At a recent meeting, the group leader gave us some
“get-to-know-you” questions. One was
“What’s your favorite group/singer and your favorite song.”
But I haven’t listened to that song in months. Questions
like this remind me that most people listen to music when they drive, work,
exercise or commute.
Really, I should have said my favorite “singer” is Mike
Duncan; my favorite song is his “The History of Rome” podcast. The podcast was launched on iTunes in
September 2007 and was an instant and enduring hit. I did not begin listening until 2013, long
after the final episode was on iTunes, but the podcast was still in the Top 50
on iTunes at that time.
In nearly 200 episodes (179 numbered episodes, some with
multiple parts) Mike Duncan guides us from the founding of Rome through the
Republic, Julius Caesar and the Civil War, then through the many great and
terrible Caesars who followed to the end of the Western Empire in the late
400s. Duncan did not try to chronicle
the Eastern Empire through its end in 1453.
I have read and re-read the Aeneid, including reading it in
Iraq. I love history well told and “The
History of Rome” is 70 hours of solid information by a great storyteller.
If you have not listened to podcasts and are interested in
history, “The History of Rome” is a great place to start. And the series has its own Wikipedia page.
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