The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

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The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
by Edward Gibbon

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The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (sometimes shortened to Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire) is a book of history written by the English historian Edward Gibbon, which traces the trajectory of Western civilization (as well as the Islamic and Mongolian conquests) from the height of the Roman Empire to the fall of Byzantium. It was published in six volumes. 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 1788–89. The original volumes were published in quarto sections, a common publishing practice of the time. The work covers the history of the Roman Empire, Europe, and the Catholic Church from 98 to 1590 and discusses the decline of the Roman Empire in the East and West. Because of its relative objectivity and heavy use of primary sources, unusual at the time, its methodology became a model for later historians. This led to Gibbon being called the first "modern historian of ancient Rome".

736989The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman EmpireEdward Gibbon

Versions of The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire include:

The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Oxford edition (1827)
The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, edited & annoted by John Bagnell Bury (1897)

This work was published before January 1, 1929, and is in the public domain worldwide because the author died at least 100 years ago.

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