Edward Gibbon first conceived his masterpiece The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire in Rome in 1764, and it appeared in three instalments between 1776 and 1788. One of the greatest narratives in European literature, it is now published in three volumes in Penguin. Reflections on the Fall of Rome, taken from volumes I and II, discusses the Antonine era and the causes and effects of the Roman Empire's decline in the West.
Edward Gibbon first conceived his masterpiece The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire in Rome in 1764, and it appeared in three instalments between 1776 and 1788. One of the greatest narratives in European literature, it is now published in three volumes in Penguin. Reflections on the Fall of Rome, taken from volumes I and II, discusses the Antonine era and the causes and effects of the Roman Empire's decline in the West.