Great Tours: Ancient Cities of the Mediterranean - Darius Arya, The Great Courses

Written by Darius Arya, The Great Courses
Read by Darius Arya
Format: M4B
Bitrate: 128 Kbps
Unabridged

Length: 11 hrs and 32 mins
Release date: 04-11-25

The Mediterranean is one of the great wellsprings of human civilization. Central to the region’s history are the splendorous cities that flowered around the region—bases of power that saw innovation, commerce, expansion, and the building of great empires. Many of these cities have become icons of the ancient world, and exemplars of the cultures, conquests, and ways of life that have built western civilization.

In these 24 lavishly illustrated lectures, Dr. Arya takes you to a rich range of superlative cities across the Mediterranean—a thrilling panorama of the great and historically pivotal urban centers of the ancient world, such as:

• Rome. In two lectures on the awe-inspiring world of ancient Rome, take in the grandeur of the city that was the beating heart of a vast empire.

• Jerusalem. Find how this landlocked metropolis was deeply connected to Mediterranean trade routes, making it a major center of commerce as well as of culture.

• Ephesus. In today’s Turkey, one of the most magnificent Greco-Roman cities of the ancient Mediterranean, and a dazzling archaeological site to visit today.

• Alexandria. Founded by Alexander the Great on the shores of Egypt; witness its rise under the Ptolemaic pharaohs as a capital of learning and scholarship.

• Constantinople. Discover this incredible city as Byzantium, under the Greeks, and then as Constantinople under Roman rule. Travel its fabulous urban landscape in the time of the Roman emperors.

In addition to the most renowned urban complexes of the region, you’ll explore a spectrum of extraordinary cities that are less familiar, but no less fascinating, such as Aquileia in Croatia, Sidon in Lebanon, and Timgad in Algeria, as well as the astonishing feats of engineering and glorious works of art of the ancient Mediterranean peoples.

In this sumptuous audio tour, you’ll discover some of history’s greatest marvels and most fascinating cultures, at the fountainhead of Western civilization.