and quarrelsome band of Greek city states united to repel the might of the Persian empire. But while this epic struggle forms the core of his work, Herodotus' natural curiosity frequently gives rise to colorful digressions - a description of the natural wonders of Egypt; an account of European lake-dwellers; and far-fetched accounts of dog-headed men and gold-digging ants. With its kaleidoscopic blend of fact and legend, the "Histories" offers a compelling Greek view of the world of the fifth century BC.
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The historians of ancient Greece were pioneers of a new literary craft; their work stands among the world’s most enduring and important legacies and forms the foundation of a major modern discipline. This easy-to-follow edition includes new and newly revised translations of selections from Herodotus - often called the “father of history” - Thucydides, Xenophon, and Plutarch, the four greatest Greek innovators of historical narrative. Here the listener will find their most important, and most widely taught, passages collected in a single volume.
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Great material....
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The Iliad of Homer
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For thousands of years, Homer's ancient epic poem the
Iliad has enchanted readers from around the world. When you join Professor Vandiver for this lecture series on the Iliad, you'll come to understand what has enthralled and gripped so many people. Her compelling 12-lecture look at this literary masterpiece -whether it's the work of many authors or the "vision" of a single blind poet - makes it vividly clear why, after almost 3,000 years, the
Iliad remains not only among the greatest adventure stories ever told but also one of the most compelling meditations on the human condition ever written.
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Vandiver never disappoints
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The March of the Ten Thousand
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Translated by W. E. D. Rouse, The March of the Ten Thousand is one of the most admired and widely read pieces of ancient literature to come down to us. Xenophon employs a very simple, straightforward style to describe what is probably the most exciting military adventure ever undertaken. It is an epic of courage, faith and democratic principle.
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One of the great adventures in human history
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By: Xenophon
What listeners say about The Histories
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Melinda Powelson
- 12-30-18
best narrator ever
best narrator ever. book is good as well needs a good reader to make it good
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8 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Orchid
- 11-19-17
very Long
Great narration. It never ceases to amaze me how bloodthirsty these people were. I'm really surprised that Herodotus was allowed to live to travel and gather all these stories
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10 people found this helpful
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- Sandra Quaid
- 12-13-19
The father of history indeed
I can't believe I made it through school without ever reading Herodotus. I expected something dry and boring and difficult to listen to. I was so wrong. I really enjoyed this book and would recommend it to anyone who loves history or Greek mythology.
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1 person found this helpful
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- David W
- 08-08-22
Worth Every Moment
I waited most of my life knowing that I would read or listen to one of the greatest recorded histories of the Western World.
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- BPC
- 11-25-18
No wonder I could never get through it
I have tried to read this many times but so many odd names and places each with the son of son of ... much easier to listen to someone that knows the pronunciation, it flows better than reading it.
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7 people found this helpful
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- James A Clark Jr
- 03-15-21
great narration makes this book enjoyable
There is no way I could enjoy a book with all these hard names reading it, and I love ancient history. Thankfully They got a Narrator that is amazing.
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- David
- 07-12-23
Highly Recomend
Filled with interesting stories from Herodotus' travels, stories he heard, actions of the gods, and major events of the time. He gives his opinions on many of these stories from cyclops men in the North to fox sized ants that Indians collect gold from in the desert. He also recorded a great deal of fascinating customs and histories of the places he visited. After telling some of them he often gives his opinion and sometimes even simply says he doesn't believe it’s true.
Events that make up major parts of the book are the Ionian revolt against Persia and the Persian invasion of Greece. I was happily a little surprised by just how accurate the 2006 film 300 actually is.
The reading performance by Charlton Griffin was as great as usual and the clips of music between chapters were also great touches. I feel like it is exactly how this kind of history is meant to be presented.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Reader
- 11-17-18
Popular for a reason
Strange sex/religious/law traditions across the very colorful world of tribes and nations more than 2500 years ago. There are also many tales and fables. My favorite bit is Herodotus wondering why the Nile rises so consistently and he present 4 different theories from presumably fellow Nile enthusiasts although he is pretty skeptical and dismantles them.
Fate/gods/prophecy and some philosophy are very present in the story especially the oracles.
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- Dean Marais
- 08-14-20
Soft lands breed soft men
Great and entertaining history. Recommend. Especially first two books and last three.
"Soft lands breed soft men... [better] to be rulers on a barren mountain side than dwelling in tilled valleys to be slaves to others."
Herodotus
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- Mother Brown
- 01-14-24
Herodotus is great! This reader is super pompous
I'm a classicist and needed to do a quick reread of this translation of Herodotus for a specific class. I love the original text and author -- so many great anecdotes! And it really works out loud, as it was originally experienced (probably). The translation is old fashioned and doesn't really capture the liveliness of the Greek (would recommend the more recent one by Tom Holland instead, but I don't think that's on audible, you can get it in paperback). I enjoyed listening, because the material is so great. But the reader, who I know is beloved by many, seemed to me AWFUL. He really mangles many of the names -- there are a lot of names! And not only does he have very inconsistent approach to pronouncing them in general -- like, are you going to Latinize and do soft c and soft g, or are you going to do hard/ hellenic sound? he does both! totally at random -- and he even pronounces the same repeated names multiple ways -- I counted three different ways of saying Scythia, a name that of course comes up a great deal. He renders some well known names in a way that isn't just a variant pronunciation, it's wrong and misleading, like pronouncing Cyrene as if it had only two syllables (in general he often messes up on the long e at the end of many Greek names, which you'd think would come up enough that he'd get it as a trend), or mangling common names of Greek authors, like Hesiod or Pausanias. I'm not fussing about the rare names, but these very common ones need to be pronounced in a recognizable way! In some cases there are variant options, and that's fine if you pick one and go with it, but that is not this case... he's just mangling it and it's awful. I've worked with an audio reader for one of my own books, on the pronunciation of ancient Gk names, so I know it's possible for a reader/ actor with no specialist knowledge to put in the work and be humble enough to know that some consultation is needed, to get this kind of thing right -- but this recording really does not. He also uses/ has an extremely pompous, posh, very old fashioned British voice -- I'm British myself and very conscious of the different registers and social meanings of different British accents and dialects, so maybe this bothers me more than it does American listeners, but you can have a British reader who is less ultra-condescending in his tone than this. Herodotus in his narrative persona is chatty, often quite down to earth, and the pomposity of the reading felt antithetical to me. Plus, Herodotus was -- and this again is central to the work -- an emigrant/ immigrant, a traveler, not an "insider" in the culture of elite Athens, so again, it felt to me really inappropriate to have such a coded-as-insider posh "I went to Eton and Oxbridge you know" kinda voice. Ugh. Could have been so much better. But still 5 stars for the original content.
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