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24 Hours in Ancient Rome

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24 Hours in Ancient Rome

By: Philip Matyszak
Narrated by: John Telfer
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About this listen

Walk a day in a Roman's sandals. What was it like to live in one of the ancient world's most powerful and bustling cities - one that was eight times more densely populated than modern-day New York?

In this entertaining and enlightening guide, best-selling historian Philip Matyszak introduces us to the people who lived and worked there. In each hour of the day, we meet a new character - from emperor to slave girl, gladiator to astrologer, medicine woman to water-clock maker - and discover the fascinating details of their daily lives.

©2017 Philip Matszak (P)2017 Audible, Ltd Ancient Civilization Europe Rome World Ancient History Thought-Provoking Funny Italy

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The book is an an excellent story of Rome right about the height of Roman dominance and stability. If you are thinking Roman Empire, this is probably about the time period you are imagining and the book does a good job of giving you bite-sized chunks of Roman History.

Each chapter is about a set of characters that are loosely intertwined by chance encounters or observations in the street. Each chapter takes place in one Roman hour, which you realise later is far more complicated than our 60 min hours of today. The chapters themselves in audio form are only about 15 or so minutes, so it is a pretty quick listen/read. If you are a non-fiction reader/listener, the depth this book dives is pretty shallow compared to something like SPQR. It is however a really nice book for giving you a look into the daily lives of mostly normal people and not just focusing on who the Emperor is and his close advisers or adversaries.I would certainly recommend if you are someone who likes "slice of life" history.

So why the 4 stars instead of 5? This is probably the biggest sticking point for me, I don't want to pin this on the Performance because it is more how the book is written and the performance was excellent. Every chapter, sometimes multiple times a chapter, there is an excerpt thrown into the text to provide an actual historical reference. These are really cool and I enjoy these parts, but with the way the book is written sometimes its nearly impossible to tell whether you are in an excerpt or not until the either it sounds nothing like the characters in the chapter or the actual source is read out. This does not drastically take away from the book but when you are listening to it, sometimes it can catch you out for a moment or two.

Bite-Sized Roman Society

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This style of book is a very different concept to any others I have read. I found it very memorable and accessible. Great book and recommended heartily.

A Great Way to Learn About the Real Rome

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If only my Latin lessons at school had been this interesting I'd have done it for O Level.

Great Book

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I've listened to this book several times, it is very easy going yet, informative and entertaining. After the second listen you become intrigued by how the characters cross paths.

Excellent

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Brilliant idea, brings history to life, like all the origin stories of modern sayings and words

Great take on historical books

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Nevertheless, this was immensely entertaining and informative. The narrator's performance adds to the experience.

not what I expected

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I enjoyed this novel approach to history: certainly very different from my school-days when Roman history was all about empire-building and battles. The present book focuses on the day-to-day experience of ordinary people and at the same time includes lots of interesting facts, such as how togas were kept white, the kind of foods that were served at dinners, time-keeping, how crimes were punished and much more. I enjoyed the variety of topics and how these brought Roman times alive.

Interesting way to tell history

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Great book, worth listening. I enjoyed the life experience of real people who lived in Ancient Rome.

amusing

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This is a fun way to take the listener through s day in the life of Rome. The narrative brings together various people and events throughout a 24-hour period and informs the listener of fascinating details of Roman life from the lowliest resident to the mightiest senator. There are tidbits of information that are interwoven to make the story rich with details of life then as well as how some things are still relevant today. There is plenty of detail as well as an informative story as we follow various people around room as their paths cross and the listener gradually forms a picture of a day in the life of Ancient Rome. Sometimes you need to listen carefully to catch all of the detail but then this is a narration you could probably listen to several times, each time learning something new. A great way to learn about history!

Fascinating way to experience history

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A brilliantly well written insight into the lives of many different types of lives we'd expect to find. It felt at times like I'd been plonked straight into the time period and the interconnected "narrative" paints a wonderful picture. A particular favourite element was the way almost all the characters stories segue into eachother almost seamlessly. A hearty recommendation.

A good tale

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