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Famous Greeks
- Narrated by: J. Rufus Fears
- Length: 12 hrs and 22 mins
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Famous Greeks
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Summary
Join Professor Fears for this riveting 24-lecture examination of fascinating figures who shaped the story of Greece from the Trojan War through the rise of Rome. What do their lives, studied in the context of their times, tell us about virtue and vice, folly and wisdom, success and failure?
Inspired and informed by the monumental works of Homer, Herodotus, Thucydides, and Plutarch, these lectures allow you to do exactly that, guided by a truly great teacher. From the heroes of the Trojan War to Alexander the Great and Cleopatra, Professor Fears ushers you into the lives, achievements, and influence of many of the figures who made Greek history.
Among these are great warriors such as Achilles, Agamemnon, Hector, Odysseus, and Alexander the Great; masterful statesmen including Lycurgus, Solon, and Philip of Macedonia; profound thinkers like Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle; and artists and writers such as Homer, Herodotus, Sophocles, Thucydides, and Plutarch. These lectures are informed by a fine moral awareness and a deep familiarity with the times these famous lives were lived. By exploring these famous Greek lives in this context, you'll also discover new ways to read familiar classics by Homer, Herodotus, Thucydides, Sophocles, Euripides, Aristophanes, Xenophon, and Plato. And in keeping with that historical spirit, Professor Fears draws lessons from each life studied in this course, charting with you the intellectual and artistic currents of one of the most creative civilizations in world history.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.
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What listeners say about Famous Greeks
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- EmilyK
- 18-05-20
Conservative and overly dramatic
Professor Fears comes from a conservative and "great man" type of historical examination. He also spends a good bit of time summarizing plots. I found his presentation overly melodramatic as well.
I would highly recommend Professor McInerney's Greek great courses instead. Those are truly wonderful and worth a repeat listen.
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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
- MR A PATTERSON
- 25-08-23
Inspiring
What I loved about this audiobook is the passion for the subject the author clearly has. As he talks of the famous Greeks, we’re not just learning about the past, we’re learning how and why it’s applicable to today’s world. What lessons there is for us to take from it, just as those in ancient times did. Fantastic
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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
- Leanne
- 18-02-15
Loved it
Very informative, easy to listen to.
Great knowledge and detailed accounts of the famous Greeks
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- piers
- 27-02-15
Fantastic Fears
I have been listening to lectures for a long time and The Teaching Company/ The Great Courses are generally very good but Professor Fears is their best lecturer, funny, succint, a great actor.
History in his hands is fascinating, clear and compelling, even casting light on some of Socrates impenetrable musings. Famous Greeks, Famous Romans and Churchill are superb. I cant reccommend enough
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3 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Manish
- 05-08-18
Other Courses
Great set of lectures. Covers all major characters. However I question the value as a stand alone and this really should be read in conjunction with the other courses on Ancient Greece to put course into context
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1 person found this helpful
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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
- ColinJames
- 01-01-23
Well narrated and interesting
Really well narrated and interesting stories. Looking forward to listening to "Famous Romans" one day, and will certainly relisten to some of these
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Artemisia
- 05-05-20
Great Content - Terrible Delivery!
While the subject is fascinating, I was unable to finish this as the lecturer's delivery is a weird hybrid of a really enthusiastic am-dram actor and a really bad stand-up comedian. He also mis-pronounced words frequently one example is cavalry (as in horse mounted soldiers) but he always pronounces it 'calvary' as in the town outside Jerusalem. Disappointed as I really enjoy these courses normally ☹
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- DS
- 04-02-17
Often pompous and inaccurate
What did you like best about Famous Greeks? What did you like least?
Many of the stories are interesting of course, but the lecturer is hard to bear. He comes across as the kind of old fashioned academic who equates wisdom with large words and unusual pronunciations, and who thinks his credentials as a classicist gives him the authority to make strained comparisons between the Greek world and his conservative take on american politics.
He is also often inaccurate. He makes no distinction between reliable and unreliable sources and gives the listen no indication that he is sometimes drawing from contemporary sources and sometimes from a myth that appeared hundreds of years later. I only recognised this for the figures I did know, but it meant I couldn't trust what he said about the figures I did not know. I stopped about three quarters of the way through.
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2 people found this helpful