Arnar Styr Björnsson

You need the written book alongside

Revisado: 12-19-23

The narrator does not know the subject so names are mispronounced. This is made worse because she does not pause at full stop, so you do not know whether a new sentence has begun.

One example: “His son, Ur-Ningirsu, was compelled to submit to the power of a new dynasty, also Sumerian, which had arisen at Ur. Dungi, the second king of this dynasty, who reigned for fifty-eight years...”
In this example Dungi, the second king of a new dynasty at Ur is confused into a place called Ur-Dungi. This mistake would easily have been avoided by a narrator who had known that Ur is the name of an ancient city.

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This is the best Roman narration

Revisado: 09-01-23

Martyn Swain's narration of Tacius perfectly embodies the spirit of Ancient Rome. Subtle and stern appropriately. This translation is also most memorable in its use of Roman terms. 'Conscript fathers' [patres conscripti], and not the usual and bland 'senators', which meaning is, in the mind of the listener, mixed with common and more familiar image.

One can only hope that Martyn Swain will record all of Tacitus' works and other ancient writers.

The book itself covers the reign of three Roman emperors in the first century AD. Given the rather short timespan, there is much more detail about the doings of the emperors, their character, crimes and weaknesses, and how the subjugated Roman aristocracy was terrorized and destroyed.

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This is a waste of time

Revisado: 02-22-23

You will learn more from reading the Wikipedia articles about each religion that is presented in this course. This course only touches superficially on each religion. I don't need to be told repeatedly that Moses is a tremendously important figue in Judaism, or that Jesus' miracles played a significant role in how he revealed his power and gained followers.

It is a waste of time to listen to a lenghty retelling of Moses and the ten commandments and the golden calf. I know the Bible stories. I want to know how this relates to other religions. What they have in common, sociological perspectives, psychological and historical etc.

I can read up on the sacred texts myself. If there is a specific text, just say which one to read for each lecture. But retelling or reading those the texts themself in the course is such a waste of time for a short course that should be spent on explaining and analyzing the subject matter. The approach taken here is just for the completely ignorant, who I fear, are not going to bother listening to a course like this in any case.

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One of the Greatest Works of Western Civilization

Revisado: 08-08-21

This is without a doubt one of the greatest works man has ever produced.

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Fantastic

Revisado: 05-26-21

Great book and great reading. The Idiot is at least as good as The Brothers Karamazov. Prince Myshkin, Ragozhin, Nastasha and Lizaveta are some of Dostoevsky's most memorable characters and seem to mirror the characters in The Brothers Karamazov to some extent.

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Ancient Greek play read in ancient English

Revisado: 09-27-20

The narration is good. The translation is ancient and overbearingly poetic. This 1:20 hour play seems endless during the listening for this reason. A modern version is much needed.

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Great course

Revisado: 08-13-20

This course is to be recommended to all who are not only interested in the Peloponnesian war, but also in the history of Ancient Greece and the ancient world in general. It is a store full of knowledge and wisdom and, the lectures are well organized with no unnecessary repetitions.

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Okay, but could be so much better.

Revisado: 06-08-20

- First, if you're new to Greek history it is good to know that these lectures contain too many gaps and leave out too much information for you to have a basic knowledge of Greek history after listening to this.

- The lectures seem to be centered around a few highlighting points in a Power Point slideshow, rather than a unified narrative. This is the unfortunate side effects of getting university teachers to do this. It is as if they are used to an uninterested and unwilling audience who is forced to listen while on Facebook.

- Each lecture is just 30 minutes which is far too short for any of the subjects covered in them. And what's worse, he begins each lecture by summarizing the previous one! In a lecture of just 30 minutes, how much time can you waste?! There is replay and a summary PDF document for that!

- If one wants to learn ancient Greek history, try rather Cyril Robinson's History of Greece or Will Durant's Life of Greece (both on Audible). These lectures could be supplementary for someone studying those books, but in fact they would be completely redundant.

- He goes through the lecture on the Persian wars without naming the Persian general Mardonius or the Spartan strategy in the battle of Plataea for example, but enough time is spent on stone tablets found somewhere that are of special interest to the author. Instead of narrating the history itself he often dilates on a poem or a song that supposedly conveys it better, but I think such things only make sense once you have at least a basic grasp of the story (why not make the lecture series longer to spend time on such things?). Instead of talking more about the Persian war, he talks about a play which was later made about it, and how enthusiastic the audience was etc. There is another Great Courses lecture series on the subject of Greek plays. And that is another problem, how the authors of the Great Courses are often saying the same things in different lecture series as if there was no communication between them.

Other than that, this was good.

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Disappointing

Revisado: 02-22-20

Although it is good to have lectures to accompany reading of the Iliad, these lectures are just too repetitive. Some concepts are taken, like honor and glory, and explained, and overexplained and then explained some more, and you feel as if you're wasting time listening to this, as if this were written for kids or people who can't learn anything. How many times I think to myself, "don't tell me again how Zeus' wife is jealous of his human lovers and hates his human children", as she does exactly that.

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Amazing

Revisado: 12-12-19

I had read the Republic before, but the audio version is quite another thing. The narration is outstanding and makes the dialogue very lively and memorable.

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