Ancient

Brought to you by Penguin. This Penguin Classic is performed by Richard Armitage, star of Peter Jackson'sThe Hobbit trilogy and also known for his roles in Ocean's 8 and Spooks. This definitive recording includes an Introduction by Diskin Clay. Originally written only for his personal...

Although the historicity of Sun Tzu is today in dispute, his short treatise on the art of war has remained a pre-eminent classic of military philosophy and practice....

Do you know how many wives Zeus had? Or how the famous Trojan War was caused by one beautiful lady? Or how Thor got his hammer? Give your imagination a real treat. This Mega Mythology Collection of eight audiobooks is for you....

The past truly comes alive as you take a series of imaginative leaps into the world of history's anonymous citizens....

Learn how a single tongue spoken 150,000 years ago evolved into the estimated 6,000 languages used around the world today....

Even after deciphering its hieroglyphs, and marveling at its scarabs, mummies, obelisks, and sphinxes, Egyptian civilization remains one of history's most mysterious....

Marcus Aurelius's Meditations offers a remarkable series of challenging spiritual reflections and exercises....

For eons, the wisdom cultivated by the Egyptian people has been extolled time and time again. These timeless myths are fountains of insight and, many would argue, beacons of light that can shatter the darkness of ignorance. Listen to learn more....

Here, anthropologist David Graeber presents a stunning reversal of conventional wisdom: He shows that before there was money, there was debt....

Here Durant tells the whole story of Greece from the days of Crete's vast Aegean empire to the final extirpation of the last remnants of Greek liberty, crushed under the heel of forward-marching Rome....

A lively and engaging narrative history showing the common threads in the cultures that gave birth to our own....

From Graham Hancock, best-selling author of Fingerprints of the Gods, comes a mesmerizing book that takes us on a captivating underwater voyage to find the ruins of a lost civilization that's been hidden for thousands of years beneath the world's oceans....

Twenty-four captivating lectures from The Roman Empire: From Augustus to the Fall of Rome traces the breathtaking history from the empire’s foundation by Augustus to its Golden Age in the 2nd century CE through a series of ever-worsening crises until its ultimate disintegration....

Today's view of history cannot account for ancient anomalies, such as the Pyramids and advanced knowledge contained in India's Vedas. But in 1894, an Indian sage gave us an explanation not only for our hidden past but for the trends of today and for our future enlightenment....

Procopius appeared to be a loyal part of the Byzantine establishment, his official writing glorifying the deeds of the Emperor Justinian (d. AD 565). However, he also produced a work that he knew could never be published within the Emperor’s lifetime: The Secret History....

Take a journey across the ancient world, throught the traditional domains of politics and war, as well as religion, philosophy, architecture, science and the visual arts....

No understanding of human life, individual or collective, could be complete without factoring in the role and contribution of these history-shaping teachers....

From the creator of the award-winning podcast series The History of Rome and Revolutions comes the "remarkably engaging" (Washington Post) history of the bloody battles, political machinations, and human drama that set the stage for the fall of the Roman Republic. The Roman Republic was one of...

This audiobook narrated by acclaimed archaeologist and best-selling author Eric Cline offers a breathtaking account of how the collapse of an ancient civilized world ushered in the first Dark Ages....

A groundbreaking dive into the role psychedelics have played in the origins of Western civilization, and the real-life quest for the Holy Grail that could shake the Church to its foundations....

For most of its 5,000-year existence, China has been the largest, most populous, wealthiest, and mightiest nation on Earth....

Why did humans abandon hunting and gathering for sedentary communities dependent on livestock and cereal grains and governed by precursors of today's states? Find out....

These 36 eye-opening lectures deliver a comprehensive political and historical overview of one of the most fascinating and complex countries in world history....

This riveting narrative explores the lives of six remarkable female pharaohs, from Hatshepsut to Cleopatra - women who ruled with real power - and shines a piercing light on our own perceptions of women in power today....

Dive into the timeless tales of gods and heroes in this bestselling A-to-Z encyclopedia detailing classic myths and legends—perfect for curious readers and academics alike. Edith Hamilton's mythology succeeds like no other book in bringing to life for the modern reader the Greek, Roman and...

Discover timeless wisdom and profound reflections in Meditations by Marcus Aurelius, the Roman emperor and stoic philosopher. Written as a personal journal, this masterpiece offers an intimate glimpse into the mind of a leader striving to live virtuously amidst life's challenges.

From palace-based societies in Minoan Crete to the Germanic invasion of Rome, it tells the story of these classical civilizations, covering their political development, the rise of the city state, and the growth of their empires. Also included are insights into the architectural, artistic and cultural impact of early Greece and Rome and vignettes of key political and cultural figures.

Meditaciones de Marco Aurelio es una obra filosófica que recoge una colección de apuntes y reflexiones personales del emperador romano. Es un testimonio íntimo de su incansable búsqueda de significado, conocimiento y virtud. A través de sus escritos, Marco Aurelio nos invita a explorar las profundidades de nuestra propia existencia, ofreciendo una guía que sigue siendo relevante en la actualidad por su tratamiento de temas universales.

Con Augusto acaba la República y se inicia el Imperio. Acaba el mundo antiguo y la civilización romana se hace universal, así comienza el mundo moderno. Con el Imperio, la ciudadanía dejará de ser un privilegio de una minoría opresora para convertirse en un derecho de nacimiento que integrará a todos por igual, y las viejas ciudades-estado como Atenas, Esparta, Cartago, o incluso Roma, serán sustituidas por el concepto de nación.

Criss-crossing the globe from the prehistoric era to the modern day, Professor Jeremy Black takes you on a whirlwind tour of our past, leaving no stone unturned as he brings to life the fascinating story of civilisation. A History of the World includes everything you need to know about human history, from the development of empires in Mesopotamia to the first steps into space.

للحضارة المصرية القديمة قدرةٌ على إبهار العالم تتجدد يومًا بعد يوم، وكلما توغلنا في تفاصيلها عثرنا على الكثير من المعجزات التي تعكس إبداعاتهم الفريدة من نوعها. وفي هذا الكتاب - جولةٌ بحثية داخل الحياة الاجتماعية للمصري القديم وكيف كان يقدس العمل ويجله.- مدخلٌ خاص لبوابة الآداب والفنون، وكيف كان المصريون يهتمون بالأغاني والكتابة.

الحضارة الفرعونية واحدة من أهم وأعظم الحضارات التي مازالت يشوبها الغموض حتى الآن، يطرح الكتاب أهم الحقائق التي يجب أن تعرفها عن الحضارة الفرعونية كما يصحح الكثير من المفاهيم الخاطئة التي يدعيها البعض في هيئة 100 سؤال وجواب. يوضح الكتاب شكل الحياة اليومية في مصر القديمة بالتفصيل، من حيث البيوت والملابس والتعليم والطعام والرياضة...إلخ. كما يطرح أهم الملوك والملكات في مصر القديمة وكيف كانت مكانة المرأة، بالإضافة إلى الغرائبيات والطقوس الخاصة التي ميزت تلك الحضارة.

The Age of the Gladiators explores many savage spectacles of Ancient Rome, many of which have become proverbial for their cruelty, bloodlust and glory. From Gladiator fights in grand amphitheaters to chariot racing at the Circus Maximus, Romans had their pick of extreme spectator sports.

This book reveals how a nomadic empire engineered the most ambitious peace of the medieval world—and what it cost to keep it. From the relay-station highways of the yam to the cosmopolitan capitals of Dadu, Tabriz, and Sarai, this volume shows how the Mongols turned conquest into governance, revived the Silk Roads, and moved people, ideas, and technologies at unprecedented speed. Readers meet rulers like Ögedei and Khubilai, merchants underwriting caravans with paper money, monks and qadis negotiating pluralism, and engineers dredging canals to feed cities.

In the early 13th century, a coalition of steppe clans transformed into the most dynamic war machine and governing enterprise of its age. Forged in the Steppe follows the ascent of Genghis Khan from fractured tribal politics to continental empire, tracing campaigns across North China and Central Asia and the devastating clash with the Khwarazmian state. Beyond the battlefield, it reveals how the Mongols built a state that ran on speed, law, and logistics—postal relays, multilingual chanceries, merchant partnerships, and a disciplined guard that enforced clear rules from Karakorum to Bukhara.

Aucune nation dans l'histoire n'a laissé au monde un héritage aussi grand que celui des Grecs. Il semble à peine croyable qu'un peuple aussi dispersé, installé sur les îles et péninsules rocheuses de la mer Égée, ait pu accomplir tant de choses ; mais il a excellé dans tout ce qu'il a entrepris, qu'il s'agisse de guerre ou de politique, d'art ou d'athlétisme, de littérature ou de philosophie. Les Grecs ont donné une nouvelle définition de l'humanité. Leurs idéaux, leurs héros sont devenus les nôtres.

Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 BCE) was one of the most influential figures in late republican Rome, a moment of great social, political, and cultural unrest that would lead to the transition from republic to empire. Cicero was a statesman who held the highest political office, the consulship, and then suffered politically motivated exile. His career was grounded in his continued success as an orator: his speeches were famous during his lifetime and, together with his rhetorical treatises, shaped the practice and theory of public speaking for centuries to come.

The Originals: Republic by Plato is an unabridged edition of the foundational text that has shaped Western thinking on justice, society, morality, and governance. Written around 380 BC, this Socratic dialogue dives into the essence of what it means to live rightly—both as individuals and as a society. Through the voice of Socrates, Plato constructs the ideal state, envisions the philosopher-king, and explores the moral fabric that binds us all.

For centuries, whispers of a forbidden ritual have haunted archaeologists and historians, a chilling practice woven into the rise and fall of Egypt’s most powerful rulers. In The Pharaoh’s Kill List: Inside the Ancient Egyptian Tradition of Human Sacrifice, bestselling researcher Davis Truman pulls back the curtain on a world where divine kingship demanded blood, loyalty was enforced through death, and every royal tomb carried secrets meant to stay hidden forever.

¿Cuál es nuestro origen como especie? ¿Están involucrados los neandertales? Estas preguntas y otras muchas acerca de nuestro pasado como especie forman parte de uno de los grandes hitos en la paleoantropología, completar el árbol genealógico humano. El paleontólogo Antonio Monclova nos descubre en esta obra las grandes cuestiones acerca de los neandertales, que tanto interés están suscitando.