The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

EDITED WITH AN INTRODUCTION AND APPENDICES BY DAVID WOMERSLEY Although it covers no less than thirteen centuries of history, writes David Womersley, Gibbon's Decline and Fall 'is never routine, always alert with humanity and intelligence, often surprising in its sympathies'. It counts, quite simply, as 'one of the greatest narratives in European literature'. This definitive three-volume edition presents a complete and unmodernized text, the author's own comments and notes, and his famous Vindication. The third volume examines the enfeebled state of the Byzantine empire and the spread of Islam. Later sections consider the fierce clash of religions in the Crusades and to conclude this great work, Gibbon offers an overview of the mediaeval papacy and a history of Rome up until the seventeenth century.