History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire — Volume 1

Gibbon, Edward, 1737-1794Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 4.5
Word count
1.6M words
Chapters
161

Tags

English Originals World History Historical ReappraisalMilitary StrategyPolitical AllegoryRise and FallMilitary CommandersPower GameAcademic Monograph

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today. History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire — Volume 1 by Edward Gibbon. Author: Gibbon, Edward, 1737-1794. Language: English. Class: DG: History: General and Eastern Hemisphere: Italy, Vatican City, Malta. Release Date: Jun 7, 2008

Editor's review

Volume 1 of Gibbon's The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire is a landmark work of English historical writing. This volume begins with the empire's extent and institutions and gradually opens the early threads of its decline. Its strength lies in its grand narrative vision and distinctive historical judgment: Gibbon organizes his material in polished long sentences, weaving politics, military affairs, religion and social customs into a coherent picture, so that readers gain both the historical arc and a sense of the eighteenth-century historian's judgment and style. Note that the work is vast and densely annotated, with long English sentences, and demands patience and background knowledge. It suits long-term reading rather than a single sitting. The free Project Gutenberg edition makes it easy to look up names and events and is best read alongside maps and chronologies.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Not a good fit for

Reading tips

  1. Read the table of contents and chapter introductions first to build an overall framework, then proceed chapter by chapter to avoid getting lost in detail.
  2. Keep maps and a chronology of Roman emperors at hand, and mark names and events as you go.
  3. Limit each session to twenty or thirty pages, and summarize the chapter's main point in a few sentences afterward.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

Contents

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 7
  8. 8
  9. 9
  10. 10
  11. 11
  12. 12
  13. 13
  14. 14
  15. 15
  16. 16
  17. 17
  18. 18
  19. 19
  20. 20
  21. 21
  22. 22
  23. 23
  24. 24
  25. 25
  26. 26
  27. 27
  28. 28
  29. 29
  30. 30
  31. 31
  32. 32
  33. 33
  34. 34
  35. 35
  36. 36
  37. 37
  38. 38
  39. 39
  40. 40
  41. 41
  42. 42
  43. 43
  44. 44
  45. 45
  46. 46
  47. 47
  48. 48
  49. 49
  50. 50
  51. 51
  52. 52
  53. 53
  54. 54
  55. 55
  56. 56
  57. 57
  58. 58
  59. 59
  60. 60
  61. 61
  62. 62
  63. 63
  64. 64
  65. 65
  66. 66
  67. 67
  68. 68
  69. 69
  70. 70
  71. 71
  72. 72
  73. 73
  74. 74
  75. 75
  76. 76
  77. 77
  78. 78
  79. 79
  80. 80
  81. 81
  82. 82
  83. 83
  84. 84
  85. 85
  86. 86
  87. 87
  88. 88
  89. 89
  90. 90
  91. 91
  92. 92
  93. 93
  94. 94
  95. 95
  96. 96
  97. 97
  98. 98
  99. 99
  100. 100
  101. 101
  102. 102
  103. 103
  104. 104
  105. 105
  106. 106
  107. 107
  108. 108
  109. 109
  110. 110
  111. 111
  112. 112
  113. 113
  114. 114
  115. 115
  116. 116
  117. 117
  118. 118
  119. 119
  120. 120
  121. 121
  122. 122
  123. 123
  124. 124
  125. 125
  126. 126
  127. 127
  128. 128
  129. 129
  130. 130
  131. 131
  132. 132
  133. 133
  134. 134
  135. 135
  136. 136
  137. 137
  138. 138
  139. 139
  140. 140
  141. 141
  142. 142
  143. 143
  144. 144
  145. 145
  146. 146
  147. 147
  148. 148
  149. 149
  150. 150
  151. 151
  152. 152
  153. 153
  154. 154
  155. 155
  156. 156
  157. 157
  158. 158
  159. 159
  160. 160
  161. 161

FAQ

Can I read this book without any background in Roman history? Yes, but first supplement it with a concise outline of Roman history covering the basic line from republic to empire. Otherwise the many names, offices and events will make the reading laborious and easy to abandon.
How difficult is the English? It is upper-intermediate to advanced. Gibbon's sentences are long and clause-heavy, and the vocabulary has an eighteenth-century literary flavor. Readers with college-level English reading ability and a habit of reading long sentences will fare more smoothly; beginners should choose an annotated edition or read alongside a translation.
How is the electronic edition best read? Open it in reading software that supports search and annotation, so you can look up names and places and revisit notes. You may also print key chapters for close reading, but given the length, printing the whole book at once is not advisable.
Why is reading only Volume 1 worthwhile? Volume 1 concentrates on the institutions and territorial extent of the empire at its height, the foundation for understanding the later narrative of decline. Even without finishing the whole work, you can learn Gibbon's historical method and writing style and gain a picture of the Roman Empire as a whole.

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

Gibbon, Edward, 1737-1794 Author

Edward Gibbon (1737–1794) was a renowned British historian, best known for The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, a classic masterpiece in Western historiography. The library holds 31 of his works, including the volumes of The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire and its Italian translation, Storia della decadenza e rovina dell'impero romano. The work chronicles the long process of the Roman Empire's decline from its height, combining solid scholarship with elegant prose, narrative power, and critical insight. Gibbon excelled at analyzing the transformation of institutions, religion, and civilization within a grand historical framework, and his style has deeply influenced later historical writing. Although the library classifies his works under inspirational growth, their core remains historical narrative and reflection on civilization. Public information is limited, so biographical details are omitted.