Series III
Sleep to Antiquity
Long, unhurried narrations of the same history, written to be heard with the lights off. Listen in story order: the first night is the whole war, from the crisis at Messana to the peace. The second slows down to one summer inside it, the summer of Ecnomus, and the third follows the years after, when an unpaid army turned on Carthage and Hamilcar crossed to Iberia.
Where to start
Play the first night: The First Punic War, narrated for sleep 1:07:54
Three nights so far, each over an hour long. Start here.
The nights, in story order
Each line runs from 264 to 230 BC, a year to a step. The mark shows the years the night covers, dotted where it runs on past the last date it gives.
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The first night
The First Punic War, narrated for sleep
264 to 241 BC: the whole war, from the crisis at Messana to the peace
“It had lasted without a break for twenty-four years” 1.63.4
- Runtime
- 1:07:54
- Rests on
- No sources line was published with it
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The second night
The Battle of Ecnomus, 256 BC, narrated for sleep
256 BC: one summer inside it, the summer of Ecnomus
“...set to sea with a fleet of three hundred and thirty decked ships of war and put in to Messene.” 1.25.7
- Runtime
- 1:01:53
- Rests on
- Polybius, Book 1
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The third night
Rome and Carthage between the wars, narrated for sleep
From the peace of 241 BC: the unpaid army, and Hamilcar crossing to Iberia in 237
“There shall be friendship between the Carthaginians and Romans on the following terms if approved by the Roman people.” 1.62.8
- Runtime
- 1:34:07
- Rests on
- Polybius, Books 1 to 3; Cicero, Verrines
The same history, awake
How the First Punic War began, 264 to 262 BC
The same war, awake, from the vote that started it.
Episode 1, 23:37
The corvus and the Battle of Mylae: how Rome built a navy, 260 BC
The boarding bridge and the first Roman victory at sea, awake.
Episode 2, 27:43