Ancient Biography

Nero Claudius Caesar holds a reputation as a tyrant, a maniacal leader. Some say he may have suffered from lead poisoning and gone mad, but most historical sources quickly dismiss this excuse for his cruelty. Various historical accounts record that Nero had his own mother killed, persecuted Christians, and ordered the setting of Rome’s Great Fire. The last ruler of the Julio-Claudian dynasty is certainly one of the most infamous leaders of the Roman Empire. This brief history explores what we know about the man behind the myth and the monster within the man.

Cleopatra (69 BC-30 BC), the last Pharaoh of Egypt and the third daughter Ptolemy XII Auletes, is one of the most mysterious people in ancient history, so compelling and mysterious that myths and legends abound about her to this day. Not much is known about her early life but her later conquests became the fodder for countless movies and books. Some portray her as a majestic seductress and others portray her as a bloodthirsty killer; oftentimes both. There is truth to these renditions of her.

In Charles River Editors' History for Kids series, your children can learn about history's most important people and events in an easy, entertaining, and educational way. The concise but comprehensive book will keep your kid's attention all the way to the end. Over 1500 years before Leonardo Da Vinci became the Renaissance Man, antiquity had its own in the form of Archimedes, one of the most famous Ancient Greeks.

Throughout the annals of history, there have been few men as reviled as Marcus Junius Brutus the Younger. To this day he is associated with murder, betrayal, violence, and infamy, so much so that in modern English his name provides the root for the words "brute" and "brutal", as it does in several other Romance languages. Indeed Brutus' reputation was so infamous that when Dante composed his timeless Divine Comedy, he relegated Brutus to the very nethermost depths of hell.

The zenith of the Byzantine Empire was reached in the middle of the sixth century during the reign of the Emperor Justinian (527-565). The internal stabilization of the Byzantine state was completed, and Justinian then embarked on a wide range of external re-conquests. Justinian's prime directive was to restore the Roman Empire to its former glory in the west.

Possibly the most important man of antiquity, and even all of history, was Julius Caesar. Alexander Hamilton, the famous American patriot, once remarked that "the greatest man who ever lived was Julius Caesar". Such a tribute, coming from one of the Founding Fathers of the quintessential modern democracy in reference to a man who destroyed the Roman Republic, is testament to the enduring mark that Caesar left upon the world.

Era el siglo IV a.C. y Alejandro Magno había fundado un gran imperio, fusionando dos grandes civilizaciones, la occidental y la cristiana; asimismo las polis griegas habían sido heridas de muerte y el malestar de la época se manifestaba de varias maneras. Súbitamente, un griego desvergonzado, audaz y desafiante de las convenciones sociales surgió para provocar el escándalo y la hilaridad.

Do you want to learn more about the great military leader Hannibal, but don’t have time to read huge, long biographies? Then let The History Journals take you on an hourly history tour of his life. When it comes to great military leaders few will inspire the imagination of each new generation more than Hannibal, the mighty Carthaginian who marched 37 war elephants across the Alps in a bid to take on the Roman Empire. Even today this would be a daring and perilous adventure, but the fact that Hannibal succeeded in his mission in 218BC makes it all the more incredible.

Socrates: A Life Worth Living traces the life and ideas of one of Western civilization’s founding philosophers, whose influence is still felt more than two thousand years later. Socrates is famous for how he died, executed by the Athenian government for corrupting the youth of Athens, but his most important contribution was to challenge the people around him to test their ideas and beliefs in conversation with each other, in the belief that in this way we could become a society that knows the difference between truth and falsehood, and find what makes a life worthwhile.

The importance of Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus (or as he was known from birth, Gaius Octavius “Octavian” Thurinus) to the course of Western history is hard to overstate. His life, his rise to power, his political, social, and military achievements, all laid the foundations for the creation of an empire which would endure for almost five centuries, and whose traditions, laws, architecture, and art continue to influence much of Europe and the world today.

This deep dive into the word of God addresses kids’ toughest Bible questions with theologically sound answers in a way that is relatable and engaging. It’s filled with fun facts, debunking of common misconceptions, and explanations of biblical and theological concepts. This audiobook will not only answer a kid’s Bible questions big and small, but it will also encourage spiritual conversations and a lifelong love of learning about the glory and wonder of faith, the Bible, and God.

Jack Dawe is an unconventional street cop. His ability to not act or look like a "Copper" enabled him to infiltrate the drug networks of the UK. This no-holds-barred, explosive, and, at times, humorous account of undercover policing takes the listener through a journey of crime, violence, and deception. This memoir is a true story of poacher turned game keeper. A veteran of 30 years’ service as a soldier and police officer, Jack reveals how he grew from a young thief into a soldier in search of danger and adventure across the world.

Although the city had been destroyed, the legacy of the Persians survived, even as they mostly remain an enigma to the West and are not nearly as well understood as the Greeks, Romans, or Egyptians. When considering this empire’s rulers, the two most often referenced are Xerxes, the leader of the Persian invasion of Greece which caused the heroic sacrifice of the Spartans and their allies at Thermopylae, or Cyrus the Great, the man who created the Persian Empire.

Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 BC) was one of the most famous Romans in his day, and posterity has been even kinder to him. Cicero was a legend in his own time for his oratory abilities, which he used to persuade fellow senators and denounce enemies like Catiline and Mark Antony, but he was also one of Rome's most prodigious writers and political philosophers. Alongside Pericles, Cicero was one of antiquity's greatest politicians, and he has remained one of the most influential statesmen in history.

Leading Athens for upwards of 40 years between the Second Persian War and the Peloponnesian War, Pericles has become an idealized figure over the last millennia, but he was a polarizing figure among his contemporaries. According to some, he was an honest and upstanding politician, while for others he was the lowest kind of demagogue. They thought he was a political opportunist whose ability to wriggle free of criticism was best summed up by the typically pithy comment of his rival Thucydides.

Mark Antony (83-50 B.C.) is one of the most unique and best known figures of antiquity, a man whose relationships with some of history's giants ensured his own legacy. A protégé of Julius Caesar's, a lover of Cleopatra's, a sworn enemy of Cicero's, and a foil for Octavian, Antony has long been remembered for the role he played in others' lives more than for his own accomplishments. Fittingly and ironically, Antony might be best remembered today for the words Shakespeare put in his mouth for Caesar's eulogy.

During one of the most turbulent periods in the history of Rome, men like Julius Caesar, Mark Antony, and Octavian participated in two civil wars that would spell the end of the Roman Republic, and determine who would become the Roman emperor. In the middle of it all was history's most famous woman, the Egyptian pharaoh Cleopatra (BC 69-30), who famously seduced both Caesar and Antony, and thereby positioned herself as one of the most influential people in a world of powerful men.

One of the world’s greatest conquerors that ever was, Alexander the Great never lost a battle and built one of the largest empires. Discover his military brilliance and what lead to his early death. After listening to this audiobook, in an hour or so, you will know everything about the life and legacy of Alexander the Great!

The Babylonians were one of the earliest of history's great ancient civilizations, and the most famous Babylonian of them all was Hammurabi, who came to the throne as the first king of the Babylonian empire around the beginning of the 18th century BC. Hammurabi had a long and fruitful reign that saw him consolidate most of Mesopotamia under his control, but he's best known today for Hammurabi's Code, one of the earliest known code of laws in human history. Inscribed on stone tablets, Hammurabi's Code was found over 3,500 years later, in the early 20th century.

В истории Древнего Рима фигура Марка Туллия Цицерона одна из самых значительных и, возможно, самых трагических. Ученый, политик, гениальный оратор, сумевший искусством слова возвыситься до высот власти... Казалось бы, сами боги покровительствуют своему любимцу, усыпая его путь цветами. Но боги — существа переменчивые, человек в их руках — игрушка. И Рим — это не остров блаженных, Рим — это большая арена, где если не победишь ты, то соперники повергнут тебя, и часто со смертельным исходом. Козни влиятельных врагов во главе с народным трибуном Клодием, несправедливое обвинение и полтора года изгнания.