The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire: Volumes 1-3 By Edward Gibbon

I borrowed the first two volumes—amongst my Dad's all-time favourites—from his study when I was around fourteen; and my enduring fascination with the Roman Empire, and ancient history in general, most likely stems from a combination of the heady brews of Gibbon's and Tolkien's masterworks, which ignited within me a terrific thirst for mythology, legend, and history that has yet to be slaked. As far as The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire is concerned, I believe that Gibbon is the greatest prose stylist in the English language after Shakespeare: even today, decades after that always-so-important first read, I still bear the scars—and leave lingering traces—of my hapless efforts to simulate the effortless erudition, sinuous sublimity, poetic polish, and mellifluous majesty of the supremely gifted Gibbon in my own comparatively shabby scribbling.

If you read no other history of the Roman Empire besides this, you would still be impressively knowledgeable, especially about its (frequently deposed and/or murdered) ruler's fortunes, favorites, forays, fratricides, and follies, as well as the general impact on it of Christianity, both in its embryonic, defiant stages and after imperial mass-conversion—though it should be kept in mind that modern scholarship (see, for instance, Peter Heather's recent effort of propinquitous theme and rubric) challenges Gibbon's assignation of primacy to it in undermining the imperial structure. I always recommend reading the unabridged version—how dare they slice up Gibbon's beautiful prose painting!—as the Englishman's musings on the empire's Byzantine stepchild—and its melancholy, lingering efforts to clutch and hold the eastern provinces in seesaw struggle against Slav, Arab, Crusader, and Turk—is well worth the extra pound or two of paper and potential ligament damage. Edward Gibbon Reading parts of this again for work, and realised I never reviewed this absolutely massive book.

One of the most fascinating (and distorted) works of history ever written, created by one of the most famous (and biased and opinionated) historians of all time.

Full review to come. Edward Gibbon Description: Edward Gibbon’s masterpiece, which narrates the history of the Roman Empire from the second century A.D. to its collapse in the west in the fifth century and in the east in the fifteenth century, is widely considered the greatest work of history ever written. This abridgment retains the full scope of the original, but in a breadth comparable to a novel. Casual readers now have access to the full sweep of Gibbon’s narrative, while instructors and students have a volume that can be read in a single term. This unique edition emphasizes elements ignored in all other abridgments—in particular the role of religion in the empire and the rise of Islam.

audio 6 volumes g drive



Will I ever get around to this? In the meantime I have found a film (which beats the faeces out of Gladiator) to entertain whilst I paint a yellow streak down my back.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWEzp... 03:04:20 -

- This film is called 'The Fall of the Roman Empire' deals with Marcus Aurelius 26 April 121 – 17 March 180 AD (from wiki): He was the last of the Five Good Emperors, and is also considered one of the most important Stoic philosophers.






ETA: there is a TV documentary series, not as classy by any means but beggars and choosers and all that: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61g4B...
Edward Gibbon I have a question that I think you might be able to help me with: should we send this book into space? You know, download it into a golden thumb drive—or perhaps seal a nice leather-bound set in a container—strap it to a rocket, and let it float like the Voyager space probe for all of time. There are weighty reasons for answering in either the positive or the negative. Let us examine them.

On the one hand, we have every abominable act, every imaginable vice, every imprudent lunacy able to be committed by man here recorded. After all, this was written by a man who considered history “little more than the register of the crimes, follies, and misfortunes of mankind.” Imagine an alien race picking up the capsule and deciphering our language. Imagine the looks on their faces (if they have faces) when they hear of the grotesque bunch of bipeds on the other side of the galaxy who do nothing but rape, pillage, and kill each other. Imagine this happens after our sun explodes or we blow ourselves up; this is the last utterance of an extinguished species. Would we want it to be this? Why not Don Quixote or The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn?

On the other hand, intimately connected with this narrative of wickedness and stupidity, inextricably intertwined in the fabric of this book, is the genius of its author. Who could read a single page of this great book and not be humbled by the quality of his thought, the care of his method, the power of his prose? If ever there was a document that singlehandedly redeems all of the idiocy our race insistently indulges in, it’s this book. At least the aliens would know that one of us had a good head on our shoulders.

It is impossible to discuss this work without its author. In perusing The Decline and Fall we find innumerable facets of Gibbon: the philosopher, the poet, the politician, the theologian, the strategist, the humanist, the public servant, the lawyer, the yellow journalist, the sage, (and the historian). But what we find, most of all, is Gibbon the lover of life. No man has ever loved more the variegated tapestry of human affairs—from the daily ritual of a serf to the greatest battles ever waged, from the planning of a palace to the marital squabbles of a prince. He will cast a glance at events large and small, weigh the facts with a disinterested hand, and with a knowing nod and amiable wink he will describe them in his inimitable prose. Gibbon views life like well-aged wine; he will take it in sips and draughts, savoring every strain in the flavor—from the musky, rotten odor to the sweet, honeyed tinge—and then discuss it with you at length. He is a connoisseur of life. Won’t you join him for a drink? Edward Gibbon The obvious issue to address in reviewing the 3,500-page unabridged edition of Gibbon's masterpiece, is whether the maniacal effort to attack such a work could ever justify preferring it over a single-volume abridged edition. That is an easy call. This work is occasionally tough, often exciting, but in every sense a necessity over any attempts to edit down Gibbon. I tried the 1200-page Modern Library edition and found it fragmented and hard to follow, simply because Gibbon is telling a story that defies attempts to hone it down.

Is the language stilted and occasionally hard to follow? Sure. The first three volumes were released in 1776, and the last three in 1787. Not only are the sentences convoluted and overextended in a manner far greater than 19th-century writers like Dickens, but Gibbon is inclined to use quaint, silly, and occasionally racist terms that were common in his era. Notions that racial characteristics could be determined by the latitudinal source of an indigenous people's homeland, or that a national culture could be described as effeminate, have to be taken with an understanding of the limited intelligence of Western philosophers 250 years ago.

But let's remind ourselves of what Gibbon really accomplished. Without the benefits of online inquiries or Wikipedia, without the easy ability to travel that some historians take for granted, Gibbon did far more than compile a history of the Western Roman empire from the time of Commodius to the collapse of Rome in the 470s, as well as the companion history of the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) empire from 325 AD to 1453 AD. On the way, he compiles histories of Christianity (heresies as well as Catholic and Eastern Orthodoxies), Islam (Sunni and Shia), and a host of barbarian and tribal cultures such as Franks, Goths, Suevi, Huns, Vandals, Persian (Sassanid and beyond), khanates, Timurid, and every imaginable iteration thereof. Gibbon tells history as it should be told - as a flow of peoples across a landscape, not as a collection of static dates and personages to be memorized in history class (though, truth be told, it would be useful for him to include a few more dates than the years placed in the margins of each page).

It deserves mention that the Catholic Church proscribed this book for more than 200 years, and not only or primarily because of how cruel Gibbon was to the Catholic Church (I for one would call him cruel but fair, and he often bent over backward to make the case for orthodox interpretations of Christianity). Instead, the main reason the Catholic Church attacked Gibbon is because he described events that really happened. At several points in the last 1700 years, the Catholic Church has tried to claim that certain events in its attacks on heresy, and certain fights between popes and anti-popes, never happened. Gibbon will have none of that, nor will be accept the events in the lives of the saints as being wholly truthful. When he demanded fact-checking on claims of the Catholic Church, it is no wonder the church hierarchy wanted him banned.

Many suggest that Gibbon worked with more care on the first three volumes covering the Western Empire than he did on the final three volumes. It's true that after the attempt by Emperor Justinian to re-take the Mediterranean, the narrative falters a bit. Some critics say that this is because Gibbon found the Greek Orthodox Byzantines to be less palatable than the traditional Romans. It's understandable he would have these feelings, because the Byzantine government and culture did not give rise to any great philosophers and historians, only treacherous rulers who would torture each other in odd lines of succession. After the ridiculous wars of iconoclasm in the eighth and ninth centuries, the rest of Byzantine history was just a slow ride down to the day in the mid-15th century when Constantinople was finally conquered by Ottoman Muslims.

But Gibbon's problems in the final three volumes were really ones of organization. Perhaps because he didn't want to confuse the readers with the strange succession of emperors, Gibbon groups capsule histories of the emperors early on, then goes back to talk about Islam's spread, the schisms between Orthodox and Catholic churches, the meaning of the steppe-warrior invasions (both Zingis Khan and Timur), and even some odd chapters on Roman civil uprisings. There are times in the last two volumes of the history that the reader has to focus to keep the narrative train on the tracks. And the modern reader always must keep access to Wikipedia handy, because Gibbon rattles off some names tangentially that must be looked up and appraised merely to understand the point he is trying to make.

But as challenging as Gibbon's own idiosyncracies are, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire deserves its reputation as the most significant work of history ever accomplished by a single author in the last 500 years. The personality that comes through in the writing shows us that this multi-volume study was not written by committee. Yet the scope of what Gibbon did, writing in 1776, seems far beyond what most modern historians could accomplish with the aid of electronic tools. Maybe Will and Ariel Durant's Civilization series deserves to be placed ahead of Gibbon's for that series' massive size and the equally exquisite writing. Yet the Durants were trying to describe global cultures and their histories in an open and free-flowing way. Gibbon was on a mission to tell a story that had no happy ending, and the reader morbidly follows as though this was the real-world Game of Thrones: the story inevitably will end badly for all concerned, yet we can't put the book(s) down. Edward Gibbon

free download The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire: Volumes 1-3

Easily the most celebrated historical work in English, Gibbon's account of the Roman empire was in its time a landmark in classical and historical scholarship and remains a remarkable fresh and powerful contribution to the interpretation of Roman history more than two hundred years after its first appearance. Its fame, however, rests more on the exceptional clarity, scope and force of its argument, and the brilliance of its style, which is still a delight to read. Furthermore, both argument and style embody the Enlightenment values of rationality, lucidity and order to which Gibbon so passionately subscribed and to which his HISTORY is such a magnificent monument. The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire: Volumes 1-3

“the vicissitudes of fortune, which spares neither man nor the proudest of his works, which buries empires and cities in a common grave.”
― Edward Gibbon, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire



Volumes 1 - 6 = 3589 pages, and I can't think of more than 200 that I would have preferred to have skipped.

Love Gibbon's sense of humor, his methodology, his hard bigotry towards the Huns, his soft bigotry towards the Christians, and his ability to find interesting nouns to link with rapine: idleness, poverty, and rapine; rapine and oppression; violence and rapine; rapine and cruelty; rapine and torture; rapine and corruption; rapine and disregard; War, rapine, and freewill offerings AND that is all just volume one. An important and interesting work, that moves with a quicker pace than its size or age would suggest.

There was some drudgery with the minor, post Constantine emperors. I was also not as excited by the HRE sections as I was by the sections on the Rise of Islam, the Mongols, the Ottoman Empire, and the Crusades. Those sections alone are why I rated the second half 5 stars and not 4. Anyway, a fantastic read. Ironic to finish it right after S&P lowers our national credit rating and our senators again fail to do anything productive. Edward Gibbon The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire – by Edward Gibbon, VOL III

Reviewed 16th Feb 2023

Volume III takes us from about 365 CE to around 490 CE. This period covers the first time the Eternal City was sacked for around eight hundred years, a momentous event indeed. The Empire was split in two at this time (East and West), the capitol of the West was either Milan or Ravenna and the capital of the East was the wondrous city of Constantinople (Istanbul). In my mind, Rome was still a significant city, full of old-fogies (Senators etc), a significant population of (maybe around 800,000) and had considerable symbolic and historical importance.

A significant aspect of this volume concerns the affairs of the so-called barbarians. Gibbon persists in this moniker for the Huns, Goths, Vandals and Visigoths, but from my other reading and listening (to some excellent podcasts) these people were far from ‘barbarians’. They had structure and ambition, many or most were Christian by this time. Importantly, they were also embedded firmly into both the Western and Eastern Roman Empire – a number were even ‘Roman’ Generals. One man in particular, a General called Stilicho was the most powerful man in the Western Empire for a time.

Much of this came about after the death of Theodosius I (who was Emperor of both halves) in 395 CE – when his two very young sons took over the East (Arcadius age seventeen) and the West (Honorius age ten*). These lads were ‘supervised/controlled/ by the likes of Stilicho (a Vandal), Alaric (a Visigoth) and Rufinus – it was these guys who did the real bidding.

*This is amazing really. When I was ten I spent most of my time kicking a football and picking my nose. Imagine being an Emperor? Either way both of these boys were considered inept and were under the total control of their wives, advisors and others as previously mentioned

Keeping in mind, Constantine the Great was running around earlier in the 4th century - Christianity and the Churches (East and West), played a massive part in this period, there were civil wars, wars against outside forces and usurpers raising their ambitious heads. In fact, I enjoyed learning about significant religious figures such as Saint Ambrose, the Bishop of Milan and also John Chrysostom, the Archbishop of Constantinople.

My verdict: This review only tangentially touches on a few events discussed in this volume. To be honest, out of the three volumes I have now read, this one was really heavy going. The characters were numerous – overly so and the events just stumbled into each other one after the other. I think my ‘happy place’ is the first three centuries of the Roman Empire. I don’t have the energy or mental capacity to absorb all of the details of this period, and I doubt very much I will be able to do so all the way to the eventual final fall in 1453 CE (as fascinating as that may be).

Time to go back and snuggle into the familiar bosom of Trajan, the high jinks of Nero, and the familiar limp of Claudius - I will dip into the later Empire now and again.

4 stars for Vol III

Ps. Happy to take comments about any errors or disagreements regarding my commentary here - or any discussion, I don’t profess to be an expert 😊


REVIEW OF PREVIOUS VOLUME BELOW



The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Volume II, by Edward Gibbon was as enjoyable and interesting as the first volume. Volume I presented a wonderful summary of the Empire’s first 66 Emperors – ending with Licinius in the early 4th century. Gibbon then touched on Christianity and Licinius’ nemesis – Constantine I (or The Great), he set up Volume II very nicely indeed.

Gibbon commences Volume II with Christian persecution from the reigns of Nero to Constantine. That’s a long time, and the history is so dense and described so vividly. We then learn about Constantinople (used to be called Byzantium, now called Istanbul). Gibbons describes, in incredible detail the city, how it functioned, the politics, the people – the lot!!



Beautiful Constantinople, on the majestic Bosporus


Then it’s onto the man himself – Constantine the Great. The consequences of this man are still felt today. For a start, when he eventually disposed of Licinius (and it took a while) – he moved the capital of the Roman Empire to Byzantium and named it Constantinople. That’s no small decision, he was also instrumental in legitimising Christianity. The Edict of Milan which legislated toleration of Christianity was a seismic shift in the way the Romans saw themselves and each other. Constantine’s conversion from a polytheist is a hot topic of debate, when and how it happened, did he dream of the cross before the battle at the Milvian Bridge? Even his baptism on his deathbed – is that when it happened? It is fascinating. Constantine however was continually frustrated by the constant internal bickering within the church. Persistent arguments about theology, heresy, what to do with various sects of the church. Some of these splits still endure. But Constantine was right in the thick of it. This man was also a great general, and perhaps one of the 4 or 5 most successful and impactful Emperors of all-time. Naturally, he was also a cruel bastard – and totally Machiavellian. Scholars still argue about his possible use of Christianity for political purposes.

Gibbons’ writing is outstanding and continues to be totally enjoyable. Regarding his conversion he says:

“It was an arduous task to eradicate the habits and prejudices of his education, to acknowledge the divine power of Christ, and to understand that the truth of his revelation was incompatible with the worship of the Roman gods”



My favourite statue of a Roman Emperor, Constantine the Great - you can just see him, pondering his next move during a rare moment of quiet solitude. Along with Trajan, Augustus and Hadrian - one of the greatest Emperors (in my humble opinion). I need to see this statue in York before I shuffle off this mortal coil


Constantine obviously had to tread on a few toes (putting it mildly) to become the sole Emperor (remembering the Empire was emerging from a Tetrarchy) and promote this new religion……..


“By the grateful zeal of the Christians, the deliverer of the church has been decorated with every attribute of a hero, and even of a saint; while the vanquished party has compared Constantine to the most abhorred of those tyrants who, by their vice and weakness, dishonoured the Imperial purple”……..ahhhhh that is just so majestically explained. This volume has around 600 pages of this wonderful writing. Happy days.


We also learn about other impactful characters such as Emperors Julian the Apostate and Jovian and so many more. The number and brutality of the civil wars make Game of Thrones look like a Sunday picnic - and it all ACTUALLY HAPPENED!!!! The story of Emperor Julian’s apostasy was fascinating, his refusal to yield to the passive obedience required to be a Christian was in my mind totally understandable. But it again illustrates the tumultuous period of the 4th century – the wars, the changes in edicts and religion, the re-emergence of paganism, more persecutions. It all sounds a bit dreadful really – something to be viewed from the safe distance of 2 millennia in one’s bed at night.

Gibbons ends this volume at around 375 CE, at the time of Emperors Gratian and Valentinian II. The author spends the last 50 pages summarising the various wars in the Empire – Germany, Britain, Africa, Persia and the Goths.

Now for a breather before starting Volume III. The Roman Empire is so fascinating and to think, when I started this journey (obsession) a few years ago, I thought it all started and ended with the Julio-Claudians and the city of Rome. There is so much more to know, understand and love about this subject.

Thank you, Mr Gibbon.

5 Stars

This review is a bit long, sorry Edward Gibbon Well, it's not actually the last word on the Empire. Gibbon hated the Byzantines, thought they were appallingly religious and ineluctably corrupt. So he didn't have a good word to say on the Eastern Empire which lasted 1000 years after the fall of the Western Empire. Modern historians have rehabilitated the Byzantines to a great extent.

You have to give it up for Mr Gibbon and his grossly distended testicles - he smuggled into the universities and libraries of the west a most refreshingly undermined version of Christianity. I hold him partially responsible for the inside-out version of religion you see in the modern Church of England (aka Anglicans, aka Episcopalians). All the supernatural has been bled right out of the thing. They are not Byzantines any more.

I only read vols 1-3 but intend to finish the whole thing one day. Hey, half of Gibbon is still twice as long as anyone else! Edward Gibbon The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Edward Gibbon

The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire is a six-volume work by the English historian Edward Gibbon. It traces Western civilization from the height of the Roman Empire to the fall of Byzantium.

Volume I was published in 1776 and went through six printings.

Volumes II and III were published in 1781.

Volumes IV, V, and VI in 1788–1789.

The six volumes cover the history, from 98 to 1590, of the Roman Empire, the history of early Christianity and then of the Roman State Church, and the history of Europe, and discusses the decline of the Roman Empire among other things.

تاریخ نخستین خوانش: روز بیست و ششم ماه می سال1975میلادی

عنوان: ان‍ح‍طاط و س‍ق‍وط ام‍پ‍رات‍وری روم؛ اثر: ادوارد گ‍ی‍ب‍ون؛ مترج‍م: اب‍وال‍ق‍اس‍م‌ طاه‍ری؛ چ‍اپ‌ نخست سال1347؛ ک‍ت‍اب‍ه‍ای‌ جی‍ب‍ی‌؛ نشر ف‍ران‍ک‍ل‍ی‍ن‌؛ چاپ دیگر ت‍ه‍ران، س‍ازم‍ان‌ ان‍ت‍ش‍ارات‌ و آم‍وزش‌ ان‍ق‍لاب‌ اس‍لام‍ی‌، سال1370، در623ص‌؛ ن‍ق‍ش‍ه‌؛ چاپ سوم انتشارات علمی فرهنگی؛ سال1373؛ در623ص‌؛ موضوع داستانهای نویسندگان بریتانیا - سده18م

ای‍ن‌ ک‍ت‍اب‌ را ب‍ا ت‍رج‍م‍ه‌ بانو «ف‍رن‍گ‍ی‍س‌ ش‍ادم‍ان‌ (ن‍م‍ازی‌)» ب‍ن‍گ‍اه‌ ت‍رج‍م‍ه‌ و ن‍ش‍ر ک‍ت‍اب‌ نیز در س‍ه‌ ج‍ل‍د، و در س‍ال‌های1351؛ تا سال1353هجری خورشیدی م‍ن‍ت‍ش‍ر کرده‌ اند

نویسنده ی «بریتانیایی» کتاب «تاریخ انحطاط و سقوط امپراتوری روم»، یا «انحطاط و سقوط امپراتوری روم»، «ادوارد گ‍ی‍ب‍ون»، در این کتاب خویش به «امپراتوری روم»، از سالهای پایانی سده ی نخست میلادی، تا فروپاشی «امپراتوری روم شرقی» می‌پردازند؛ نسخه اصلی کتاب در شش جلد منتشر شده‌ است، که جلد نخست آن: در سال1776میلادی، جلدهای دوم و سوم در سال1781میلادی، و جلدهای چهارم، پنجم و ششم: در سالهای1788میلادی تا سال1789میلادی، منتشر شده اند

این اثر به «امپراتوری روم»، «اروپا»، و «کلیسای کاتولیک» از سال98میلادی تا سال1590میلادی میپردازد، و درباره ی فروپاشی «امپراتوری روم، در شرق و غرب»، گفتگو می‌کند؛ به سبب هویت اثر، و استفاده ی بسیار از منابع نخستین، روش‌شناسی به کار گرفته شده در این اثر، در آن زمان، مدلی برای تاریخ‌دانان پس از ایشان شد، و «ادوارد گیبون» به «نخستین تاریخ نگار مدرن روم باستان» نامدار شدند

تاریخ بهنگام رسانی 02/05/1399هجری خورشیدی؛ 29/01/1401هجری خورشیدی؛ ا. شربیانی Edward Gibbon The history of human civilization and society is basically a continuum of idiots, sociopaths, murderers and bores, punctuated by the occasional rational individual whose life is cut short by those very sociopaths that succeed him. Gibbon's classic documents a tiny cross-section of some of the most lamentably pathetic mistakes and awful personalities this doomed species has ever suffered. Oh, how times have changed. Edward Gibbon