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Works and Days provides advice on agrarian matters and personal conduct. The Theogony explains the ancestry of the gods. The Shield of Heracles is the adventure of Heracles accepting an enemy’s challenge to fight. – Summary by Arthur Krolman for Librivox
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Running time: 2 hours, 30 minutes
This dialogue brings Socrates face to face with the famous sophist Gorgias and his followers. It is a work likely completed around the time of “Republic” and illuminates many of the spiritual ideas of Plato. The spirituality, as Jowett points out in his wonderful introduction, has many ideas akin to Christianity, but is more generous as it reserves damnation only for the tyrants of the world. Some of the truths of Socrates, as presented by Plato, shine forth in this wonderful work on sophistry and other forms of persuasion or cookery. (Summary by Kevin Johnson for Librivox)
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Run time: 7 hours, 6 minutes
Meno (Ancient Greek: ?????) is a Socratic dialogue written by Plato. Written in the Socratic dialectic style, it attempts to determine the definition of virtue, or arete, meaning in this case virtue in general, rather than particular virtues, such as justice or temperance. The goal is a common definition that applies equally to all particular virtues. Socrates moves the discussion past the philosophical confusion, or aporia, created by Meno’s paradox (aka the learner’s paradox) with the introduction of new Platonic ideas: the theory of knowledge as recollection, anamnesis, and in the final lines a movement towards Platonic idealism.. (Introduction by Wikipedia)
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Run time: 2 hours, 24 minutes
3 – Part 1 of the Dialogs of Meno
4 – Part 2 of the Dialogs of Meno
Summary: This book is a collection of stories and histories about the Ancient Greeks, including many of their famous myths! – (Summary by Ann Boulais for Librivox)
Running time: 7:35
The Found of Many Important Cities
Blindness and Death of Oedipus
The Death of Hector and Achilles
Destruction of the Persian Host
The Advance of the Second Host
The Battles of Salamis and Plataea
Beginning of the Peloponnesian War
The Overthrow of the Thirty Tyrants
The Retreat of the Ten Thousand
Alexander’s Brilliant Beginning
Summary:?Typically, Henty’s heroes are boys of pluck in troubled times, and this is no different. Detailed research is embellished with a vivid imagination, especially in this novel set in the Punic wars, about which knowledge is limited: “…certainly we had but a hazy idea as to the merits of the struggle and knew but little of its events, for the Latin and Greek authors, which serve as the ordinary textbooks in schools, do not treat of the Punic wars. That it was a struggle for empire at first, and latterly one for existence on the part of Carthage, that Hannibal was a great and skilful general, that he defeated the Romans at Trebia, Lake Trasimenus, and Cannae, and all but took Rome, and that the Romans behaved with bad faith and great cruelty at the capture of Carthage, represents, I think, pretty nearly the sum total of our knowledge. ” (from the preface)
Richard Scary on Ancient Ruins.
Summary:
VIRGIL (70 BC – 19 BC), translated by John DRYDEN (1631 – 1700)
The Aeneid is a Latin epic written by Virgil in the 1st century BC that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Trojan who traveled to Italy, where he became the ancestor of the Romans. The first six of the poem’s twelve books tell the story of Aeneas’ wanderings from Troy to Italy, and the poem’s second half treats the Trojans’ ultimately victorious war upon the Latins, under whose name Aeneas and his Trojan followers are destined to be subsumed. The poem was commissioned from Vergil by the Emperor Augustus to glorify Rome. Several critics think that the hero Aeneas’ abandonment of the Cartheginian Queen Dido, is meant as a statement of how Augustus’ enemy, Mark Anthony, should have behaved with the Egyptian Queen Cleopatra. (Summary by Wikipedia and Karen Merline)
Running time: 13 hours, 40 minutes
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Book 1: A Fateful Haven, part 1
Book 1: A Fateful Haven, part 2
Book 2: How they took the City, part 1
Book 2: How they took the City, part 2
Book 3: Sea Wanderings and Strange Meetings, part 1
Book 3: Sea Wanderings and Strange Meetings, part 2
Book 4: The Passion of the Queen, part 1
Book 4: The Passion of the Queen, part 2
Book 5: Games and a Conflagration, part 1
Book 5: Games and a Conflagration, part 2
Book 6: The World Below, part 1
Book 6: The World Below, part 2
Book 7: Juno Served by a Fury, part 1
Book 7: Juno Served by a Fury, part 2
Book 8: Arcadian Allies, part 1
Book 8: Arcadian Allies, part 2
Bk 09: A Night Sortie, a Day Assault, pt 1
Bk 09: A Night Sortie, a Day Assault, pt 2
Bk 10: The Death of Princes, pt 1
Bk 10: The Death of Princes, pt 2
Bk 11: Debaters and a Warrior Girl, pt 1
Bk 11: Debaters and a Warrior Girl, pt 2
Bk 12: The Fortunes of War, pt 1
Bk 12: The Fortunes of War, pt 2
The Analects, or Lunyu (simplified Chinese: ??; traditional Chinese: ??; pinyin: Lún Y?; literally “Classified/Ordered Sayings”), also known as the Analects of Confucius, are considered a record of the words and acts of the central Chinese thinker and philosopher Confucius and his disciples, as well as the discussions they held. Written during the Spring and Autumn Period through the Warring States Period (ca. 475 BC – 221 BC), the Analects is the representative work of Confucianism and continues to have a substantial influence on Chinese and East Asian thought and values today.
James Legge (1815-1897) (Chinese: ???; December 20, 1815 – November 29, 1897) was a noted Scottish sinologist, a Scottish Congregationalist, representative of the London Missionary Society in Malacca and Hong Kong (1840–1873), and first professor of Chinese at Oxford University (1876–1897). In association with Max Müller he prepared the monumental Sacred Books of the East series, published in 50 volumes between 1879 and 1891. (Summary by wikipedia)
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Running time: 5 hours, 34 minutes
The Apology of Socrates is Plato’s version of the speech given by Socrates as he unsuccessfully defended himself in 399 BC against the charges of “corrupting the young, and by not believing in the gods in whom the city believes, but in other daimonia that are novel” (24b). “Apology” here has its earlier meaning (now usually expressed by the word “apologia”) of speaking in defense of a cause or of one’s beliefs or actions. (Summary by Wikipedia)
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Running time: 1 hour, 20 minutes
Summary: My series of stories dealing with the wars of England would be altogether incomplete did it not include the period when the Romans were the masters of the country. The valour with which the natives of this island defended themselves was acknowledged by the Roman historians, and it was only the superior discipline of the invaders that enabled them finally to triumph over the bravery and the superior physical strength of the Britons. The Roman conquest for the time was undoubtedly of immense advantage to the people — who had previously wasted their energies in perpetual tribal wars — as it introduced among them the civilization of Rome. In the end, however, it proved disastrous to the islanders, who lost all their military virtues. Having been defended from the savages of the north by the soldiers of Rome, the Britons were, when the legions were recalled, unable to offer any effectual resistance to the Saxons, who, coming under the guise of friendship, speedily became their masters, imposing a yoke infinitely more burdensome than that of Rome, and erasing almost every sign of the civilization that had been engrafted upon them. How far the British population disappeared under the subsequent invasion and the still more oppressive yoke of the Danes is uncertain; but as the invaders would naturally desire to retain the people to cultivate the land for them, it is probable that the great mass of the Britons were not exterminated. It is at any rate pleasant to believe that with the Saxon, Danish, and Norman blood in our veins, there is still a large admixture of that of the warriors who fought so bravely against Caesar, and who rose under Boadicea in a desperate effort to shake off the oppressive rule of Rome.. (Introduction by G.A.Henty)
Total running time: 15 hours, 13 minutes
Howard Carter opens King Tut's Tomb
Dr. Howard Carter: The Opening of Tuts Tomb, 1924
This 30 minute radio drama of Ben Hur originally aired on the old time radio program Favorite Story.
Summary: Book I of the “Story of the World” series. Focuses on the civilizations surrounding the Mediterranean Sea from the time of Abraham to the birth of Christ. Brief histories of the Ancient Israelites, Phoenicians, Egyptians, Scythians, Persians, Greeks, and Romans are given, concluding with the conquest of the entire Mediterranean by Rome. Important myths and legends that preceded recorded history are also related. Ages 9-18 (Summary from the Baldwin Project)
Total running time: 4 hours, 53 minutes
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# 05 – The Story of the Nile Flood
# 09 – The First Merchant Fleet
# 16 – The Story of the Argonauts
# 18 – The Adventures of Ulysses
# 27 – How Leonidas Kept the Pass
# 33 – Retreat of the Ten Thousand
# 34 – The Story of Romulus and Remus
# 35 – How Horatius Kept the Bridge
# 46 – The Adventures of Hannibal
Summary: All mythology and/or Hawthorne lovers unite!
Here is a delightful collection of charming stories from Greek Mythology. This collection features some very popular characters like our beloved Jason, Ulysses, King Pluto and Theseus (and of course, our favorite, Mr. Minotaur, too). Written in Hawthorne’s interesting and beautiful style, these stories will be a great delight to read AND listen to. (Summary by Neeru Iyer for Librivox)
Total running time:? 6 hours, 28 minutes
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00 – The Wayside. Introductory.
06 – The Dragon’s Teeth (Part 1)
07 – The Dragon’s Teeth (Part 2)
08 – The Dragon’s Teeth (Part 3)
12 – The Pomegranate Seed (Part 1)
13 – The Pomegranate Seed (Part 2)
14 – The Pomegranate Seed (Part 3)
17 – The Golden Fleece (Part 3)
18 – The Golden Fleece (Part 4)
1200 BC – Fall of Troy
480 BC – Thermopolae
399 BC – Death of Socrates
September 30, 331 BC? Rise of Alexander the Great: Peace Offer
October 1, 331 BC – Rise of Alexander the Great: Battle for Asia
September, 326 BC – Rise of Alexander the Great: Mutiny in India
August 26, 79 BC – The Last Day of Pompeii
December 5, 63 BC – The Conspiracy of Catiline
44 BC – The Assassination of Julius Caesar
December 25, 800 – Charlemagne
October 14, 1066 – The Battle of Hastings
June 15, 1215 – The Signing of the Magna Charta
May 30, 1431 – Joan of Arc Burned at the Stake
April 7, 1498 – The Ordeal of Savonarola
June 15, 1520 – The Death of Montezuma
October 3, 1574 – The Siege of Leiden, Holland
February 8, 1587 – Execution of Mary Queen of Scots
August 8, 1588 – Drake Defeats Spanish Armada
January, 1649 – The Trial and Sentencing of Charles I
September 5, 1670 – Trial of William Penn
May 23, 1701 – The Hanging of Captain Kidd
June 22, 1757 – The Battle of Plassey
July 14, 1789 – The Storming of the Bastille
October 16, 1793 – The Trial of Marie Antoinette
May 6, 1802 – Toussaint Louverture Liberates Haiti
March 7, 1815 – Napoleon Returns from Elba
July 31, 1815 – Napoleon Recaptured and Exiled
October 25, 1854 – The Charge of the Light Brigade
June 19, 1867 – The Execution of Maximillian
September 8, 1899 – The Dreyfus Case
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Total running time: 11 hours, 27 minutes
Summary: Antiquities of the Jews was a work published by the important Jewish historian Flavius Josephus about the year 93 or 94. It is a history of the Jewish people, written in Greek for Josephus’ gentile patrons. Beginning with the creation of Adam and Eve, it follows the events of the historical books of the Hebrew Bible, but sometimes omits or adds information. (Summary by Wikipedia)
Volume 1 contains Books 1-5 and ends with the dedication of Samuel and death of Eli the priest.
# 01 – Book 1, Ch 01-02 – 00:17:33
# 02 – Book 1, Ch 03-05 – 00:23:56
# 03 – Book 1, Ch 06-07 – 00:15:47
# 04 – Book 1, Ch 08-11 – 00:18:23
# 05 – Book 1, Ch 12-15 – 00:17:26
# 06 – Book 1, Ch 16-18 – 00:14:52
# 07 – Book 1, Ch 19 – 00:19:41
# 08 – Book 1, Ch 20-22 – 00:09:20
# 09 – Book 2, Ch 01-03 – 00:14:26
# 10 – Book 2, Ch 04-05 – 00:17:55
# 11 – Book 2, Ch 06 – 00:30:10
# 12 – Book 2, Ch 07-09 – 00:27:26
# 13 – Book 2, Ch 10-12 – 00:16:44
# 14 – Book 2, Ch 13-14 – 00:15:25
# 15 – Book 2, Ch 15-16 – 00:13:45
# 16 – Book 3, Ch 01 – 00:14:27
# 17 – Book 3, Ch 02-04 – 00:14:23
# 18 – Book 3, Ch 05-06 – 00:25:33
# 19 – Book 3, Ch 07-08 – 00:28:16
# 20 – Book 3, Ch 09-11 – 00:20:16
# 21 – Book 3, Ch 12-13 – 00:12:11
# 22 – Book 3, Ch 14-15 – 00:11:10
# 23 – Book 4, Ch 01-02 – 00:15:17
# 24 – Book 4, Ch 03-04 – 00:22:13
# 25 – Book 4, Ch 05-06 – 00:30:37
# 26 – Book 4, Ch 07 – 00:06:19
# 27 – Book 4, Ch 08 pt 1 – 00:19:03
# 28 – Book 4, Ch 08 pt 2 – 00:21:56
# 29 – Book 4, Ch 08 pt 3 – 00:21:45
# 30 – Book 5, Ch 01 pt 1 – 00:23:28
# 31 – Book 5, Ch 01 pt 2 – 00:22:14
# 32 – Book 5, Ch 02 – 00:21:10
# 33 – Book 5, Ch 03-05 – 00:13:37
# 34 – Book 5, Ch 06-07 – 00:25:01
# 35 – Book 5, Ch 08 – 00:16:28
# 36 – Book 5, Ch 09-11 – 00:17:25
Summary: There are certain names which are familiar, as names, to all mankind; and every person who seeks for any degree of mental cultivation, feels desirous of informing himself of the leading outlines of their history, that he may know, in brief, what it was in their characters or their doings which has given them so widely-extended a fame. Consequently, great historical names alone are selected; and it has been the writer’s aim to present the prominent and leading traits in their characters, and all the important events in their lives, in a bold and free manner, and yet in the plain and simple language which is so obviously required in works which aim at permanent and practical usefulness. This volume is dedicated to Hannibal. (Summary from the preface of the book)
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Running time: 6 hours, 12 minutes
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03 – Opening of the Second Punic War
05 – Hannibal Crosses the Alps, pt.1
06 – Hannibal Crosses the Alps, Part 2
07 – Hannibal in the North of Italy
12 – Hannibal a Fugitive and an Exile
13 – The Destruction of Carthage
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Total running time: 14 hours, 30 minutes
# 01 – The Quarrel between Achilles and Agamemnon
# 03 – Paris Challenges Menelaus
# 08 – The Victory of the Trojans
# 09 – The Embassy to Achilles
# 10 – Ulysses and Diomed go out as Spies
# 11 – Agamemnon’s Day of Glory
# 12 – The Trojans Break the Wall
# 13 – Neptune helps the Achaeans
# 14 – Agamemnon Proposes that the Achaeans Should Sail Home
# 16 – Patroclus fights in the armor of Achilles
# 17 – The Light around the Body of Patroclus
# 19 – Achilles Goes Out to Fight
# 21 – Achilles Drives the Trojans Back
# 23 – The Funeral Games of Patroclus
# 24 – Priam Ransoms Hector’s Body
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Total running time: 16 hours, 30 minutes
Summary: Telling the history of geographical discoveries, “Book of Discovery” is a record of splendid endurance, of hardships bravely borne, of silent toil, of courage and resolution unequalled in the annals of mankind, of self-sacrifice unrivalled and faithful lives laid ungrudgingly down. Of the many who went forth, the few only attained. It is of these few that this book tells. (From the Preface of the book).
# 00 – Introduction – 00:12:19
# 01 – A Little Old World – 00:14:53
# 02 – Early Mariners – 00:16:58
# 03 – Is the World Flat – 00:12:15
# 04 – Herodotus? the Traveller – 00:15:42
# 05 – Alexander the Great Explores India – 00:25:41
# 06 – Pytheas Finds the British Isles – 00:10:57
# 07 – Julius Caesar as Explorer – 00:13:14
# 08 – Strabo’s Geography – 00:10:19
# 09 – The Roman Empire and Pliny – 00:10:46
# 10 – Ptolemy’s Maps – 00:05:23
# 11 – Pilgrim Travellers – 00:09:40
# 12 – Irish Explorers – 00:09:33
# 13 – After Mohammed – 00:08:28
# 14 – The Vikings Sail the Northern Seas – 00:09:44
# 15 – Arab Wayfarers – 00:17:23
# 16 – Travellers to the East – 00:14:07
# 18 – The End of Mediaeval Exploration – 00:12:40
# 19 – Mediaeval Maps – 00:05:36
# 20 – Prince Henry of Portugal – 00:19:54
# 21 – Bartholomew Diaz Reaches the Stormy Cape – 00:08:34
# 22 – Christopher Columbus – 00:14:47
# 23 – A Great New World – 00:11:25
# 24 – Vasco da Gama Reaches India – 00:14:10
# 25 – Discovery of the Spice Islands – 00:16:54
# 26 – Balboa Sees the Pacific Ocean – 00:09:32
# 27 – Magellan Sails Round the World – 00:16:49
# 28 – Cortes Explores and Conquers Mexico – 00:18:25
# 29 – Explorers in South America – 00:15:22
# 30 – Cabot Sails to Newfoundland – 00:06:52
# 31 – Jacques Cartier Explores Canada – 00:11:05
# 32 – Search For a North-West Passage – 00:14:30
# 33 – Frobisher Searches for a North-West Passage – 00:05:56
# 34 – Drake’s Famous Voyage Round the World – 00:18:08
# 35 – Davis Straight – 00:11:59
# 36 – Barents Sails to Spitzbergen – 00:13:56
# 37 – Hudson Finds His Bay – 00:13:14
# 38 – Baffin Finds His Bay – 00:07:59
# 39 – Sir Walter Raleigh Searches for El Dorado – 00:08:12
# 40 – Champlain Discovers Lake Ontario – 00:09:56
# 41 – Early Discoverers of Australia – 00:10:21
# 42 – Tasman Finds Tasmania – 00:06:19
# 43 – Dampier Discovers His Straight – 00:10:58
# 44 – Behring Finds His Straight – 00:13:04
# 45 – Cook Discovers New Zealand – 00:19:27
# 46 – Cook’s Third Voyage and Death – 00:18:11
# 47 – Bruce’s Travels in Abyssinia – 00:18:28
# 48 – Mungo Park and the Niger – 00:18:15
# 49 – Vancouver Discovers His Island – 00:08:46
# 50 – Mackenzie and His River – 00:04:41
# 51 – Parry Discovers Lancaster Sound – 00:12:51
# 52 – The Frozen North – 00:17:43
# 53 – Franklin’s Land Voyage to the North – 00:09:57
# 54 – Parry’s Polar Voyage – 00:06:01
# 55 – The Search for Timbuktu – 00:13:59
# 56 – Landers Discover the Mouth of the Niger – 00:06:57
# 57 – Ross Discovers the North Magnetic Pole – 00:13:17
# 58 – Flinders Names Australia – 00:18:01
# 59 – Sturt’s Discoveries in Australia – 00:15:51
# 60 – Ross Makes Discoveries in the Antarctic Seas – 00:08:00
# 61 – Franklin Discovers the North-West Passage – 00:13:58
# 62 – David Livingstone – 00:18:23
# 63 – Burton and Speke in Central Africa – 00:10:49
# 64 – Livingston Traces Lakes Shirwa and Nyassa – 00:07:48
# 65 – Expedition to Victoria Nyanza – 00:12:16
# 66 – Baker Finds Albert Nyanza – 00:11:55
# 67 – Livingstone’s Last Journey – 00:19:00
# 68 – Through the Dark Continent – 00:25:49
# 69 – Nordenskiold Finds North-East Passage – 00:17:57
# 70 – The Exploration of Tibet – 00:19:04
# 71 – Nansen Reaches Farthest North – 00:17:21
# 72 – Peary Reaches the North Pole – 00:11:39
# 73 – The Quest for the South Pole – 00:19:19
# 74 – Dates of Chief Events – 00:11:10
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Total running time: 13 hours, 50 minutes
