Edward Gibbon was an English essayist, historian, and politician. His most important work, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, published in six volumes between 1776 and 1789, is known for the quality and irony of its prose, its use of primary sources, and its polemical criticism of organized religion.
Portrait by Joshua Reynolds
Magdalen College, Oxford
Suzanne Curchod
Portchester Castle came under Gibbon's command for a brief period while he was an officer in the South Hampshire Militia.
The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, sometimes shortened to Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, is a six-volume work by the English historian Edward Gibbon. The six volumes cover, from 98 to 1590, the peak of the Roman Empire, the history of early Christianity and its emergence as the Roman state religion, the Fall of the Western Roman Empire, the rise of Genghis Khan and Tamerlane and the fall of Byzantium, as well as discussions on the ruins of Ancient Rome.
Title page from John Quincy Adams's copy of the third edition (1777)
Edward Gibbon (1737–1794)