The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (Classic Non-fiction)

Rating:
Summary: Abridgement Misses Some Interesting Material
Review: Although this CD abridgement (CD Volume I of the two volume CD set) of the first (Western) half of Gibbon's "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire" gives some sense of this monumental and influential work, I was disappointed that most of the passages selected for the abridgement were the more mundane historical passages telling of the succession of the emperors and the battles they fought.

Gibbon is most noted for his interpretation of the history of the late Roman empire (whether one agrees with that interpretation or not) and for his English prose style. Some of this style, which is a monument of English prose, comes through in this abridgement, but little of his analysis does. For example, I would have liked a lot more material from the critical chapters 15 and 16, in which he lays out his controversial theory about Christianity being one of the two major contributors to the decline and fall.

The two voices on the CD, one to read excerpts from Gibbon and the other to summarize the intervening passages missing from the abridgement, are in melodious British English and pleasant to listen to. I would quibble only about the pronunciation of some of the names.

It seems these days that with so many supposedly educated people having an appalling lack of Latin, accentation becomes a matter of whim rather than correctness. For example, Commodus is correctly accented on the first syllable, not the second. Severus is correctly accented on the second syllable, not the first. For those knowing their Latin, little shudders creep up the spine upon hearing these solecisms. I am sure that Gibbon, who was fluent in both Latin and Greek, would *not* have approved!

Rating:
Summary: Beware
Review: Before you decide to embark on this journey you should be aware of a few things. First, this work is a narrative history, devoid of any real analysis. You will not gain anything from the content of the book other than the chrnological linking of facts and entertaining stories. Second, this work is really really L O N G. If you are looking for a narrative history of the Roman Empire for the entertainment value, look elsewhere. You will tire of this work if that is your reason for reading it. Thirdly, Gibbon's conclusion about the "moral decadence" of the Romans being the cause of the collapse of the Western Empire is wrong. Gibbon has viewed history through the foggy lense of his own value system. If you are looking to discover why the Western part of the Empire collapsed you should take a look at Rostovtzeff's Rome, Delbruck's Barbarian Invasions, Haussig's intro to A History of Byzantine Civilization, and Strayer's intro to The Middle Ages. Finally, if you are interested in reading some of the greatest English language prose of all time, read an abridgment. The Penguin abridgement has all the wonderful narration, entertaining stories, and is only about a third of the length of the whole work.

Rating:
Summary: Historical correctness at the top of the list.
Review: Edward Gibbon is a man who has put together a great work of art. Even though you can catch the brassness of his heart, he still delivers high quality history like no one I have ever read.

This is a joy to read, and all scientific rules are dropped. Wisdom oozes from the page as one ponders how the past was during the times of the Roman Empire.

Get the book, even if you may hate reading history. I did, and it changed my thoughts completely.




This is addition to the previous review:

Now this ancient history stuff is really getting in my blood. The Romans, the greeks, the persians - all seem to be getting into my spirit. I thought the Romans were evil, I thought the Greeks were idolaters, I thought the persians were this ancient race that rode fast horses and pursued the "Genie of the Lamp". I guess I don't have much knowledge of them now, but I will. It takes time to learn history. I guess my struggle for truth begins now.

Now the bible is the only true struggle. If you read the New King James version, you will struggle very much. If you read the Amplified version, you may get lost. If you read the New American version, you may hit many many stones. This is one to stay away from. Now, I have an NIV Study Bible. This is the easiest, most relaxing, most readable, most powerful, most placid version to read. So listen to what I've said. I've seen many stumble, I've seen many waste time, I've seen destruction come because many refused to read the bible, and in reality : the NIV is the choice that leads to freedom. It takes time so don't worry. I've studied it for ten years, 3 chapters a day, and a lot of help from the spirit, and I've attained unity with God and the spirit. This seems wierd and maybe boastful, but I believe this is the way.

Now get the NIV, study according to the words of Jesus, "Couldn't you have prayed an hour?". Prayer is something that is not just speaking to God. Prayer is also listening.
His word is his voice, and that word is the Bible, his word is, also, Jesus.

Another addition:

There is a quote in the 2nd volume: The line that says that the "Generation that will not pass away, until the fulfillment of these prophecies(paraphrase)" is actually "This race will not pass away, . . . .". So this means that many prophet interpreters have been in error. They have assumed that the end times have been critical on these lines, but in actuality there has been a mistranslation.

-Calvin Newman

Rating:
Summary: A magistrally written sequel
Review: Edward Gibbon is the most talented British historian of all times and "The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire" is his acclaimed masterwork, an opus which should be included in whatever list of the 100 most important literary works of all times. The first three books, elegantly featured on a velvet green cover and boxed together in picturally attractive white cardbox, cover the decline and fall of the so-called Western Empire, seated alternately in Rome or Verona in Italy in the end of the V century A.D., and I read it with respect and awe in no more than a month (see the pertinent review). The sequel, again presented with all the elegance the opus deserves, is composed of three voluminous books, totalling again some 2.000 pages and covering the period after the fall of Rome to the barbarians of the Visigoth Allaric and others, where the power and the Empire has moved its see to Constantinople (Byzantium) in the East. The Crusades and the likeness of the prophet Mohamed are there, although from the preconcept and biased view of a retrograde XVIII English colonizer who likened the Arabs to savages and women to a second class position in society.
This second series of book is as good and lenghty as the first series, something which is in itself an almost unattainable goal to any sequel such as this, and Gibbon has once again the reader's attention suspended on a perpetual state of anxiety, always looking forward to read in the next sequence of words a point of view or a descriptive text magistrally written about human boldness and courage in the event of victory, or else the picture of the frailties of human soul when facing impending danger. His polemical portrait of Empress Theodora (according to him a former prostitute) is unequaled to anything written before or after him, specially the part where it was to her that the fleeing emperor Athanasius owe the maintenance of his wavering will and his imperial rule.
The erudition of Edward Gibbon is unparalelled and he unassumedly cites many ancient writters in Greek, Latin, French and other languages, letting solely to the reader the not so easy task of translating it into English. His English is elegant and unexpected and the avail of a handy good English dictionary of archaic words will be a helpfull tool to the reader. His sources are profuse and diversified and whenever he has the opportunity, he traces the parallel of ancient history with contemporary and imperial England in the making.
In my opinion, the misconcepts of some of his views notwithstanding, this is one of the most important works concerning the fall of Rome ever done and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Rating:
Summary: Peerless history
Review: Edward Gibbon's masterpiece is not only the finest work of history in the English language, it is also one of its greatest narratives.

No writer can fail to learn from how Gibbon used his incredible command of sources and texts to fashion his work; no student of the classic world can fail to learn from Gibbon's wealth of detail; no educated person can fail to learn from his depiction of the corruption and collapse of a once-mighty empire.

Modern historians pooh-pooh Gibbon's "bias" and "slant" and insinuate that the mighty world of professional academic history "gets" the subject in a way Gibbon did not. Gibbon was a man, of course, and his word is not final. Yet the difference is that while historians today are blind to their own equally crippling prejudices, Gibbon wears his ones on his sleeve and nevertheless dares his detractors to doubt his erudition and achievement. They are pedants, but he is the Master.

I find it interesting that while Gibbon had no formal training in history whatsoever, men and women today must spend close to a decade labouring over some insignificant point in the record to become a "real" historian. A telling point.

Rating:
Summary: Wise, influential, incomparable
Review: Gibbon's great work was published in the late 18th century. Don't read it looking for a contemporary style "historical analysis." Read it for its timeless wisdom and beauty, for which there is no parallel. Today's college history text is to Gibbon as the latest Spice Girls album is to Mozart.

Winston Churchill was largely self-educated, and he wrote that Gibbon loomed large in his reading during his early 20's. Read Gibbon; then read Churchill's famous war speeches. Notice the cadence, and consider why Churchill's Nobel prize was awarded for his oratory.

Ah, Sunday morning, a pot of coffee, and Gibbon! You can obtain Gibbon's history in many different editions new and old, cheap paperbacks and pricy collectors versions. Just get one, preferably unabridged, and enjoy.


Rating:
Summary: The Authoritative Work on the Roman Empire
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: A must read
Review: 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

Rating:
Summary: Still a Classic
Review: Roman Empire history is fascinating because it showed the potential for human development in an efficient system. But it is perhaps more enlightening in showing how a great can degenerate into complete and utter chaos. Gibbon is a great historian and a kind of story-teller who helps the reader understand the phenomena of the rise and the fall of a great empire. A must read!

Rating:
Summary: The collapse of Rome and the western world explained.
Review: 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.