Audiobooks narrated by Victoria Woodson

The Empires of Persia: The History and Legacy of the Dynasties that Ruled Persia from Antiquity to T

Lying in the middle of a plain in modern day Iran is a forgotten ancient city: Persepolis. Built two and a half thousand years ago, it was known in its day as the richest city under the sun. Persepolis was the capital of Achaemenid Persian Empire, the largest empire the world had ever seen, but after its destruction, it was largely forgotten for nearly 2,000 years, and the lives and achievements of those who built it were almost entirely erased from history. Alexander the Great’s troops razed the city to the ground in a drunken riot to celebrate the conquest of the capital, after which time and sand buried it for centuries. The Parthian people created an empire that lasted almost 500 years, from the mid-3rd century BCE until 224 CE, and it stretched from the Euphrates River in the west to Central Asia and the borders of Bactria in the east. In fact, the expansive empire challenged the Romans on numerous occasions for supremacy in the Near East. During the first half of the 1st millennium CE, an empire arose in Persia that extended its power and influence to Mesopotamia in the east, Arabia in the south, the Caucasus Mountains in the north, and as far east as India. This empire, known alternatively as the Sasanian Empire or Sassanid Empire, was the last of three great dynasties in Persia—the Achaemenid and the Parthian being the first two dynasties—before the rise of Islam. Amid the upheaval in the Islamic world following Muhammad’s death, the Umayyad Caliphate lasted for less than a century, but in that time it managed to become one of the most influential of the major caliphates established following him. The Umayyads would be replaced by the far more intelligent and crafty Abbasids, who managed to wield powerful tools like propaganda to undermine their opponents, but eventually, the Ottomans would consolidate control of the area for nearly 500 years.

Charles River Editors (Author), Victoria Woodson (Narrator)

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Pompey the Great: The Life and Legacy of the Legendary Roman General Who Lost the Civil War to Juliu

Thanks to Caesar’s victory in the civil war, Pompey is mostly remembered not for being one of Rome’s greatest generals, but for being defeated by Caesar and then ignominiously murdered after he fled to Egypt, where the boy pharaoh Ptolemy XIII decapitated Pompey and offered his head to Caesar as a gift. Although Caesar was there chasing Pompey’s men, he quickly became involved in Egypt’s own civil war. As a consequence of Ptolemy’s barbarity, Caesar impulsively decided to side with his sister Cleopatra in her bid for the throne of Egypt, escalating what was rapidly becoming an all-out civil war. Of course, before the civil war, Pompey was one of the most powerful men in Rome. Gnaeus Pompeius was born on September 29, 106 BCE and went on to become regarded as one of the greatest statesmen and generals of the late Roman Republic. He was given the title “the Great” by his troops in Africa in 82 BCE and assumed the cognomen Magnus after 81 BCE. Pompey belonged to the senatorial nobility, the Pompeii, and the family had its first consul in 141 BCE. He loved all things Greek and spoke the language fluently. He gained much of his early military experience working on the staff of his father Pompeius Strabo, and the family base was in Picenum in eastern Italy. Strabo had significantly increased the family’s clients when he was consul in 88 BCE. In time, Pompey played a role in defeating many of Rome’s enemies across the world, from Africa to Spain, and he even helped put down Spartacus’ uprising. He had built his military power and acumen by participating in Rome’s previous civil war between Gaius Marius and Sulla, sharpening both his political and military skills, and he used them to great effect for decades during one of ancient Rome’s most chaotic – and important – periods. Perhaps just as importantly, following his successes in Africa, he demanded a triumph and refused to disband his army.

Charles River Editors (Author), Victoria Woodson (Narrator)

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Salamis and Actium: The History of the Ancient World’s Most Famous Naval Battles

When the Spartans’ famous and sacrificial stand at the Battle of Thermopylae ended during the Second Persian War, the Athenian fleet was forced to fall back, and Xerxes’ massive Persian army marched unopposed into Greece before advancing on Athens. The Greek armies were scattered and unable to face the might of Persia, so Athens was forced to do the unthinkable: evacuate the entire population of the city to Salamis, from where the Athenians watched in horror as Xerxes’ troops plundered the defenseless city, set it aflame, and razed the Acropolis. However, the Athenians remained belligerent, in part because according to the oracle at Delphi, “only the wooden wall shall save you.” Indeed, this would prove true when Themistocles managed to lure the Persian fleet into the straits of Salamis. There, on a warm day in September 480 BCE, hundreds of Greek and Persian ships faced each other in a narrow strait between the Attic peninsula of Greece and the island of Salamis. The battle that ensued would prove to be epic on a number of different levels, as it set a precedent for how later naval battles were fought in the ancient Mediterranean, turned the tide in the Greeks’ favor against the Persians in the Persian Wars, and ultimately played a role in Athens’ rise to a preeminent role in the Hellenic world. As one of Rome’s most famous battles, the Battle of Actium has taken on a life of its own in popular memory. One of the longest-held myths about the battle is that Cleopatra, sensing defeat, began to sail away from the fight in the middle of the day, and the love struck Antony followed her with his own ship, abandoning his men in the middle of the fight. While that popular myth would be in keeping with explaining Cleopatra’s irresistible charm and magnetism, contemporary accounts of the battle do not suggest it was the case.

Charles River Editors (Author), Victoria Woodson (Narrator)

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Ancient Greece’s Most Influential Philosophers

In virtually all fields of human endeavor, ancient Greece was so much at the forefront of dynamism and innovation that the products of its most brilliant minds remain not only influential but entirely relevant to this day. The great philosophers of Athens, men like Aristotle, Socrates, and Plato, interrogated themselves with startling complexity about the nature of good and evil, questioned the existence of divinity, advocated intelligent design, and went so far as to argue that all life was composed of infinitesimal particles. Although the school of philosophy started by Socrates and championed by Plato and Aristotle continues to be the most famous, other schools of thought began to branch, including the Epicureans and Cynics. In the 3rd century B.C., Stoicism arose in response to and under the influence of these older schools, combining many of the best theories from each into a more cohesive whole. With a greater flexibility and more practical application to everyday life, Stoicism quickly became a very popular school of thought, a growth made exponential by its introduction to the Romans. Today, very few have heard of him, but he became a major philosophical and religious figure through the publication of his thoughts, travels, and miracles by Philostratus the Elder (c. 170-247 A.D.), written about a century after Apollonius of Tyana’s death. Philostratus the Elder’s works were based on the works of other writers (Maximus of Aegae, Damis, and Moeragenes), and miracles attributed to Apollonius were often compared to those of Jesus, who lived around the same time. Apollonius’s cult was important throughout the whole of the Pagan era and even carried on into the Middle Ages. Why such an important philosopher has been so forgotten by modern historians is in itself an interesting issue, and it is just as crucial to understand what Apollonius preached and the information he provided about his contemporary world.

Charles River Editors (Author), Victoria Woodson (Narrator)

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The Persian Wars and the Punic Wars: The History of the Ancient Greek and Roman Victories that Prese

The Ancient Greeks have long been considered the forefathers of modern Western civilization, but the Golden Age of Athens and the spread of Greek influence across much of the known world only occurred due to one of the most crucial battles of antiquity: the Battle of Marathon. In 491 B.C., following a successful invasion of Thrace over the Hellespont, the Persian emperor Darius sent envoys to the main Greek city-states, including Sparta and Athens, demanding tokens of earth and water as symbols of submission, but Darius didn’t exactly get the reply he sought. According to Herodotus in his famous Histories, “Xerxes however had not sent to Athens or to Sparta heralds to demand the gift of earth, and for this reason, namely because at the former time when Dareios had sent for this very purpose, the one people threw the men who made the demand into the pit and the others into a well, and bade them take from thence earth and water and bear them to the king.” In the wake of Thermopylae, the Athenians watched in horror as Xerxes’ troops plundered the defenseless city, set it aflame, and razed the Acropolis. However, the Athenians remained belligerent, in part because according to the oracle at Delphi, “only the wooden wall shall save you.” Indeed, this would prove true when Themistocles managed to lure the Persian fleet into the straits of Salamis. Although the Romans gained the upper hand in the wake of the First Punic War, Hannibal brought the Romans to their knees for over a decade during the Second Punic War. While military historians are still amazed that he was able to maintain his army in Italy near Rome for nearly 15 years, scholars are still puzzled over some of his decisions, including why he never attempted to march on Rome in the first place. After the serious threat Hannibal posed during the Second Punic War, the Romans didn’t wait much longer to take the fight to the Carthaginians in the Third Punic War.

Charles River Editors (Author), Victoria Woodson (Narrator)

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A History of Some of London’s Most Famous Landmarks

It almost goes without saying that Westminster Abbey is one of the foremost sites in Europe when it comes to being steeped in history. Dating back to the reign of William the Conqueror and the Norman conquest, Westminster Abbey has traditionally been the site of royal coronations, royal weddings, and royal burials, and anyone who enters can instantly feel that they are walking in the footsteps of some of the most influential figures in history, from Henry III to Queen Elizabeth I. It’s impossible to fully appreciate the Tower of London without understanding its context. Like all fortresses, it was built to control and protect its surroundings, and the history of the Tower is bound up in the mutual histories of London and the Monarchy. The unfolding saga of war, imprisonment, glory, and treason in England can all be told through the lens of the Tower, and the lives that intersected with it. When people think of the British Royal family, and more specifically where they live, the first image that often pops into mind is that of stately Buckingham Palace, with its changing of the guard and the occasional royal coach leaving or entering. Others may think of the royal country estate of Windsor Castle, a favorite of both Britain’s longest-reigning and second longest-reigning monarchs. And there was a time when both royal residences played second fiddle to a much better known home, the elegant Kensington Palace. Big Ben is one of the most recognizable symbols of Britain, and indeed one of the most famous structures in the world. A quintessential part of London, every movie set in London features an establishing shot of Big Ben, and many guidebooks of London have the clock tower as its cover photo. London and Big Ben are forever linked in the consciousness of the Western world.

Charles River Editors (Author), Victoria Woodson (Narrator)

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The End of the Roman Republic

Possibly the most important man of antiquity, and even all of history, was Julius Caesar. Alexander Hamilton, the famous American patriot, once remarked that “the greatest man who ever lived was Julius Caesar”. Such a tribute, coming from one of the Founding Fathers of the quintessential modern democracy in reference to a man who destroyed the Roman Republic, is testament to the enduring mark that Caesar left upon the world. The ultimate conqueror, statesman, dictator, visionary, and opportunist, during his time in power Caesar expanded the borders of Rome to almost twice their previous size, revolutionized the infrastructure of the Roman state, and destroyed the Roman Republic for good, leaving a line of emperors in its place. His legacy is so strong that his name has become, in many languages, synonymous with power. During one of the most turbulent periods in the history of Rome, men like Julius Caesar, Mark Antony, and Octavian participated in two civil wars that would spell the end of the Roman Republic and determine who would become the Roman emperor. In the middle of it all was history’s most famous woman, the Egyptian pharaoh Cleopatra, who famously seduced both Caesar and Antony and thereby positioned herself as one of the most influential people in a world of powerful men. Cleopatra was a legendary figure even to contemporary Romans and the ancient world, and she was a controversial figure who was equally reviled and praised through the years, depicted as a benevolent ruler and an evil seductress. Octavian was the first true Roman Emperor, and the first man since the Tarquinus, five centuries earlier, to establish a successful hereditary ruling dynasty in what had been a proud Republic for over half a millennium. He was a canny strategist, an excellent orator, a fine writer, a generous patron of the arts and enthusiastic promoter of public works, but above all he was a master politician.

Charles River Editors (Author), Victoria Woodson (Narrator)

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The Minoans and Mycenaeans: The History of the Civilizations that First Developed Ancient Greek Cult

Nearly 2,500 years after the Golden Age of Athens, people across the world today continue to be fascinated by the Ancient Greeks. But who did the Ancient Greeks look up to? The answer to that question can be found in Homer’s The Odyssey, in which Odysseus makes note of “a great town there, Cnossus, where Minos reigned.” It was perhaps the earliest reference to the Minoan civilization, a mysterious ancient civilization that historians and archaeologists still puzzle over, but a civilization that renowned historian Will Durant described as 'the first link in the European chain.” Nearly 2,000 years before Homer wrote his epic poems, the Minoan civilization was centered on the island of Crete, a location that required the Minoans to be a regional sea power. And indeed they were, stretching across the Aegean Sea from about 2700-1500 BCE with trade routes extending all the way to Egypt. The Minoans may have been the first link in the “European chain”, leading to the Ancient Greeks and beyond, but questions persist over the origins of the civilization, the end of the civilization, and substantial parts of their history inbetween, including their religion and buildings. In the wake of the Minoans, a Greek culture flourished and spread its tentacles throughout the western Mediterranean region via trade and warfare. Scholars have termed this pre-Classical Greek culture the Mycenaean culture, which existed from about 2000-1200 BCE, when Greece, along with much of the eastern Mediterranean, was thrust into a centuries long dark age. However, before the Mycenaean culture collapsed, it was a vital part of the late Bronze Age Mediterranean system and stood on equal footing with some of the great powers of the region, such as the Egyptians and Hittites. At the same time, the Mycenaeans had more in common with their neighbors from the island of Crete.

Charles River Editors (Author), Victoria Woodson (Narrator)

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The Queens Who Fought Rome

During one of the most turbulent periods in the history of Rome, men like Julius Caesar, Mark Antony, and Octavian participated in two civil wars that would spell the end of the Roman Republic and determine who would become the Roman emperor. In the middle of it all was history’s most famous woman, the Egyptian pharaoh Cleopatra (69-30 B.C.), who famously seduced both Caesar and Antony and thereby positioned herself as one of the most influential people in a world of powerful men. Cleopatra was a legendary figure even to contemporary Romans and the ancient world, as Plutarch’s quote suggests, and she was a controversial figure who was equally reviled and praised through the years, depicted as a benevolent ruler and an evil seductress, sometimes at the same time. One of the reasons Hadrian's Wall existed was to protect against enemies, and given what happened in the mid-1st century CE, the Romans’ fears was understandable. Indeed, Londinium had become the largest city in Britannia shortly before being burned down in a native revolt led by an infamous Celtic Iceni queen named Boudica. With a name meaning “Victory,” Boudica was a charismatic woman who commanded nearly 100,000 Celts and led them on a campaign to expel the Roman overlords from Britain around the year 61 CE. Often called the “Celtic Queen,” she wore a warrior’s necklace around her delicate neck and rode upon a sturdy steed. One of the most significant women in late antiquity was Zenobia, who for just a few short years in the late 3rd century CE ruled the wealthy merchant city of Palmyra. During her time as ruler, Zenobia extended Palmyra’s boundaries from its very circumscribed location in the Syrian desert to that of a full-fledged empire that included most of the Levant, Egypt, and part of Anatolia. Despite living in a man’s world, Zenobia was able to come to power and eventually challenge the Roman Emperor Aurelian (r. 270-275).

Charles River Editors (Author), Victoria Woodson (Narrator)

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The Modern Discovery of Australia and New Zealand: The History of the Indigenous Natives and the Ini

A land of almost 3 million square miles has lain since time immemorial on the southern flank of the planet, so isolated that it remained entirely outside of European knowledge until 1770. However, the first human footprints on this vast territory were felt 70,000 years earlier, as people began to cross the periodic land bridges and the short sea crossings from Southeast Asia. By the mid-17th century, the existence of a land in the south referred to as Terra Australis was generally known and understood by the Europeans, and incrementally, its shores were observed and mapped. Van Diemen’s Land, an island off the south coast of Australia now called Tasmania, was identified in 1642 by Dutch mariner Abel Tasman, and a few months later, the intrepid Dutchman would add New Zealand to the map of the known world. At the time, the English were the greatest naval power in Europe, but they arrived on the scene rather later. The first to appear was William Dampier, captain of the HMS Roebuck, in 1699, after he had been granted a Royal Commission by King William III to explore the east coast of New Holland. By then, the general global balance of power was shifting, and with the English gaining a solid foothold in India, their supremacy in the Indian Ocean trade zone began. The Dutch, once predominant in the region, began slowly to lose ground, slipping out of contention as a major global trading power. So too were the Portuguese, also once dominant in the region. It was now just the French and the English who were facing one another down in a quest to dominate the world, but their imperial interests were focused mainly in India and the East Indies, as well as the Caribbean and the Americas. As a result, the potential of a vast, practically uninhabited great southern continent did not yet hold much interest. By then the world was largely mapped, with just regions such as the Arctic Archipelago and the two poles remaining terra incognita.

Charles River Editors (Author), Victoria Woodson (Narrator)

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Ludwig van Beethoven: The Life and Music of the Great Composer

Among all of history’s greatest musicians, few have been as admired or influential as Ludwig van Beethoven, whose name remains synonymous with composing. Works like his Fifth and Ninth symphonies remain instantly recognizable over 200 years after they were composed, and their sweeping and grandiose nature are made all the more amazing by the fact that their author was gradually going deaf and couldn’t hear music very well by the time he was composing them. Similarly, the “Moonlight Sonata” and 'Für Elise' are renowned across the world and are some of the most famous piano pieces of all time. At the same time, Beethoven’s work ushered in a new era in art, helping the transition from the Classical era to the Romantic era. In the 180 years since his death, Beethoven has been enshrined by modern society as one of the most esteemed classical composers in the history of civilization, but he had a profound and immediate influence on the German musical lineage that would pass through Robert Schumann, Richard Wagner, Gustav Mahler and Richard Strauss all the way to composers of the 20th and early 21st centuries. At a time when music was very much viewed as science, Beethoven was a giant in the field, and as such he was viewed as a genius. As Beethoven himself once put it, “Music is the one incorporeal entrance into the higher world of knowledge which comprehends mankind but which mankind cannot comprehend.” In terms of assessing the essence of Beethoven’s era, character or musical output, no unqualified categorization is possible, for he straddled a titanic shifting of social ideologies, performance and compositional practices, intra-continental upheavals and an emergence of the championed self in all forms of civic and artistic expressions. The ideals of the Enlightenment, an intellectual tide that swept throughout the late 18th century and opened the door to a new individualism, did not remain static through his lifetime.

Charles River Editors (Author), Victoria Woodson (Narrator)

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Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: The Life and Music of the Great Composer

Mozart once called music “my life”, and indeed few were as naturally gifted at it. Mozart’s memory and genius for music allowed him to compose lengthy works, even full-length operas, without transferring them to paper until he had fully visualized and retained them. He regarded copying as a tedious task, and this caused no small amount of consternation among performers, in particular the orchestra, some of whom received their parts minutes before curtain. This was said to be the case for the premiere of Don Giovanni, where Mozart was furiously scrawling and handing out parts to the overture with the audience in attendance. Surprisingly, these entire works, sometimes hundreds of pages, not penned until they were complete in his mind, usually arrived to the manuscript without a single blemish or change of heart. Mozart’s eccentricities are remembered centuries after his death, to the point that much of his life, illnesses and death have been mythologized, and today a lot of his legacy has been shaped by the manner in which his personality has been depicted in biographical works like Amadeus. In addition to a large and consistently high-level body of work, Mozart represents for some the real beginning of the German lineage to the 20th century, although Ludwig Beethoven, greatly under Mozart’s influence, created much of that transition’s reality. Three of Mozart’s operas are continually in the top 10 works performed around the world, his piano concerti and symphonies are all in the standard repertoire (save for some of the earliest), and his choral works are treasures of the West. The bulk of his reputation was not garnered by breaking with tradition and destroying it but rather by fulfilling it with a greater beauty and naturalness than was possible for any other artist of the time.

Charles River Editors (Author), Victoria Woodson (Narrator)

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Audiobooks Narrated by Victoria Woodson