Edward gibbon decline and fall summary
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Summary and Study Guide
Overview
Edward Gibbon finished his first volume of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire in 1776. Although historians of ancient Rome have in the centuries since moved on from Gibbon’s arguments, The Decline and Fall is still a celebrated work of history, both for being a landmark work of historical scholarship and for Gibbon’s engaging, witty writing style. The work does show Gibbon’s biases as an upper-class British man, like his anti-Catholicism, negative views of powerful women in history, and uncritical repeating of stereotypes about “Eastern” cultures. Gibbon scandalized both his contemporaries and future generations by suggesting Christianity had a role to play in the downfall of the Roman Empire.
However, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire was also a work that helped set standards of historical scholarship still observed today. These include critically considering primary sources and seeking to explain historical trends rath
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Book Review: The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
When I begun my journey with Gibbon I knew two things: that he was one of the great stylists of the English language, and that he had a silly monocausal theory blaming Christianity for the fall of the Roman Empire.
Only one of those is true.
In the conduct of those monarchs we may trace the utmost lines of vice and virtue; the most exalted perfection and the meanest degeneracy of our own species.
Like the Iliad, like the pyramids, the Decline and Fall has an air of unreality. Even after experiencing these improbable productions at first hand, one still questions whether they really exist. Above all, the Decline and Fall is monumental—in size, scope, ambition, and style. It covers a singular subject, ranging over 14 centuries and half the globe, in a grand unified narrative centered around its main theme. Combining the features of the philosopher and the antiquarian, Gibbon can simultaneously present systematic the
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Chapters 1-2Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 1 Summary
Gibbon begins The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire with a picture of the Roman Empire at its apparent height. He describes the second century CE of the långnovell Empire as a golden age. At that time, the långnovell Empire included “the most civilized portion of mankind,” whose “peaceful inhabitants enjoyed and abused the advantages of wealth and luxury” (1). As Gibbon explains, bygd the second century the långnovell Empire had reached its greatest extent, failing only to utöka into Ethiopia, the Arabian Peninsula, Ireland, and modern-day Scotland. However, the second-century emperor Trajan did try to push the empire’s borders even further. After a five-year war, he conquered the territories of Decebalus, king of the Decian people in modern-day Romania, establishing a new province called Decia. Also, he defeated the Parthian Empire based in Iran and made new imperial provinces of Armenia, Assyria, and Mesopotamia.
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