The Empresses of Constantinople: Free Audiobook and Listening Guide

The Empresses of Constantinople, credited to Joseph Martin McCabe, is available as a LibriVox volunteer audiobook. This guide identifies the recording, its source summary and its audio tracks.

About the work

The LibriVox catalogue summary, preserved with the recording, reads:

LibriVox recording of The Empresses of Constantinople by Joseph Martin McCabe. Read in English by LibriVox volunteers. In concluding an earlier volume on the mistresses of the western Roman Empire I observed that, as the gallery of fair and frail ladies closed, we stood at the door of “the long, quaint gallery of the Byzantine Empresses.” It seemed natural and desirable to pass on to this more interesting and less familiar series of the mistresses of the eastern Roman Empire, and the present volume will therefore tell the story of the Empresses, or Queens, as they preferred to be called, who occupied the throne set up by Constantine in New Rome, or ancient Byzantium. (Summary taken from the author's introduction)

Recording facts

• Recording title: The Empresses of Constantinople
• Author credits: Joseph Martin McCabe
• Language: English
• Original MP3 tracks: 31
• Listed recording duration: 13:15:49

Catalogue topics

• byzantium
• women studies
• women biography

Opening tracks: first 24 of 31

1. 00 - Preface — 8:52
2. 01 - Verina and Her Daughters, part 1 — 26:07
3. 02 - Verina and Her Daughters, part 2 — 21:51
4. 03 - The Early Life of Theodora — 33:56
5. 04 - The Empress Theodora — 39:16
6. 05 - Sophia — 36:57
7. 06 - Martina — 33:35
8. 07 - The Most Pious Irene, part 1 — 20:03
9. 08 - The Most Pious Irene, part 2 — 26:25
10. 09 - Saint Theodora, part 1 — 22:37
11. 10 - Saint Theodora, part 2 — 22:33
12. 11 - The Wives of Leo the Philosopher — 35:39
13. 12 - The Tavern Keeper's Daughter (Theophano), part 1 — 22:57
14. 13 - The Tavern Keeper's Daughter (Theophano), part 2 — 25:58
15. 14 - Two Imperial Sisters (Zoe and Theodora), part 1 — 19:05
16. 15 - Two Imperial Sisters (Zoe and Theodora), part 2 — 28:00
17. 16 - Eudocia — 36:52
18. 17 - Irene and Anna Comnena, part 1 — 25:13
19. 18 - Irene and Anna Comnena, part 2 — 30:37
20. 19 - A Breath of Chivalry (1140-1185), part 1 — 18:47
21. 20 - A Breath of Chivalry (1140-1185), part 2 — 18:07
22. 21 - Euphrosyne Ducaena, part 1 — 24:20
23. 22 - Euphrosyne Ducaena, part 2 — 25:47
24. 23 - The New Constantinople, part 1 — 23:33

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Source and rights

This is a record from LibriVox's official Internet Archive collection, with a public-domain licence recorded in its metadata. LibriVox's policy includes its catalogue summaries as well as its recordings. Its public-domain assessment follows United States law; copyright status can differ elsewhere. The summary and track facts are reproduced and reformatted from that record. Dates attached to the archive upload are not treated as original book publication dates.