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Title details for The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World by Bettany Hughes - Available

The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World

An Extraordinary New Journey Through History's Greatest Treasures

by Bettany Hughes
Bettany Hughes
Audiobook
1 of 2 copies available
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1 of 2 copies available
An immersive, awe-inspiring tour of the ancient sites that kindle our imagination and afford us a glimpse into our shared history
“This fascinating book is brimming with stories of people and places, all told with Bettany’s natural sense of wonder and adventure.” —Simon Sebag Montefiore, New York Times bestselling author of The World
For millennia, the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World have been known for their aesthetic sublimity, ingenious engineering, and sheer, audacious magnitude: The Great Pyramids of Giza, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the Temple of Artemis, the Statue of Zeus, the Mausoleum of Halikarnassos, the Colossus of Rhodes, and the Lighthouse at Alexandria. Echoing down time, each of these persists in our imagination as an emblem of the glory of antiquity, but beneath the familiar images is a surprising, revelatory history. Guiding us through it is historian Bettany Hughes, who has traveled to each of the sites to uncover the latest archaeological discoveries and bring these monuments and the distinct cultures that built them back to breathtaking life. Spellbinding and full of insight, The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World is a journey into the indomitable ambition and creativity of the human spirit.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    April 23, 2024

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9780593821824
      • File size: 402816 KB
      • Duration: 13:59:11

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      This audiobook tour of antiquity's great architectural wonders is rich in detail but somewhat difficult to absorb. Popular historian and narrator Bettany Hughes, who is spirited and personable, investigates both the original and present condition of each site. The narrative is informative, highly visual, and engaging regardless of one's prior knowledge or degree of interest. Hughes's British inflections, however, sound flat and insufficiently articulated. She tends to swallow vowels and run words together, requiring a higher degree of concentration than some listeners may find comfortable. A disappointment rather than a complete loss, this is an audiobook that benefits from having a read-along copy at hand. D.A.W. © AudioFile 2024, Portland, Maine
    • Library Journal

      Starred review from December 6, 2024

      A historian and communicator of history on the page and screen, Hughes's (Venus and Aphrodite) latest book about the ancient world explores wonder as an emotion shared by early and modern travelers to these structures and the notion of wonder lists as a trend that continues today harks back to the second century BCE. Hughes's experience as a television presenter and narrator of previous audiobooks is evident as she unhurriedly unfolds an international Alexandrian tour around the seven sites consistently (though not always) inscribed on scraps of papyri on which our "relations across time" compiled their lists of the ancient world's marvels. From the oldest and only intact wonder, the Great Pyramid at Giza, to the Pharos Lighthouse, Hughes leads listeners across time and place in a steady tone of rapt, enjoyable fascination. The author audibly respects her subjects, both the people who engaged in the sense-making, pseudo-spiritual practice of taxonomy (and sometimes nationalist boasting) and the people whose skills went into creations to provoke wonderment. VERDICT Hughes's enthusiastic, joyful presentation of wondrous historical sites is not to be missed. An excellent pairing with Raven Todd DaSilva's The Other Ancient Civilisations.--Lauren Kage

      Copyright 2024 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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