ABSTRACT
Adolf Hitler was an inveterate chatterbox and loved to hear his own voice, whether he was dwelling in the private rooms of his office in Berlin or in the gaudy, but still cosy, country house which he had built in the mountains of Obersalzburg; during, and especially after, lunch and before the film which he regularly showed his guests – a select group of his privileged intimates – in the evenings. Later, during the war, the table-talks, or rather monologues, were held in the Führer’s military headquarters and there was no time for screening films. Hitler would speak for hours about one or another of his favourite topics. His repertoire was limited and his position was usually well-known in advance. One of his most preferred subjects was the greatness of classical Antiquity; time and again he returned to the topic and could talk about it interminably, even in the middle of the war. Hitler’s knowledge of Greek and Roman Antiquity was mediocre, but he nevertheless praised it highly (Demandt 2001: 136-57; Ryback 2008). Perhaps it was because he was the Führer and, as such, wished to found a thousand-year empire which would rival the powerful Roman Empire: first he would take Europe, and then he would conquer the whole world.
