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SPQR
- A History of Ancient Rome
- Narrated by: Phyllida Nash
- Length: 18 hrs and 30 mins
- Categories: History, Ancient History
Non-member price: $23.41
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Publisher's Summary
Ancient Rome matters. Its history of empire, conquest, cruelty and excess is something against which we still judge ourselves. Its myths and stories - from Romulus and Remus to the rape of Lucretia - still strike a chord with us. And its debates about citizenship, security and the rights of the individual still influence our own debates on civil liberty today.
SPQR is a new look at Roman history from one of the world's foremost classicists. It explores not only how Rome grew from an insignificant village in central Italy to a power that controlled territory from Spain to Syria but also how the Romans thought about themselves and their achievements and why they are still important to us.
Covering 1,000 years of history and casting fresh light on the basics of Roman culture, from slavery to running water, as well as exploring democracy, migration, religious controversy, social mobility and exploitation in the larger context of the empire, this is a definitive history of ancient Rome.
SPQR is the Romans' own abbreviation for their state: Senatus Populusque Romanus, 'the Senate and People of Rome'.
Critic Reviews
"An irrepressible enthusiast with a refreshing disregard for convention." ( Financial Times)
What listeners say about SPQR
Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- lone
- 25-01-2017
SPQR 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
Awesome author, narrator and book. LOVED it. Learned lots of new things about Rome, written with wit and irresistible sense of humour 🤗
10 people found this helpful
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- David
- 07-12-2015
This excellent history of Ancient Rome
This excellent history of Ancient Rome by Mary Beard should be listened to by as many people who love and analyze history - with parallels to the violent modern world - as possible. I thoroughly enjoyed every chapter and the narrator was first class,
9 people found this helpful
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- jordan
- 21-03-2017
Informative and Challenging
Mary does a great job of bringing Roman history to life from a multitude of different angles, both ancient and modern. Interestingly, she challenges well used ideas, such as the cruelty of Caligula and Nero with compelling arguments. Definitely worth a read!
8 people found this helpful
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- Tim
- 13-08-2016
An easily accessible history of Ancient Rome
A little repetitive at times (mostly during the first few chapters), and not always doing quite clearly what Beard states she's setting out to do, a nevertheless highly readable, engaging and detailed account of Rome (and it's Empire) up until about 200 AD.
While necessarily brief in parts (the book covers some 1,000 years of history), here are many anecdotes, samples of evidence and lines of scholarly enquiry that should be enjoyable to anyone with any sort of interest in Ancient Rome. It successfully details many aspects of the life, politics, development and study of the city.
The quality of the performance by Phyllida Nash is consistently good, though there are one or two instances of poor editing (there's at least one repeated line).
A good read (or, rather, listen), I recommend highly.
5 people found this helpful
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- ELIZABETH
- 02-12-2016
Monumental
Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?
Yes. To get a perspective on Ancient Rome
If you’ve listened to books by Mary Beard before, how does this one compare?
Not listened to before.
Which scene did you most enjoy?
None in particular
Did you have an emotional reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?
No.
Any additional comments?
A well-written and comprehensively researched tome. Trouble is, I'm not sure one person can do anything but give a very personal account, partly because it is such a vast topic and partly because of the enormous gaps in knowledge. I salute Ms Nash who tries her best to keep things moving and interesting, but she must have baulked at the number of times she had to say "it's impossible to know" or some variant of the phrase. Beard admits that little is known of the common people and slaves - so why does she spend so much time in speculating on their lives? It may be fun for her but not necessarily for us.
9 people found this helpful
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- Cambell
- 08-08-2016
Excellent historical overview.
Masterfully written and well-read. The journey through all aspects of Roman life was enlightening and enjoyable.
3 people found this helpful
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- Anonymous User
- 09-05-2019
not really a history of rome
this book is not really a history of rome, but a history of roman historians and the interpretations of there interpretations of history.
2 people found this helpful
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- Attila
- 12-03-2017
Not for me.
I really like history but could not get into this. Too dry and too much speculation for me.
2 people found this helpful
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- Amazon Customer
- 19-07-2016
informative
really in depth look at a vast array of ancient roman topics, told from most angles never presuming anything just facts. really good quality audio
2 people found this helpful
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- Anonymous User
- 16-06-2017
Loved it
Full of detail and brings the past to life. Her talent in bringing in the little details was greatly appreciated.
1 person found this helpful
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- Robyn
- 09-01-2016
In depth look at all things (ancient) Roman
My 3-star rating is a compromise between my objective and subjective opinions of this book. Objectively it is a stunner – such a wide-ranging meticulously researched and engagingly written history of 1000 years of Rome and its empire and people can only be described as a masterpiece which warrants a wholehearted 5-star rating. Mary Beard presents the fruits of her rigorous scholarship in an almost conversational manner making it accessible to anyone from novices to those who are already familiar with Rome and its history. So far, so good. But subjectively, even though I knew I was listening to a book which ticked all the boxes, I did not actually enjoy it. Despite the wealth and variety of material, mostly I found it flat. I found the narration flat too, but don’t know whether it was the narrator or the material. It felt like reading a history book in preparation for an exam or assignment, a duty rather than a pleasure. So, five stars for content and one star for grabbing my attention – that makes an overall rating of three stars.
1 person found this helpful
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- Bozo
- 14-07-2020
Wonderful contemporary History
Very very good introduction to the sweep of Roman history by an excellent contemporary scholar.
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- James Fox
- 23-05-2020
Not very engaging, and patchy audio editing.
Lots of good information in this book, it’s just not presented in a very engaging way - I found myself drifting off and losing focus very often.
The narration is ok, there’s just a few issues of weird intonation and weird gaps like:
“And now, we come to his son, named-
...
Cicero who was a prolific writer...” (not an actual quote).
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- William Blignaut
- 16-07-2017
An exceptional book
This is without a doubt one of the most provocative books written in recent years on the subject of Rome. Mary Beard handles the subject with precision and systematically explores themes which seldom get covered in the normal course of writing. This is an exceptional book.
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- andslau
- 31-08-2018
Narration not for me
I enjoy Mary Beard and I found the content interesting - others have covered this in their reviews. I was looking forward to something narrated by Phyllida Nash, but somehow this disappoints. I think it is her knack of breaking sentences, albeit long ones with a few subclauses, into rather strange chunks. In some places, it almost sounds like she is running out of breath. Eg “First, the Romans were not by nature more belligerent than their neighbours | And contemporaries.”
31 people found this helpful
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- Kindle Customer
- 29-02-2016
The tale of Rome on a grand scale. Fascinating.
A massive undertaking packed with not just historical facts, but the human side of the story too. Rationally looking at some of the stories of Rome and putting them into context. Absolutely fascinating.
19 people found this helpful
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- Newton-Harris Family
- 09-03-2018
Narration needs re-editing in parts
Thus was a brilliantly researched book and at times very very easy to listen to but there are a number of sections where you can hear that the narrator has recorded and then re recorded parts where she's unsure of the pronunciation of certain words.
16 people found this helpful
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- Michael Perera
- 24-03-2019
BCE overload
Thoroughly enjoyed it but if I never hear the term BCE ever again it will be too soon
11 people found this helpful
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- Mr. D
- 01-12-2015
Interesting and erudite
What made the experience of listening to SPQR the most enjoyable?
Mary Beard is one of our leading Classical scholars and yet this is a very entertaining and readable (or listenable) book. Rather than being a flighty survey of the period, Beard provides an accessible, clear and interesting broad account of Rome without watering it down.
What was one of the most memorable moments of SPQR?
Beard's use of recent scholarship within a solid survey of the period.
Have you listened to any of Phyllida Nash’s other performances? How does this one compare?
Pompeii by Mary Beard. Another fine performance.
Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?
Probably not - you would want to dip into this and reflect before moving onto the next chapter in order not to be overwhelmed by the depth of the text.
44 people found this helpful
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- Mary
- 09-11-2015
Brilliant!
Where does SPQR rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?
Very very highly. Mary Beard has provided me with a much needed overview of Roman history. It's a cleverly crafted book, moving steadily forward through the historical dimension but pausing from time to time to explore the big themes in depth or to meet the big characters. And it's not just the big names it introduces us to; some of the most moving episodes concern ordinary people whose lives we can only glimpse through the archaeology, perhaps an inscription on a gravestone.The author always tells us what evidence lies behind the historical consensus, sometimes questioning it and sometimes admitting to lack of conviction. It was often funny and irreverant and never dull or self important.
What other book might you compare SPQR to, and why?
Other good histories such as Robert Goodwin's Spain.
What does Phyllida Nash bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you had only read the book?
A model narrator. She animates Mary Beard's prose (which hardly needs animating) and, importantly, stays in the background.
Did you have an emotional reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?
Very satisfying.
37 people found this helpful
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- Tracey
- 17-01-2016
I'm struggling
Is there anything you would change about this book?
I love watching Mary on TV as she brings the subject to life with her passion and huge knowledge. In this audio book the knowledge is there but I am missing her unique story telling. The narrator does her best but obviously doesn't really know what she is talking about and although I love this topic, I've had three goes at this and it just sends me to sleep. Disappointed.
30 people found this helpful
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- Julia Hatch
- 03-09-2018
Dates became wearing
Living in Italy I've done a lot of reading about the history. Whilst the information is great in this book I found the date references, in almost every sentence, quite wearing after a while. I'm not sure if it was me but I also felt we were jumping about in time a bit.
5 people found this helpful
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- FilmNutzAdam
- 30-07-2018
some bring history to life
this puts it to sleep!
I love Roman culture, but this just drags. skips the fun bits and gets hung up on the impartiality, as if there is such a thing.
4 people found this helpful
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- Antti
- 30-10-2015
Passion and Majesty
"Who could be so indifferent or so idle that they did not want to find out how, and under what kind of political organisation, almost the whole of the inhabited world was conquered and fell under the sole power of the Romans in less than fifty-three years, something previously unparalleled?" – Polybius (c. 200 – 118 BCE)
Mary Beard is everything one could ask from an academical mind writing for anyone else rather than one’s most immediate peers. A gifted scholar, she’s also a great writer and storyteller; a great teacher, that is, she knows that knowing isn't enough without the ability to share that knowledge. That to teach is to always remain a learner oneself.
Ms Beard knows how to unfold her story. The most thrilling audiobook I’ve listened to this autumn hasn’t been the new Galbraith thriller nor the David Mitchell ghost story, it has been Ms Beard’s version of Rome. The book is masterly chiseled out of marble. One of its strengths is that it doesn’t sell its vision as the definite word, but rather as one version, as reflected in the subtitle for the book, where instead of the pompous definite article it reads ”A History of Rome” instead. I also had to get the book so that whenever I was unable to listen, I could at least steal an occasional glance or two at it. It’s that good.
I’ve had a soft spot for Roman history not only for the interesting and larger-than-life stories the era presents, but also because of its centrality in the spreading of the early Christian Church, as well as the evolution of the Latin language and its influence on two that I happen to a be a teacher of. Beard’s new book is a welcome breath of fresh air to this interest of mine, and in history in general.
Where does one start with the history of Ancient Rome? From the ”beginning”? From the ”end?” Ms Beard starts from 63 BCE, the year of Cicero’s consulate and the Catiline conspiracy. From there she reaches all the way back to the mythical beginning, proceeds to the age of kings before the Republic, and advancesuntil the 2nd century CE, well into the golden age of the Empire. Her constant focus is the Senatus Populusque Romanus, the senate and the people of Rome, so she ends her book at 212 CE, when the emperor Caracalla made every free inhabitant of the Empire a full Roman citizen. This structure works well. She’s able to look at the big picture, plunge in and discuss details, move back and forth in time, and emphasize connections between ideas and events.
Ms Beard also proves her experise and academic maturity with her historical skepticism, and the book is full of he fine humour as well as an obvious passion for knowledge. All of this presented with great majesty of style.
Phyllida Nash’s narration is exquisite and really gets the conversational tone of Beard’s writing. This audiobook successfully transcends a mere ”reading”. It’s like Nash and Beard are telling all this just for me as we’re walking through Villa Borghese and marvelling at the cityscape, full of new and old.
”Pompeii: The Life of a Roman Town” is also available, also read by Nash. It’s a must. This year we’ve also been treated to Peter Fankopan’s ”The Silk Roads: A New History of the World” so there’s a lot to be excited about if you love gazing at the horizon.
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