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A review by nytephoenyx
The History of Ancient Rome by Garrett G. Fagan
informative
slow-paced
2.0
The Great Courses are hit or miss, not because of the quality of the information, but because of the listenability of the professors involved. I thought THE HISTORY OF ANCIENT ROME was loaded with interesting information, but the professor seemed constantly pressed for time. Constant repetition of phrases like "we don't have time to go into that" or "that's a topic for another course" became monotonous.
This is a decent overview of Ancient Rome, particularly those interested in the military history of the civilization. Topics were skated over quickly, but if something interested me I could note it and dig deeper on my own. For the most part, the materials in chronological order, but there were a few lectures at the end where he went into broad overviews of a handful of culturally significant aspects of roman life. Each of these were in a single lecture - women, the Coliseum, Paganism, Christianity - before returning to the last handful of emperors.
All in all, this hasn't been my favorite. I could listen to the individual lectures, but nothing inspired me. And I'm deeply interested in ancient Rome, so I don't think it was the subject matter so much as it was the dismissive delivery. Definitely not my favorite.
This is a decent overview of Ancient Rome, particularly those interested in the military history of the civilization. Topics were skated over quickly, but if something interested me I could note it and dig deeper on my own. For the most part, the materials in chronological order, but there were a few lectures at the end where he went into broad overviews of a handful of culturally significant aspects of roman life. Each of these were in a single lecture - women, the Coliseum, Paganism, Christianity - before returning to the last handful of emperors.
All in all, this hasn't been my favorite. I could listen to the individual lectures, but nothing inspired me. And I'm deeply interested in ancient Rome, so I don't think it was the subject matter so much as it was the dismissive delivery. Definitely not my favorite.