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Title: The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire : Volumes 1, 2, 3 by EDWARD GIBBON ISBN: 0-679-42308-7 Publisher: Everyman's Library Pub. Date: 26 October, 1993 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $50.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.73 (33 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: The collapse of Rome and the western world explained.
Comment: 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.
Rating: 4
Summary: "Enthralling, Lucid, Eloquent...An Intellectual Edifice"
Comment: Dero A. Saunders abridged edition of the "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire" enhances the already elucidating and comprehensive full volume set sketched by Gibbon, and adds a precise tone to make this edition a quick and fulfilling read. At proscribed intervals throughout this work, Saunders summarizes portions of Gibbon's original volume, and successfully renders a "magnum opus" accessible for busy students and readers in general. The latter half of Gibbon's original work - after the sack of Rome - is composed of excerpts deemed necessary for a better understanding of the Empire's condition after the fall; and consists of: the age of Justinian, the rise of Islam, the fall of Constantinople, the ruins of Rome, and Gibbon's conclusion to the work as a whole. The breadth of this work brims with irony and a captivating charm that pervasively treats the vicissitudes of the Roman Empire with a witty candor. This is a timeless classic and a must have for anyone intersted in late Roman and Christian antiquity. It took a bit of courage on my part to give this excellent book four stars, but a few things must be considered. First of all, Gibbon wrote this history through a reformation lense and shamelessly exhibits his sentiments towards a history that was strictly catholic. Constantine is looked at with disregard and even indiffernce, while latter Julian the Apostate - the enemy of Christianity - is praised for his intelligence and valor. Hardly something I would expect from a christian historian. Also, as I said earlier, this edition is made accessible for busy students and readers; not historians and scholars. So for those who wish for a more in-depth and comprehensive approach to Gibbon's work, I would suggest the whole set. But for anyone who wishes to find a precise edition with all the essentials, undoubtedly Dero A. Saunders is the best.
Rating: 5
Summary: A magistrally written sequel
Comment: 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.
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Title: The Penguin Historical Atlas of Ancient Rome (Penguin Historical Atlases) by Chris Scarre ISBN: 0140513299 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: September, 1995 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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Title: The Rise of the Roman Empire by Ian Scott-Kilvert, Obye Polybius ISBN: 0140443622 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: February, 1980 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: Chronicle of the Roman Emperors: The Reign-By-Reign Record of the Rulers of Imperial Rome by Chris Scarre ISBN: 0500050775 Publisher: Thames & Hudson Pub. Date: October, 1995 List Price(USD): $34.95 |
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Title: The Histories by Herodotus ISBN: 0375400613 Publisher: Unknown Publisher - Being Researched Pub. Date: 25 March, 1997 List Price(USD): $23.00 |
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Title: The Conquest of Gaul by Julius Caesar, S. A. Hanford ISBN: 0140444335 Publisher: Viking Press Pub. Date: February, 1983 List Price(USD): $9.95 |
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