The Decline and Fall of the Roman Emp..., Edward Gibbon
The Decline and Fall of the Roman Emp..., Edward Gibbon
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The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Volume I

Author: Edward Gibbon

Narrator: David Timson

Unabridged: 22 hr 39 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Naxos

Published: 01/06/2014

Synopsis

The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire has always maintained its initial appeal to both the general public and scholars alike. Its sheer scale is daunting, encompassing over a millennium of history, covering not merely the Western Empire from the days of the early emperors to its extinction in AD 476, but also the Eastern Empire, which lasted for another thousand years until the Turks vanquished it in 1453. But Gibbon’s style, part historical fact and part literature, is enticing, and the sheer honesty of the man, who endeavours to be scrupulously impartial in his presentation, endears him to the reader. In this recording, David Timson incorporates the most salient of Gibbon’s footnotes. In Volume I (chapters IXV), Gibbon opens by setting the scene with the Empire as it stood in the time of Augustus (d. AD 14) before praising the time of the Antonines (AD 98180). The death of Marcus Aurelius and the accession of Commodus and his successors ushers in turbulent and dangerous times which were only occasionally marked by a wise and temperate ruler. The volume ends in AD 324, with Constantine the Great becoming undisputed Roman emperor, uniting both the East and Western Empires.

About Edward Gibbon

Edward Gibbon (1737–1794), an English historian and member of Parliament, had little formal education. He went to Oxford, but was forced to leave when he converted to Roman Catholicism. His family then sent him to Lausanne, where he was reconverted to Protestantism. His most important work, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, was published in six volumes between 1776 and 1788.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Justin on June 09, 2014

Let's be very clear about one thing: if you write English prose, and if you read a lot and care about English prose, you should read Gibbon. His sentences are perfect. Each is carefully weighted, pulling the reader through like a kind of perpetual motion machine; the syntax and the content are perfe......more

Goodreads review by Mark on March 04, 2021

The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon (Volume One) is a classic, definitive, heavy, credible account of this period of antiquity. Initially, I was wary of embarking on this six-volume epic as Gibbon was strutting his stuff all the way back in the 1700’s. For this reason, I expect......more

Goodreads review by Roy on August 17, 2015

It speaks to the genius of Gibbon, and the grandeur of this work, that there are no historians or social scientists who call themselves ‘Gibbonians’. There are Marxists, Freudians, Foucaultians; there are postcolonial theorists, gender theorists, post-structuralist theorists; there are positivists,......more

Goodreads review by Bob on February 17, 2016

Every Empire eventually falls. Given the largest modern Empire is the United States, it might behoove Americans to read this. The epic series is a must read for historical buffs. The premise that Christianity played a large role in the collapse of the Roman Empire might not go over well, but the lack......more

Goodreads review by Michael on February 11, 2021

One of the monuments of the Enlightenment and one of the greatest works of history in English, Gibbon's iconic Decline and Fall is a pleasure to read and a treasure chest of information. While it is true that it was written before the end of the 18th century and there have been 1000s of archeologica......more

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