Customer Reviews

The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, vol. 1-3: Volumes 1, 2, 3

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Most might think that an 18th Century historian would have long passed his due date, but Gibbon would prove them wrong. This edition comes with a fine introduction (Trevor-Roper) and is annotated where Gibbon may have erred, but his scholarship is usually impeccable. His fluid eloquence, depth of study, the fascinating nature of the topic, and the good price for a relatively well bound edition (printed and bound in Germany) make this purchase a very wise one. It may look good on the shelf but it stimulates even more in the reading.

The quite voluminous "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire" is one of the most important books of all times, and is of special interest to the reader who wants to go the extra mile in search of the reasons why the Empire collapsed after almost 1.000 years of existence. Is also a good reminder to everyone of us that, no matter what, all things pass and one world leader is followed by another in a sequence of falling cards. The book, first publishe in 1776, the same year that the "Wealth of the Nations" was published, and the same year the United States declared its independency, is one of the first serious attempts to relate history in a context of sequenced facts where social, political and cultural movements were much more important than the play of personalities. Edward Gibbon lived in Geneva many years and was familiar with the most important intelectual developments of the age, being acquainted with Voltaire and his ideas, reading and writting in many languages but mainly in French. The bibliography he consulted is extensive and, even some 15 centuries after the facts he reports, his is one of the most comprehensive and authoritative analysis of the reasons behind the fall of Rome.

To begin with, he does not list how it all began, that is, it is not his purpose to narrate how the Empire was built. He begins with the Empire as a "fait accompli", with a narrative in the rule of Julius Cesar , the philosopher ruler, and analises with endless detail all the rationale of lack of in each and every ruler's mind, the background of his ascent and the reasons behind the fall of each one of them. The vast majority of Rome's ruler was killed by people who was akin or intimate to the ruler or by members of the Praetorian guard. Also, all the meanings of the empire's hierarchy is explained with a lot of detail, what was the function of a Caesar, what meant to be a senator at the time of Rome apogee, of consulship, etc... Each one of the 3 books, totalling some 2.000 pages, has a very interesting map of Europe, Africa and Asia at the time. A lot of factual information is there to astound the reader with the polyhistoric knowledge of the author. His privileged mind does not permit him to understand that not all the readers speak the languages he does and the text is full of footnotes quotations in Latin and ancient Greek, with no translation whatsoever.

The portrait of the barbarians kings and people is superb and the reader has the opportunity of a face to face contact with Allaric, the king of the Goths, and with Atilla, the king of the Huns. Sure, this trilogy is only focused in the so-called West Empire and its sequel is totally devoted to the East empire, but that is another story.

Gibbon's Decline - whilst ancient history scholars of today will recognise the challenges in the theories which are, understandably, outdated with current knowledge of the subject - is a book that should be read not just for its subject matter but as a great exponent of historiography.
Ancient History scholars - don't take it as a precise secondary source. Everyone else should a)have it on their shelves, b)have read it.

I have read it in the abridged version Dero A. Saunders did in the fifties, I think. This is like a novel about the Roman Empire, but it cannot be said that is not History. Why not? History is not only what really happened but also the idea of what happened, because it gives us ideas about the ideology of the XVIIIth century in which Gibbon lived and wrote. It's amazing that somebody could create such a great study with the books he could read. It's like Herodotus, they didn't have great academic libraries or the Internet or aeroplanes to fly or money for great Archaeological researches. If you're interested in History, even as an amatheur -specially as an amatheur- this book must be read by you.

Edward Gibbon has set the stage on which hundreds of other successful writers show history, and on which thousands of teachers tell history. From the Age of the Antonines to the reign of the Vandals, Gibbon explains to us just how the government of Rome faltered in a well-balanced tale, measuring external and internal factors.

Gibbon grades Marcus Aerilius Antoninus's successors using the last of the Great Roman Emperors as the benchmark. Each emperor thereafter is respectively a degree away from Marcus Aerilius in ethics, morals and values. Guards, friends or family readily dispatch those that live as the model good citizen. The author, however, keeps his hope in finding a hero. He includes the Empire's adversaries, such as Attila and Alaric in describing wanton virtues for a good ruler.

Written two hundred years ago, the language is far from contemporary. But, if you are serious about learning Western History and Culture, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire is a must read. Make the commitment and read Volumes 1, 2 and 3. From there, you will gain a better understanding when reading other epics on history, such as The Discoverers by Daniel Boorstin.

More importantly, you may say that you have successfully walked with Gibbon through nearly 500 years of history!

I purchased all six volumes of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. This work is written in the beautiful and fluid 18th century English. Gibbon is a master author, and the book was extremely well researched, consulting the works of Tacitus, Livy, Suetonius, and Polybius, Roman historians of fame. Volumes 1-3 contains the history of the Roman empire from 180 A.D. to 490 A.D., covering the end of the reign of Marcus Aurelius, to the time when Odoacer usurped the throne of the western empire. Volumes 4-6 contains the history of the eastern empire, from the late 300's to the fall of Constantinople in 1453. I highly recommend both box sets. All volumes together are approximately 3600 pages, and go into detail for pages subjects that are written only for about a few paragraphs in other books. A must for any enthusiast of the history of the Roman Empire.

Its really impossle that there have lived men that know so much, and have brought together so many facts, numbers, stories and sources that they can write a book like this. I think this is and will always be the defenetive book about Roman History. What Edward Gibbon is doing here is maybe even unsurpassed in historywriting at all.

For a very long time I have been looking for this complete version. Here in the Netherlands what they translate is a sort of highlight edition (that will cost you as much as the entire collection in English) That was never the one I wanted to read. This 3 book will tell you the complete history from off the moment the very bad emperor Commodus came to power. This will however not start in a chronological order untill you reach chapter 3 or 4, so before that you get explenation explenation and even more explenation. Mainly about how the stystem was working and how everything came to change after August took power in 27 BC.

From the moment he begins to tell about Commodus, surprisingly less about Marcus Aurelius, he open full scale and does not leave any detail unused. And he is going on till the fall of the empire in 476. That is what have been captured in this 3 first volumes. Volume 4/5/6 deal about the Byzantanian Empire.

With all 6 volumes you speak about a 3800 pages book. And thats quite an achievement. The book itself is majorly famous throughhout history, and its surely impossible that you can begin a study about the Roman empire without having read this book.

If I ever am about to write a book about what kind of historical subject. My god let it be like Gibbon. A MASTERPIECE in every sense of the word.

PS : When you are going to read this books, be sure you take special notice of book 15 and 16, there you will find the now very very famous statements about why he thought Christianity was to be blamed for the deestruction of the Roman Empire

These three volumes constitute the first half of Edward Gibbon's masterpiece. Many would-be readers will find reading Gibbon to be somewhat daunting, but his wit, scholarship, and narrative drive (in these early volumes, anyway) make this book hard to resist.

A word about the text. Everyman's Library reprints the famous J.B. Bury edition (Bury was a famous Irish historian who wrote a well-respected History of Greece), which is close to 100 years old (it dates to 1909). If you're reading Gibbon for a history course on an undergraduate or post-graduate level, you should probably read the more recent David Womerseley edition, which is available in a three-volume Penguin paperback (with, unfortunately, unreadably microscopic type). The hardcover edition was remaindered recently, though, so you might find it on Amazon secondhand.

If you're reading Gibbon for pleasure, however, the Everyman's Library edition is the one to get. The individual volumes are just the right size, and the text is large enough and clear enough to be read easily. The text is complete, which is not always the case (some fancy editions -- the Folio Society's comes to mind -- tend to cut back on the footnotes).

Gibbon makes great bedtime reading. Take him slowly, and don't rush. Keep your eye on the footnotes -- some of the best and snarkiest stuff in Gibbon is discreetly hidden in the footnotes (in one of my favorite early footnotes [in Chapter IV] he mentions the giraffe, "the tallest, the most gentle, and the most useless of the large quadrupeds."). If you decide to push on to the second three volumes (Chapters 39-71), be prepared to be patient, because there are some rough spots. It might take you a while to get through it (my last reading of the entire work took me 26 months), but Gibbon is more than worth the effort. Which is why I've just started reading him again -- for the fifth time.

Edward Gibbon's "Decline & Fall" is one of the best books you will ever come across. There are three basic reasons for loving this book.

First, the style. No English historian surpasses Gibbon, no, not even Kinglake, and surely not Churchill. Gibbon chooses his words very carefully and says exactly what he means to say.

Second, the history. These books first began appearing in 1776 (an easy year to remember for Yanks!) and so -- obviously -- they're not the latest and greatest. My own favorite Gibbon error is a big one, an error which was echoed by Will Durant and many others: Gibbon misread an oration from ancient Greece, and, based on this misreading, declared that homosexuality had been illegal in ancient Greece! :-P (Kenneth Dover cleared this error up.) But, by and large, there is nowhere else to go for so many wonderful facts about our history, European history, for a period of some 1500 years. As you turn the pages and savor the magnificent prose, you will also recoil in horror as you watch voodoo witch doctors terminate religious freedom in Europe and declare war on European civilization! Thrills and chills!

Third is Gibbon's numinous intelligence. He's a delightful companion and mentor to have alongside as you make this journey into discovery.

They don't come any better than this!

Before tackling Gibbon's daunting work, I had only read smaller volumes of history. Some Livy here, a Polybius there, a Dio in between, but I was unprepared for the joys I would find with Gibbon.

His style is typical 18th century. This may take some getting used to, but it shouldn't take much. From the opening chapter, Gibbon brings the reader through an exciting, fulfilling, and sometimes a hopelessly tragic panorama of the Roman Empire.

He has been criticized by modern scholarship as misleading, since he neglected issues that modern scholars find so pivotal in Roman and Byzantine history, yet the volumes are wonderful reads nevertheless. He has also been criticized for his sarcastic criticism and denunciation of weak socities, religious institutions, government, cultures, etc., but this has been set down as an 18th century fixation -- and who can argue against this?

Gibbon treats his subject very lucidly. He appears in his footnotes from time to time, just to visit with his readership. I thoroughly like the man!