Gibbon’s monumental history of the Roman Empire was published in six volumes, between 1776 and 1788. Its objectivity and use of primary sources made it a template for later historians.
A groundbreaking description of the economic, cultural and political collapse of ancient Rome, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire is regarded as the first modern historical work. It consumed Gibbon’s later life and continues to influence both the academic approach and the writing style of historians today.
Throughout the eighteenth century an essential part of any wealthy young Englishman’s education was the Grand Tour – a voyage through Europe that exposed him to the finest art, music and architecture of the continent. Although travel was still difficult and often hazardous at this time, the Grand Tour followed a well-established and relatively safe route through France and Switzerland to Italy, considered the cradle of Western civilisation because of the Roman Empire. Grand Tourists returned to England through Austria, Germany and Holland. Travel, it was said, broadened the mind.
Edward Gibbon, twenty-six years old and with a formidable appetite for history, embarked on his Grand Tour in 1763. He reached Rome late the following year and was overwhelmed by the city. Gibbon was well read in Latin literature, and Rome’s past came alive to him in the imperial ruins that surrounded him. He resolved there and then to write the story of the once all-powerful city’s decline.
The first volume was published in 1776 and was instantly successful, running to three editions. It found a ready market among both classical scholars, armchair travellers and those on the Grand Tour, at a time when Britain saw itself as a modern-day Rome, building an empire of global trade and military might. Gibbon attributed Rome’s fall to the influence of barbarians and Christians, and his criticism of the latter aroused some controversy in an empire-building country that believed in the strong foundations of the Church.
Gibbon’s popularity came from his readable narrative style. He took the Roman point of view, with relatively little commentary beyond occasional opinionated asides. Above all he was not content simply to rehash the versions of earlier histories. Gibbon carefully drew his details from the contemporary Latin texts of the period. It is this use of primary sources that earns The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire its reputation as the first modern, properly researched history book. What began as a history of Rome became an ambitious record of the entire Roman Empire, which at its height extended from southern Scotland to the Persian Gulf. The scale of Gibbon’s output matched the scope of his research, which covered fifteen centuries and the many civilisations with which the empire came into contact. Produced over twelve years, it ran to six volumes and seventy-one chapters and brought Edward Gibbon considerable fame and fortune in his lifetime.
Perspectives on history change over the years, and some details of Gibbon’s work have not stood the test of time and subsequent discovery. But it remains one of the most thorough accounts of its subject, nearly 250 years after it was first published. Its accuracy and clarity have made it the template for all modern historians. Winston Churchill, author of A History of the English-Speaking Peoples, styled himself on Edward Gibbon.