Laughter in Ancient Rome
On Joking, Tickling, and Cracking Up
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Laughter in Ancient Rome
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Narrated by:
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Jennifer M. Dixon
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By:
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Mary Beard
About this listen
What made the Romans laugh? Was ancient Rome a carnival, filled with practical jokes and hearty chuckles? Or was it a carefully regulated culture in which the uncontrollable excess of laughter was a force to fear-a world of wit, irony, and knowing smiles? How did Romans make sense of laughter? What role did it play in the world of the law courts, the imperial palace, or the spectacles of the arena?
Laughter in Ancient Rome explores one of the most intriguing, but also trickiest, of historical subjects. Drawing on a wide range of Roman writing-from essays on rhetoric to a surviving Roman joke book-Mary Beard tracks down the giggles, smirks, and guffaws of the ancient Romans themselves. From ancient "monkey business" to the role of a chuckle in a culture of tyranny, she explores Roman humor from the hilarious, to the momentous, to the surprising. But she also reflects on even bigger historical questions. What kind of history of laughter can we possibly tell? Can we ever really "get" the Romans' jokes?
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Christmas is the single biggest annual event on the planet, a time for merry-making, over-indulgence, peace, goodwill, and the occasional family row. It’s as comfortable and familiar as a pair of old shoes and yet still glittery and exciting. But what do you really know about it? It’s stuffed full of traditions and rituals that most of us have been observing all our lives without having the slightest idea of where they come from.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Fascinating and Entertaining
- By Laura Carrington on 11-23-22
By: Bill Bryson
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The Parole Room
- By: Ben Austen
- Narrated by: Ben Austen
- Length: 4 hrs and 25 mins
- Original Recording
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 337
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 332
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 332
Will Johnnie Veal—convicted of the murder of two police officers in 1970—be granted parole after 50 years in prison? How can he convince the parole board he’s reformed when he insists he’s innocent? What is prison time even supposed to accomplish? These are the questions that propel The Parole Room forward as it builds toward Johnnie’s 20th parole hearing—after 19 rejections.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Enlightening story & a must read
- By Patsy on 10-07-24
By: Ben Austen
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The Mastery of Self
- A Toltec Guide to Personal Freedom
- By: Don Miguel Ruiz Jr.
- Narrated by: Charlie Varon
- Length: 3 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 4,446
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 3,689
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 3,669
The ancient Toltecs believed that life, as we perceive it, is a dream. We each live in our own personal dream, and these come together to form the dream of the planet, or the world in which we live. Problems arise when our perception of the dream becomes clouded with negativity, drama, and judgment (of ourselves and others), because it's in these moments of suffering that we have forgotten that we are the architects of our own reality and we have the power to change our dream if we choose.
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5 out of 5 stars
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listen.. .then listen again
- By Casiano on 12-22-16
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The Last Days of Cabrini-Green
- By: Ben Austen, Harrison David Rivers
- Narrated by: Ben Austen, Patina Miller, Harry Lennix, and others
- Length: 3 hrs and 32 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 139
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 136
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 136
In 1992, the deadliest year in Chicago’s history, seven-year-old Dantrell Davis was shot and killed in front of his elementary school inside the public housing complex Cabrini-Green. What happened to Dantrell led to a truce among Chicago’s gangs, but it also ignited a national panic about poverty and violence in America’s cities. Dantrell’s name would soon be used to demolish all of Chicago’s high-rise public housing, displacing tens of thousands of low-income families.
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5 out of 5 stars
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A Gripping and Necessary Work
- By booklover on 11-24-24
By: Ben Austen, and others
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Ho Tactics
- How to MindF**k a Man into Spending, Spoiling, and Sponsoring
- By: G. L. Lambert
- Narrated by: Patrick Stevens
- Length: 9 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 2,063
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 1,707
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,691
I have discovered a group of women who refuse to be exploited, are immune to manipulation, and who never settle in the name of love. These ladies know what they want and take what they want by beating men at their own game. Utilizing the secrets exposed in this book, these women gain power, money, and status. Men call them gold diggers, women call them hos, but they call themselves winners. This is the book that society doesn't want you to listen to….
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5 out of 5 stars
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I spent $24,000 in 4 months
- By B.M. on 10-06-18
By: G. L. Lambert
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The Autobiography of Malcolm X
- As Told to Alex Haley
- By: Malcolm X, Alex Haley
- Narrated by: Laurence Fishburne
- Length: 16 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 12,476
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 11,097
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 11,038
Experience a bold take on this classic autobiography as it’s performed by Oscar-nominated Laurence Fishburne. In this searing classic autobiography, originally published in 1965, Malcolm X, the Muslim leader, firebrand, and Black empowerment activist, tells the extraordinary story of his life and the growth of the Human Rights movement. His fascinating perspective on the lies and limitations of the American dream and the inherent racism in a society that denies its non-White citizens the opportunity to dream, gives extraordinary insight into the most urgent issues of our own time.
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4 out of 5 stars
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it's Nearly perfect
- By Kerry on 09-16-20
By: Malcolm X, and others
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My Big TOE: Awakening
- Book One of a Trilogy Unifying Philosophy, Physics, and Metaphysics
- By: Thomas Campbell
- Narrated by: Thomas Campbell
- Length: 11 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 488
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 421
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 416
My Big TOE: Awakening, written by a nuclear physicist in the language of contemporary culture, unifies science and philosophy, physics and metaphysics, mind and matter, purpose and meaning, the normal and the paranormal. The entirety of human experience (mind, body, and spirit) including both our objective and subjective worlds is brought together under one seamless scientific understanding.
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2 out of 5 stars
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What a Trip (but to where?)
- By Michael on 11-26-13
By: Thomas Campbell
-
Caffeine
- How Caffeine Created the Modern World
- By: Michael Pollan
- Narrated by: Michael Pollan
- Length: 2 hrs and 2 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 42,542
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 36,649
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 36,481
Michael Pollan, known for his best-selling nonfiction audio, including The Omnivores Dilemma and How to Change Your Mind, conceived and wrote Caffeine: How Caffeine Created the Modern World as an Audible Original. In this controversial and exciting listen, Pollan explores caffeine’s power as the most-used drug in the world - and the only one we give to children (in soda pop) as a treat.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Leaves much to be desired
- By Melody H on 02-02-20
By: Michael Pollan
-
Mythology: Mega Collection
- Classic Stories from the Greek, Celtic, Norse, Japanese, Hindu, Chinese, Mesopotamian and Egyptian Mythology
- By: Scott Lewis
- Narrated by: Madison Niederhauser, Oliver Hunt
- Length: 31 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 705
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 619
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 619
Do you know how many wives Zeus had? Or how the famous Trojan War was caused by one beautiful lady? Or how Thor got his hammer? Give your imagination a real treat. This Mega Mythology Collection of eight audiobooks is for you....
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4 out of 5 stars
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An interesting set of introductions.
- By Kevin Potter on 05-30-19
By: Scott Lewis
-
Eight Dates
- Essential Conversations for a Lifetime of Love
- By: John Gottman PhD, Julie Schwartz Gottman PhD, Doug Abrams, and others
- Narrated by: James Patrick Cronin, Julie McKay
- Length: 5 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,229
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,011
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,001
Navigating the challenges of long-term commitment takes effort - and it just got simpler, with this empowering, step-by-step guide to communicating about the things that matter most to you and your partner. Drawing on 40 years of research from their world-famous Love Lab, Dr. John Gottman and Dr. Julie Schwartz Gottman invite couples on eight fun, easy, and profoundly rewarding dates, each one focused on a make-or-break issue: trust, conflict, sex, money, family, adventure, spirituality, and dreams.
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1 out of 5 stars
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What the F. Robot-reader???!?!?!
- By Anonymous User on 01-21-20
By: John Gottman PhD, and others
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1 out of 5 stars
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This foray into art history is a disappointment.
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Frenzied crowds, talking ravens, the stench of the Tiber River: life in ancient Rome was stimulating, dynamic, and often downright dangerous. The Romans relaxed and gossiped in baths, stole precious water from aqueducts, and partied and dined to excess. From the smells of fragrant cookshops and religious sacrifices to the cries of public executions and murderous electoral mobs, Guy de la Bedoyere's Populus draws on a host of historical and literary sources to transport us into the intensity of daily life at the height of ancient Rome.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Narration is excellent!
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In her international bestseller SPQR, Mary Beard told the thousand-year story of ancient Rome. Now she shines her spotlight on the emperors who ruled the Roman empire, from Julius Caesar (assassinated 44 BCE) to Alexander Severus (assassinated 235 CE). Emperor of Rome is not your usual chronological account of Roman rulers, one after another: the mad Caligula, the monster Nero, the philosopher Marcus Aurelius.
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One of the world's leading historians provides a revolutionary tour of the Ancient World, dusting off the classics for the twenty-first century. Mary Beard, drawing on thirty years of teaching and writing about Greek and Roman history, provides a panoramic portrait of the classical world, a book in which we encounter not only Cleopatra and Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar and Hannibal, but also the common people - the millions of inhabitants of the Roman Empire, the slaves, soldiers, and women.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Annoying narrator
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2 out of 5 stars
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Jane Ellen Harrison (1850-1928) is the most famous female Classicist in history, the author of books that revolutionized our understanding of Greek culture and religion. A star in the British academic world, she became the quintessential Cambridge woman—as Virginia Woolf suggested when, in A Room of One's Own, she claims to have glimpsed Harrison's ghost in the college gardens. This lively and innovative portrayal of a fascinating woman raises the question of who wins (and how) in the competition for academic fame. Mary Beard captures Harrison's ability to create her own image.
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This foray into art history is a disappointment.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Annoying narrator
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The Fires of Vesuvius
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Destroyed by Vesuvius in 79 CE, the ruins of Pompeii offer the best evidence we have of life in the Roman Empire. But the eruptions are only part of the story. In The Fires of Vesuvius, acclaimed historian Mary Beard makes sense of the remains. She explores what kind of town it was - more like Calcutta or the Costa del Sol? - and what it can tell us about "ordinary" life there. From sex to politics, food to religion, slavery to literacy, Beard offers us the big picture even as she takes us close enough to the past to smell the bad breath....
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5 out of 5 stars
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Delightful Description of Life in Ancient Pompeii
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How Do We Look
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 42
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 37
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 36
From prehistoric Mexico to modern Istanbul, Mary Beard looks beyond the familiar canon of Western imagery to explore the history of art, religion, and humanity. Conceived as an accompaniment to How Do We Look and The Eye of Faith, the famed Civilizations shows on PBS, renowned classicist Mary Beard has created this elegant volume on how we have looked at art.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Really needs a PDF
- By Britt Elin Gihleengen on 12-06-18
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The Parthenon
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 43
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Twenty-five hundred years after it first rose above Athens, the Parthenon remains one of the wonders of the world, its beginnings and strange turns of fortune over millennia a perpetual source of curiosity, controversy, and intrigue. At once an entrancing cultural history and a congenial guide for tourists, armchair travelers, and amateur archaeologists alike, this audiobook conducts listeners through the storied past and towering presence of the most famous building in the world.
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5 out of 5 stars
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She made a scholarly subject so comprehensible for lay-people.
- By Amazing on 08-21-24
By: Mary Beard
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Ravenna
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- By: Judith Herrin
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 93
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 73
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 73
At the end of the fourth century, as the power of Rome faded and Constantinople became the seat of empire, a new capital city was rising in the West. Here, in Ravenna on the coast of Italy, Arian Goths and Catholic Romans competed to produce an unrivaled concentration of buildings and astonishing mosaics. For three centuries, the city attracted scholars, lawyers, craftsmen, and religious luminaries, becoming a true cultural and political capital.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Worthy book, stingy production.
- By Stephen Chakwin on 12-13-20
By: Judith Herrin
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Women & Power
- A Manifesto
- By: Mary Beard
- Narrated by: Mary Beard
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 176
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At long last, Mary Beard addresses in one brave book the misogynists and trolls who mercilessly attack and demean women the world over, including, very often, Mary herself. In Women & Power, she traces the origins of this misogyny to its ancient roots, examining the pitfalls of gender and the ways that history has mistreated strong women since time immemorial.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Short and fabulous
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Domina
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- Narrated by: Julian Elfer
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- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 50
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 42
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 42
Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, and Nero - these are the names history associates with the early Roman Empire. Yet, not a single one of these emperors was the blood son of his predecessor. In this captivating history, a prominent scholar of the era documents the Julio-Claudian women whose bloodline, ambition, and ruthlessness made it possible for the emperors' line to continue. Eminent scholar Guy de la Bedoyere, author of Praetorian, asserts that the women behind the scenes - including Livia, Octavia, and the elder and younger Agrippina - were the true backbone of the dynasty.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Fills a Large Gap in Roman History!
- By John Allred on 12-01-19
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Classics
- A Very Short Introduction
- By: Mary Beard, John Henderson
- Narrated by: Julia Whelan
- Length: 4 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 16
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 16
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 16
We are all classicists - we come into touch with the classics on a daily basis: in our culture, politics, medicine, architecture, language, and literature. What are the true roots of these influences, however, and how do our interpretations of these aspects of the classics differ from their original reality?
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4 out of 5 stars
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Beard guides the reader through the Classics
- By Darwin8u on 10-29-24
By: Mary Beard, and others
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Messalina
- A Story of Empire, Slander and Adultery
- By: Honor Cargill-Martin
- Narrated by: Antonia Beamish
- Length: 12 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 24
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 23
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 23
The scandalous image of the Empress Messalina as a ruthless and sexually insatiable schemer, derived from the work of Roman historians such as Tacitus and Suetonius, has taken deep root in the Western imagination. The stories they told about her included nightly visits to a brothel and a twenty-four-hour sex competition with a prostitute. Tales like these have defined the empress's legacy, but her real story is much more complex. In her new life of Messalina, the classicist Honor Cargill-Martin reappraises one of the most slandered and underestimated female figures of ancient history.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Stunning, direct history
- By Amazon Customer on 03-02-24
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Forged in War
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- By: Mark Galeotti
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- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 2
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 2
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 2
The national identity has been forged in the furnace of war. From the medieval kingdom of Rus battling against a Scandinavian princes and Mongol emperors, to its own empire-building conflicts in 19th-century Asia, to the formative wars of the 20th century which saw Russia pitch from Tsarist empire to communist state and defender against Nazism, all these conflicts stained the lands of Russia red with blood. A weak post-Cold War Russia then turned to Putin, who created a new mood for martial triumphalism which led directly to the Ukrainian war.
By: Mark Galeotti
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The Colosseum
- Wonders of the World, Book 19
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Byron and Hitler were equally entranced by Rome's most famous monument, the Colosseum. Mid-Victorians admired the hundreds of varieties of flowers in its crannies and occasionally shuddered at its reputation for contagion, danger, and sexual temptation. Today it is the highlight of a tour of Italy for more than three million visitors a year, a concert arena for the likes of Paul McCartney, and a national symbol of opposition to the death penalty. Its ancient history is chock full of romantic but erroneous myths.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Entertaining history tour with a smooth UK narrator
- By JW on 12-24-23
By: Mary Beard, and others
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Why Homer Matters
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 99
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Story4 out of 5 stars 97
Adam Nicolson sees the Iliad and the Odyssey as the foundation myths of Greek - and our - consciousness, collapsing the passage of 4,000 years and making the distant past of the Mediterranean world as immediate to us as the events of our own time.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Fascinating
- By Jean on 05-04-15
By: Adam Nicolson
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A History of Ancient Rome in Twelve Coins
- By: Gareth Harney
- Narrated by: Piers Hampton
- Length: 12 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall0 out of 5 stars 0
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Performance0 out of 5 stars 0
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Story0 out of 5 stars 0
When Gareth Harney was first handed a Roman coin by his father as a child, he became entranced by its beauty, and its unique ability to connect us with the distant past. He soon learned that the Romans saw coins as far more than just currency—these were metal canvases on which they immortalized their sacred gods, mighty emperors, towering monuments, and brutal battles of conquest. Revealed in those intricate designs struck in gold, silver, and bronze was the epic story of the Roman Empire.
By: Gareth Harney