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The History of Rome

The History of Rome

By: Mike Duncan
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About this listen

 A weekly podcast tracing the rise, decline and fall of the Roman Empire.2007-Present World
Episodes
  • 001- In the Beginning

    001- In the Beginning
    Jul 28 2007

    Welcome to The History of Rome, a weekly series tracing the rise and fall of the Roman Empire. Today we will hear the mythical origin story of Rome and compare it with modern historical and archaeological evidence. How much truth is wrapped up in the legend? We end this week with the death of Remus and the founding of Rome.
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    12 mins
  • 002- Youthful Indiscretions

    002- Youthful Indiscretions
    Feb 25 2010
    Last time we discussed the events that lead to the birth of Rome, covering the arrival of Aeneas in Italy and the story of the twins Romulus and Remus. Today we will cover the remainder of Romulus's life, his questionable morality and ultimate disappearance from the world of men.
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    12 mins
  • 003a- The Seven Kings of Rome

    003a- The Seven Kings of Rome
    Feb 25 2010
    This week we cover the first three of Romulus's successors to the throne: Numa Pompulius, Tullus Hostilius and Ancus Marcius, who they were and what affect they had on the evolution Roman law and culture.
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    16 mins
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All stars
Most relevant  
Not only educational, but entertaining as well!

Love listening to the show while I’m at work.
It helps to pass the time in the warehouse.

Fantastic!

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Fun concise episodes that give clear picture of events and evolution of Rome from minor settlement to empire

Excellent, concise, entertaining

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I never was much into podcasts until I started using Audible. Then I started finding tons that range from informative to hilarious to emotionally-packed. As a history person, I was curious about this one and after seeing all the highly-related reviews, I chose to listen.

I can say that this is probably the most straightforward timeline about the history of Rome I've encountered so far. It's not easy to always extract what was fiction and what actually happened, especially in Rome's early years (which Duncan admits early on) but Duncan tries to approach things as logically and academically as he can. I'm glad that this is a podcast because in truth, Rome's history is so rich, varied and confusing that trying to write a book about the whole thing would be both long and hard to create a focus with. Each episode tries to focus on specific or important events/ figures, though it can cover up to 10 years of history depending on the topic because of the long-term consequences of historical moments. Duncan also approaches stories in a straightforward and nonfussy way, so whether you've never heard of these events or know your history already, the podcasts are approachable for even the nonscholarly type.

So far, I've especially enjoyed the episodes he's devoted to more down to earth matters in Roman history, such as how the Romans celebrated Saturnalia or how a child in ancient Rome progressed through life. These episodes are more sidetracks to the main events and less numerous than the main timeline, but they still give important and close to home details that the history books can't always give.

I only wish that I'd been aware of this podcast when he was giving the tours of the ancient Roman world back in 2011 (though I was in high school and couldn't have afforded a trip abroad). I would have loved listening to this since my enjoyment of history stems back to school; it also would've been helpful for AP World History, though Rome is a small part of the overall materials.

It also shows how well the material has held up, despite the podcast being over 10 years old now, that people are still listening and enjoying the podcast in 2022. I'm not close to being finished (still have 41 episodes to go) but I'm interested in his other podcast Revolutions based on how this podcast was done.

My only qualm was that I wasn't able to download a specific episode so I had to skip over to the next, but that could've been a technical issue with Audible for all I know. This podcast is definitely worth listening to, whether or not you're history inclined and interested in ancient Rome!

A Timeline of Rome That History Buffs Will Love

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I am woefully ignorant of world history. I do know some, but often when I try to look up information, it is like reading sand, difficult and boring. these podcasts are just the opposite, very interesting and understandable. thank you for putting your history knowledge and time into making these.

excellent

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This is an interesting overview of Roman history. Think of it as a summary of highlights, not a deep dive. The founding to Julio-Claudian Dynasty is my area of interest but the podcasts covers much, much more.

Great, if dry, podcast

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I would get home and be unable to get out of the car cause I was so wrapped up in the episode. Very side when it was over. Looking for other podcasts by Mike.

Truly Awesome

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If you want to learn the history of Rome-it’s events and people - the what and why - this is for you

Best StoryTelling of Rome

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How do you boil down centuries of Roman history down into a podcast episodes. Mike Duncan is an expert at it, and for that reason, he has you wanting to investigate more about Roman history. If you love history, be careful, this podcast will be hard to turn off!

A master of history distillation

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Mike Duncan got a book deal because of this podcast and while his book is phenomenal, each episode of this masterful podcast is researched, clever, funny, insightful, but true to its own title, it's as historically accurate as possible and you will feel like you can teach a ancient Rome college level history class by using the 200 plus high quality action filled episodes with subjective analysis of objective events

THE BEST OF THE BEST

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It is, to put it mildly, nearly impossible to write a review that accurately captures the COMPLETE fullness of the universe that Mike Duncan has labored, with Love, to create here! He's been painting historically deep and lush tapestries of world history for over a quarter of a century, telling as much a well loved story as presenting fair and faithful accounts! But, THIS WAS THE TOME (respectfully) THAT BEGAN MY JOURNEY WITH HIM!

GREATEST OF ALL TIME!

GOAT!!!

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