Links:

    -WIKIPEDIA: Edw3ard Gibbon
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    -ESSAY: In the Ruins of Edward Gibbon’s Masterpiece: “Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire” is an enduring work—just not of history. (Mike Duncan, June 6, 2024, New Republic)

Let’s start with the title: The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Right away we have problems. Contemporary historians have challenged and overthrown the entire framework of “the fall of Rome.” We understand now that while a slow-moving social and cultural transformation took place, the idea of a sudden visible collapse of civilization is not supported by the record. Nor is it true that the societies that sprang up after Roman rule were ignorant black holes lacking education and culture. Gibbon bears a measure of responsibility for formulating and promulgating the Enlightenment idea that humanity entered what Gibbon called “the rubbish of the dark age” after the fall of Rome.

    -ESSAY: The Decline and Fall of Edward Gibbon (THOMAS BANKS, 5/29/20, Crisis)