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In the Ruins of Edward Gibbon's Masterpiece
“Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire” is an enduring work—just not of history.
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. Decline and Fall spends much time tracing the rise of Christianity and its spread through the Mediterranean, and how its adoption as state religion fatally undermined the ancient virtues that brought the Romans to their hegemonic heights. Of the Empress Julia Domna, Gibbon writes that “she possessed, even in an advanced age, the attractions of beauty, and united to a lively imagination a firmness of mind, and strength of judgment, seldom bestowed on her sex.” Even in paying a woman a compliment, he can’t escape his attitude.
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