The History of Rome: The Complete Works

By: Titus Livy, Cyrus Edmunds - translator, William A. McDevitte - translator

Narrated by: Alastair Cameron

Titus Livy's only known surviving work is a monumental history of Rome that was originally written in Latin. It is estimated that Livy's The History of Rome was written between 27 and 9 BC and covers the legends of Aeneas, the fall of Troy, the city's founding in 753 BC, and Livy's account ends with the reign of Emperor Augustus.

The History of Rome is a must-have for anyone interested in ancient history and the Roman era. With colorful detail and intriguing insight, Titus brings to life some of the most turbulent times in human history. Most scholars believe Titus Livy was born sometime between 64 and 59 BC. He is estimated to have died between AD 12 to 17, leaving behind one of the most complete works on ancient Rome available to modern historians.

Public Domain (P)2018 A.R.N. Publications

Rome

I've never been to Rome. I've never seen a Roman. and yet upon concluding this audio book, I love a State and a people who epitomized the greatest qualities of the European peoples.

Bird's eye view

Livy 'quickly' covers the pre-republican and republican periods of rome. Up to and including Caesar and Octavian.
This isnt a detailed breakdown, but it is a detailed almanac, briefly mentioning the most salient happenings on a yearly basis.
I think this book will greatly compliment any previous or future roman history books you read. it will leave you wanting if read on its own, as it lacks a lot of the mythic flair of something like Aenids, or epic like the gallic wars or the siege or jerusalem.

Narrator is pretty good

narrator is pretty good, atleast he's not mono tone and boring like most other history narrators are. This is as far as I understand and exact translation so don't expect any context or to understand it at all if you haven't done prior research, the Roman people at the time it was written would have understood it but we are 2000 years removed from their time

Source material for all Western Historians

Satisfying read for those who get addicted to history and find themselves digging deeper into the source material used by modern historians. Livy, Plutarch, Gibbons, Oman and, for me, Will Durant form the foundation for a self educated historian. This book gives 793 years of detail behind all the generalizations and examples found in the best books on western civilization.

One distraction you'll have to 'look past': the narrator reads what appears to be typos regarding Roman versus Christian years. Especially in the last book, Livy is referring to the Roman year but the narrator continues to use "B.C." as a suffix to each year mentioned. Example: the lifespan of Julius Caesar was from 100-44 B.C. Confusing Roman for Christian, the narrator incorrectly describes Caesar's life happening in the late "600 BC" time frame. Ooops. Not Livy's fault...

A Fascinating 126 Hours of Listening

Judging the accuracy of Edmunds’ and McDevitt’s translation is beyond my ability, but it is certainly beautiful. Cameron’s reading is very good, although his voice often seems somewhat “tight” or strained. As presented, the recording is eighty-eight hours long; however, 70% is a comfortable listening speed, so the work is really about 126 hours long.