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The Twelve Caesars

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The Twelve Caesars

By: Suetonius
Narrated by: Charlton Griffin
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About this listen

 From the dignified grace of Augustus to the cruel debauchery of Nero, this history chronicles all the vices and virtues of the first 12 rulers of Imperial Rome.

The Twelve Caesars was written based on the information of eyewitnesses and public records. It conveys a very accurate picture of court life in Rome and contains some of the raciest and most salacious material to be found in all of ancient literature.

The writing is clear, simple and easy to understand, and the numerous anecdotes of juicy scandal, bitter court intrigue, and murderous brigandage easily hold their own against the most spirited content of today's tabloids.

Public Domain (P)2009 Audio Connoisseur Ancient Historical Politicians Politics & Activism Rome Ancient History Italy

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Fantastic read, superb description of 12 of the Roman emperors varying from the saintly Augustus to the Satanically evil Nero and Caligula. No holds barred with descriptions of debauchery and gore. The description of each Emperor reads a bit like a best man’s speech with an exaggerated list of his achievements and also his extremes of good or bad behaviour. Fascinating because it was written very shortly after the actual events. Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. What sort of Emperor would you have been???

Splendidly gory

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The twelve Caesars is a gripping account of the lives of men who shaped the early Roman empire, and a catalog of the corrupting influence of power on Rome and its leaders. In this book you can learn about the early empire, the laws and traditions if that's what you want. However, far better than the history is the story, we learn about the personal proclivities and pecadilloes of great men and in that we come closer to them than any textbook or tv show. We hear what an eloquent citizen thought about the leadership of Rome and in his voice we can imagine a multitude. This is a must for anyone who wants to feel the basic humanity at the core of the Empire, in all its wretched glory. I enjoyed every salacious minute.

The Twelve Caesars

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This is a grand entertainment, but if you're trying to decide between the full or an abridged version, do go abridged - there are an awful lot of lists and chunks of complicated legal procedure. The meat of this fascinating story are the awful, awful emperors. Listening to this fruity performance, you can immediately see why Robert Graves zoned in on Claudius - after the increasingly unbelievable outrages of his predecessors, a quietly competent emperor must have been a relief.

Try the abridged version

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If you are into realistic and authentic history then this is a must-listen.

A timeless classic on Romans, by a Roman. Each Caesar is carefully laid out from childhood to their deaths, no detail omitted. Some may find this boring or tedious, I found it completely mesmorising. The subject never leaves the portrait, each Caesar is always in the forefront of every page, mercilessly.

Their achievements, their personalities, their vices, strengths, and weaknesses are all laid bare to the reader. You come away feeling like you've lived through each reign personally.

The narration is an old school recording but hasn't aged a bit - it suits the text perfectly, and I had to keep reminding myself it wasn't actually Suetonious himself!!

Vivid and engrossing

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Ok its my fault I should have listened to an except first. the narrator is monotone, great for going to sleep with, but not good enough to hold your attention. Other things I didn't like - this is a translation of the original from early AD and I think this translation is from the 1950/60's. it needs updating in translation as it reads like a poor text book. I recommend you listen to an except first before buying.

Labourious read.

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