Books That Matter: The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

By: Leo Damrosch, The Great Courses

Narrated by: Leo Damrosch

Published in six volumes between 1776 and 1781, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire - for all its renown - can be intimidating. It contains one point five million words, an estimated 8,000 footnotes, a cast of 10,000 historical figures, and a timeline of more than 1,000 years. Yet even today, Gibbon's historical chronicle demands to be understood.

These 24 lectures invite you on a riveting examination of this great work as a vast historical chronicle, a compelling masterpiece of literature, a sharp commentary on cultural mores, and a cautionary tale to Enlightenment Europe. In this chapter-by-chapter guide to the Decline and Fall, Professor Damrosch helps you navigate the book's themes, structure, and lasting influence.

You'll approach the Decline and Fall as a written work whose footnotes, periodic style, and historical blind spots reflect the styles and ideologies of the Enlightenment age in which it was written. And for those intimidated by its thousands of pages or who feel they may lack the time to fully appreciate Gibbon's narrative of how Rome fell to "barbarism and religion", these lectures offer a richly detailed overview of what Gibbon called "many of the events most interesting in human annals", including: the reign of the Antonines, the rise of Christianity and Islam, the codification of Roman law, the Crusades, and the dawn of medieval Europe.

Whether you've read the Decline and Fall before or whether you've always wanted to read it but never knew where to start, Professor Damrosch's lectures are an authoritative guide to a once-mighty empire - and the great book that became its classic eulogy and epitaph.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.

©2017 The Teaching Company, LLC (P)2017 The Great Courses

Very good educational study.

Although it was not exactly what I was expecting which was a direct reading of Gibbons book this had a lot of additional valuable information that I would suggest you still listen to. The value comes in the translation and interpretation of the footnotes in the book which are not translated into English but consists of about 25% of the total pages in the book. Even lthough not every chapter was read completely or every footnote translated this interpretation I feel was excellent to anybody looking to study Gibbons book or knowledge and information on the topic.

Official religion?

I was under the impression that Theodosius, not Constantine, made Christianity the official religion of Rome.

Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

I stayed up way too late listening to this as it is enthralling. I hope to get through the original lenghty series but this is a history of Western Civilization from the Roman Empire to the Renaissance. Gibbon's take on the creation of the Islamic religion is most interesting as he admired Islamic leaders and he felt the religion was "rational." We need to get past TikTok history and read the classics.

Great companion to the book or just make it cliffhanger notes

The professor has read and reread given, and I must say it’s hard for me to even read gibbon once.. if you’d like a meeting but otherwise if you’re there for information extraction, we can probably do well by reading chapters 1516 in the first four chapters and then selectively reading what you’re interested in

The history of Gibbon

A very entertaining series of lectures. Gibbon is still relevant today. Volume 1 was published in 1776 and his work doubtless informed the authors of the US Constitution.