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Theophrastus' Characters
- An Ancient Take on Bad Behavior
- Narrated by: Billy Crudup
- Length: 1 hr and 20 mins
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Theophrastus' Characters
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Publisher's summary
When Aristotle wrote that that "comedy is about people worse than ourselves," he may have been recalling a hard-edged gem of a treatise written by his favorite student, Theophrastus.
Theophrastus' Characters is a joyous festival of fault-finding: a collection of thirty closely observed personality portraits, defining the full spectrum of human flaws, failings, and follies. With piquant details of speech and behavior taken straight off the streets of ancient Athens, Theophrastus gives us sketches of the mean, vile, and annoying that are comically distorted yet vividly real.
Enlivened by Pamela Mensch's fresh translation―the first widely available English version in over half a century―Theophrastus' Characters transports us to a world populated by figures of flesh and blood, not bronze and marble. The wry, inventive drawings help envoke the cankered wit of this most modern of ancient texts. Lightly but helpfully annotated by classicist James Romm, these thirty thumbnail portraits are startlingly recognizable twenty-three centuries later. The characters of Theophrastus are archetypes of human nature that remain insightful, caustic, and relevant.
Critic reviews
"These Characters are people we know—they're our quirky neighbors, our creepy bosses, our blind dates from hell. Sharp-tongued Theophrastus, made sharper than ever in this fresh new edition, reminds us that Athenian weirdness is as ageless as Athenian wisdom."—Mary Beard, Professor of Classics at Cambridge University, presenter of BBC's Civilisations
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-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 72
Lindsey Davis’ Master and God is a vastly entertaining historical novel set in the reign of the Emperor Domitian in first-century Rome. It is on the one hand a love story between Gaius Vinius Clodianus, a valiant but reluctant member of the Praetorian Guard, whose military career is as successful as his marital history is disastrous, and Flavia Lucilla, daughter of a freed slave and hairdresser to the ladies of the imperial household. A devastating fire in Rome brings them together....
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3 out of 5 stars
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Info Dump with Romance
- By S. Lev-Ami on 10-03-12
By: Lindsey Davis
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Imperium
- A Novel of Ancient Rome
- By: Robert Harris
- Narrated by: Simon Jones
- Length: 12 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 2,988
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 2,129
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 2,133
When Tiro, the confidential secretary (and slave) of a Roman senator, opens the door to a terrified stranger on a cold November morning, he sets in motion a chain of events that will eventually propel his master into one of the most suspenseful courtroom dramas in history.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Engrossing read
- By Everett Leiter on 08-16-07
By: Robert Harris
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The Praise Singer
- By: Mary Renault
- Narrated by: Tim Bentinck
- Length: 11 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 55
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 44
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 44
Set in sixth-century Greece at the time of the Tyrants, the Persian Wars, and a great flowering of the arts, this novel takes the form of Simonides' memoirs, written in retirement in Sicily. The author was a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, and she also wrote "The King Must Die".
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5 out of 5 stars
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Ambrosia for the gods & a feast for Greek geeks
- By James on 04-20-15
By: Mary Renault
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The Silver Pigs
- A Marcus Didius Falco Mystery
- By: Lindsey Davis
- Narrated by: Christian Rodska
- Length: 9 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 600
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 531
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 527
When Marcus Didius Falco encounters the young and very pretty Sosia Camillina in the Forum, he senses immediately that there is something amiss. When she confesses that she is fleeing for her life, Falco offers to help her and, in doing so, gets himself mixed up in a deadly plot involving stolen ingots, dangerous and dark political machinations, and, most hazardous of all, one Helena Justina - a brash, indomitable senator's daughter connected to the very traitors that Falco has sworn to expose.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Completely brillant
- By Lynn on 01-25-20
By: Lindsey Davis
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The Mask of Apollo
- By: Mary Renault
- Narrated by: Barnaby Edwards
- Length: 15 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 79
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 68
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 68
In a vivid depiction of Ancient Greece and its legendary heroes, The Mask of Apollo tells the story of Nikeratos, the gifted tragic actor at the centre of political and cultural activity in Athens, 400 B. C. Wherever he goes, Nikeratos carries a golden mask of Apollo, a relic and reminder of an age when the theatre was at the height of its greatness and talent. Only a mascot at first, the mask gradually turns into Nikeratos' conscience as he encounters famous thinkers, actors, and philosophers, including the famous Plato himself.
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5 out of 5 stars
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The Author, Mary Renault, UNMASKED by her Apollo
- By James on 05-12-15
By: Mary Renault
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I, Claudius
- By: Robert Graves
- Narrated by: Nelson Runger
- Length: 16 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 3,653
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 2,665
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 2,668
Here is one of the best historical novels ever written. Lame, stammering Claudius, once a major embarrassment to the imperial family and now emperor of Rome, writes an eyewitness account of the reign of the first four Caesars: the noble Augustus and his cunning wife, Livia; the reptilian Tiberius; the monstrous Caligula; and finally old Claudius himself. Filled with poisonings, betrayal, and shocking excesses, I Claudius is history that rivals the most exciting contemporary fiction.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Unsurpassed, addictive brilliance
- By Chris on 06-09-09
By: Robert Graves
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Cleopatra
- A Life
- By: Stacy Schiff
- Narrated by: Robin Miles
- Length: 14 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 1,595
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,098
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Story4 out of 5 stars 1,109
Her palace shimmered with onyx, garnets, and gold, but was richer still in political and sexual intrigue. Above all else, Cleopatra was a shrewd strategist and an ingenious negotiator. Though her life spanned fewer than forty years, it reshaped the contours of the ancient world. She was married twice, each time to a brother. She waged a brutal civil war against the first when both were teenagers. She poisoned the second. In a masterly return to the classical sources, Stacy Schiff here boldly separates fact from fiction to rescue the magnetic queen whose death ushered in a new world order.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Approach this book with caution
- By GolfZilla on 12-02-10
By: Stacy Schiff
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Sudden Death
- By: Álvaro Enrigue
- Narrated by: Robert Fass
- Length: 6 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 38
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 31
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Story4 out of 5 stars 31
Sudden Death begins with a brutal tennis match that could decide the fate of the world. The bawdy Italian painter Caravaggio and the loutish Spanish poet Quevedo battle it out before a crowd that includes Galileo, Mary Magdalene, and a generation of popes who would throw Europe into the flames. In England, Thomas Cromwell and Henry VIII behead Anne Boleyn, and her crafty executioner transforms her legendary locks into the most sought-after tennis balls of the time.
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5 out of 5 stars
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So erudite, so many good images and juxtapositions
- By Alnia Perpoz on 08-17-19
By: Álvaro Enrigue
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Alexander Hamilton's Guide to Life
- By: Jeff Wilser
- Narrated by: Johnathan McClain
- Length: 7 hrs
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 98
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 88
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Story5 out of 5 stars 89
Two centuries after his death, Alexander Hamilton is shining once more under America's spotlight - and we need him now more than ever. Orphaned as a kid, this young, scrappy, and hungry self-starter came from nothing and then helped win the Revolutionary War, created the country's financial system, seduced New York's most eligible ladies, ratified the Constitution, and landed his face on our $10 bill. (In his spare time he also formed the Coast Guard and the US Mint.) He is the ultimate underdog.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Amazing
- By Robert McGrorty on 02-27-19
By: Jeff Wilser
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The Elgin Affair
- The True Story of the Greatest Theft in History
- By: Theodore Vrettos
- Narrated by: Gildart Jackson
- Length: 8 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 120
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 106
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Story4 out of 5 stars 106
This story of the Elgin marbles re-creates in full detail "the greatest art theft in history." Almost 200 years after they were "purchased" from Greece, the finest and most famous marbles of antiquity still remain a burning issue. This compelling, controversial story of the Elgin marbles re-creates in full and colorful detail "the greatest art theft in history", a steamy tale of obsession, intrigue, adultery, and ruin.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Fascinating
- By Robyn on 09-23-15
By: Theodore Vrettos
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The King's Shadow
- Obsession, Betrayal, and the Deadly Quest for the Lost City of Alexandria
- By: Edmund Richardson
- Narrated by: Julian Elfer
- Length: 8 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 38
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 33
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 33
For centuries, the city of Alexandria Beneath the Mountains was a meeting point of East and West. Then it vanished. In 1833, it was discovered in Afghanistan by the unlikeliest person imaginable: Charles Masson, deserter, pilgrim, doctor, archaeologist, spy, one of the most respected scholars in Asia, and the greatest of nineteenth-century travelers.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Exquisite! A Transporting Tale
- By Meg on 05-02-22
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The Buried Book
- The Loss and Rediscovery of the Great Epic of Gilgamesh
- By: David Damrosch
- Narrated by: William Hughes
- Length: 7 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 350
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 270
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Story4 out of 5 stars 266
One day in 1872, self-taught Assyriologist George Smith was sifting through a pile of clay tablets when he realized he was reading about "a flood, storm, a ship caught on a mountain, and a bird sent out in search of dry land". This is the riveting story of the discovery of the world's first literary epic, the "Epic of Gilgamesh".
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3 out of 5 stars
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interesting- but not for everyone
- By J Michael on 07-16-08
By: David Damrosch
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Jonathan Swift: His Life and His World
- By: Leo Damrosch
- Narrated by: David Stifel
- Length: 20 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 73
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 66
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 65
Jonathan Swift is best remembered today as the author of Gulliver’s Travels, the satiric fantasy that quickly became a classic and has remained in print for nearly three centuries. Yet Swift also wrote many other influential works, was a major political and religious figure in his time, and became a national hero, beloved for his fierce protest against English exploitation of his native Ireland. What is really known today about the enigmatic man behind these accomplishments? Can the facts of his life be separated from the fictions?
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5 out of 5 stars
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JOHNATHAN SWIFT AND POWER OF THE PEN
- By chetyarbrough.blog on 09-30-14
By: Leo Damrosch
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Nefer the Silent
- Stone of Light, Volume 1
- By: Christian Jacq
- Narrated by: Ezra Knight
- Length: 5 hrs and 2 mins
- Abridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 14
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 7
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 7
Deep in the heart of the Upper Egyptian desert lies a forbidden village, where bands of artisans prepare the tombs of the Pharaohs. Guarded by a handful of elite soldiers, the hidden city shelters the most precious of treasures: the Stone of Light, a legendary stone of magical power. When a devious military officer schemes to infiltrate the city and capture the sacred gem, his subversive plot is thwarted by an unlikely hero: a desert wanderer who falls into a maze of treachery and betrayal, desire and danger.
By: Christian Jacq
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What listeners say about Theophrastus' Characters
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- MLClifford
- 10-08-22
Sardonic take on the human condition
Wonderful sketches of human foibles, as timely today as when they were written two millenia ago.
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