Books with author Hugh Griffin

The common view of the Romans is that they were only interested in watching gladiators hack one another to pieces, and in lying on couches while they stuffed large meals down their throats. But of course they were a busy and clever people, who built up a great empire to prove it, with fine cities and harbours, bath houses and roads, laws and good government. In this audiobook you can hear the stories of the great Roman emperors and the enduring legacy that they left for later generations.

The glory of ancient Greece is all around us, even in the 21st century, because Greece was the cradle of Western civilisation. We know about the gods and their characters – Zeus, Athene, Apollo, Ares, Aphrodite – and their heroes, both legendary (Heracles) and historical (Alexander the Great). Architecture, mathematics, politics, philosophy, observation of nature and the cosmos and much more emerged in ancient Greece. Hugh Griffith’s entertaining but informative account of the people and the history places it all in perspective. An outstanding introduction for younger listeners.

The mighty Roman Empire held the ancient world in awe and presided over unprecedented advances in civilization which still hold sway over our language, architecture and municipal organization today. A notably autocratic regime, the succession of colorful personalities that headed one of the worlds most powerful empires, makes for riveting listening. From the magnetic but divisive figure of Caesar via the capricious, vengeful Nero to the belligerent, martially-skilful Constantine, the careers of these Roman rulers were thrillingly eventful. Classics scholar and writer Hugh Griffith introduces the rulers and the principal events associated with them in Naxos AudioBooks successful Junior Classics series.