After Gavin Richardson started the thread, NETFLIX COMMODUS "DOC": ROMAN EMPIRE: REIGN OF BLOOD, and I watched the entire series in one sitting, I had my lone brilliant idea, and hit the local library for any recorded books on cd that might be available. Over the years, I’ve spent a lot of hours traveling for one reason or another, and listen to cds to occupy my mind as I drive. Easily over 10,000 hrs of stories. I suppose if I had just listened to language cds, I would know most of the languages in the world, including Mandarin Chinese. I did attempt to listen and learn a language once while driving, but after repeating five Spanish words over and over for an hour, I was bored to death and ready to fall asleep. The cd came out and it was back to a murder mysteries. Anyway, I found two great courses by RECORDED BOOKS: THE MODERN SCHOLAR, GREAT PROFESSORS TEACHING YOU! lectures that I’d like to pass on for those that don’t know of them or are interested. There are several other courses. I found both of the two courses great, but being new to this, I may just be googly eyed about it, like I was when looking at my first Ancient Coins. What they teach is probably old news to some of you. They are both taught by professors, using 7 cds, with 2 lectures per cd. Course guides are included with the set. The two I listened to are: FROM TROY TO CONSTANTINOPLE, Cities and Societies of Ancient Turkey by Professor Jennifer Tobin, University of Illinois at Chicago. The course is the story of societies that inhabited the Turkish peninsula from roughly 10,000 BC to 330 AD. The Lectures are: Palaeolithic and Neolithic Turkey, Troy and the Trojan War, The Hittites, The Phrygians, The Greeks, The Lydians, The Persians, The Lycians, The Carians, Alexander the Great in Anatolia, The Kingdom of Pergamon, Nemrud Dag and the Kingdom of Commagene, The Early Roman Empire: Ephesus and Perge, and The Later Roman Empire: Zeugma and Constantinople. THE DECLINE AND FALL OF ROME by Professor Thomas F. Madden, Saint Louis University. This course takes you thru the fall of Ancient Rome, and the reasons why. From about 100 BC to 540 AD. The Lectures are: The Decline and fall of What?, The Sick Republic, The Augustan Revolution, The Julio-Claudian Emperors, Instability and War, Order Restored: The Five Good Emperors 96-180 AD, Military Dictatorship, The Spreading Anarchy 235-284 AD, Diocletian and the Reform of Empire, Constantine and the Conversion of Empire, The New Threat of Heresy, Theodosius and His Successors, The Fall of Rome, and Rome After Rome. There are other Lecture series available, not all may be of interest.
