![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() In addition, Gibbon argued that Christianity created a belief that a better life existed after death. Romans, he believed, became unwilling to live the tougher, "manly" military lifestyle. They had become weak, using barbarian mercenaries to defend their Empire, who then became so numerous that they were able to take over the Empire. Gibbon gave an explanation for why the Roman Empire fell.Īccording to Gibbon, the Roman Empire succumbed to barbarian invasions because its citizens gradually lost their "civic virtue". ![]() This led to Gibbon being called the first "modern historian of ancient Rome". Because of its relative objectivity and heavy use of primary sources, its methodology became a model for later historians. The work covers the history of the Roman Empire, Europe, and the Catholic Church from 98 to 1590 AD, and discusses the decline of the Roman Empire in the East and its fall in the West. Published in six volumes, from volume I in 1776 to volumes IV, V, VI in 1788–89. The book traces the Roman Empire-and Western civilization as a whole-from the late first century AD to the fall of the Eastern or Byzantine Empire. The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire is the short title of an important book by the 18th century English historian Edward Gibbon. ![]()
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