Showing results by publisher "BBC Audio" in Ancient

Full-cast BBC Radio 4 dramatisations of the first five Falco novels by Lindsey Davis, starring Anton Lesser as Marcus Didius Falco.

The Emperor Domitian has informers everywhere; no-one is safe. He rules Rome with a rod of iron, and he is dangerously unstable and paranoid. In the snake pit of Imperial Rome, all Pliny the Younger wants to do is get his letters ready for publication. Except if he, his mother, their Greek cook Doris (who narrowly missed out on becoming the next Oracle at Delphi), and Venta, their slave with secretarial skills, have any chance of surveying, they are going to have to negotiate a political minefield, keep their eyes peeled for spies and, most of all, not do anything to annoy the Emperor.

Nine BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramas by Mike Walker, chronicling Rome’s greatest rulers. Drawing on historical sources including Suetonius’ ‘Lives of the Caesars’, Mike Walker’s compelling drama cycle follows the story of the leaders of Rome, from Julius Caesar’s ascension to power to the collapse of the Roman Empire in the West in AD 475.

Judea, AD 26. Two men's lives run almost in parallel. One is a prince of Jerusalem. The other is known as 'He that is born King of the Jews'. When Judah Ben Hur visits his childhood playmate Messala, now a Roman tribune, he hopes to rekindle an old friendship. But their meeting has devastating consequences. Betrayed and falsely accused of attempted murder, Judah's property is confiscated and his family arrested—and he himself is sent to the galleys.

Widely considered as one of the finest historical novelists of the 20th century, Mary Renault brought the ancient world alive, turning age-old myths of gods and monsters into compelling human stories. In The King Must Die and its sequel, The Bull from the Sea, she retells the legend of Theseus, one of the greatest heroes of Ancient Greece.