Decline & Fall Of Roman Empire Paperback – Illustrated, 5 September 1998

Fantastic Brilliant ExcellentCauses which led the decline and fall of the Roman empire can be divided into 2 parts; broadly; viz politico-administrative circumstances and religious policy.Though Politico-Administratively Roman republic was so affirmed from the time being but what happened in succession was the1) changes of the laws/ manners as per the requirement of the Senate2) eccentricity of the military in the selection of the Roman emperors3) no control of Senate or even the Emperors over the military as time passed4) inclusion of barbarians in the Senate and then in the military {this maybe the biggest cause}5) bidding of the empire and the 3rd & 5th century crisis afterwards ( led by Aleric; Attila; Aetius; Genseric )6) more than one emperors and no harmony among the Emperors that led the division of Rome into East and West; though initially this division was in good faith but later on only for self interest.On religious aspect what can be deduced that ancient Roman world respected all the religions (or rather superstition) of its provinces but somewhere internal discord can be found from Jewish revolt till persecution of Christianiaty itself. These ups & downs can be summed up from the following1) Jewish hatred of Christianiaty2) aloofness of Jews towards any other society3) Roman prosecution; crucifixion; persecution of the Christians as they were against the worship of the sole deity (they were inclined to worship natural powers; specially planets)4) from Constantine onwards there was a Christian Roman empire but now this Christianiaty had been divided over the question of the nature of the sole deity; an internal religious discordSo all these aspects hollowed the pagan-Roman-republic foundation; ultimately helped to prepare an assembly in the form of a Christian-barbarian army hewned over the Roman soil; cloned its military tactics; mirrored its manners and finally wrecked a havoc beyond redemption.

I have nothing much to say but one thing and I'll quote a line from its introduction, "It is a kind of literature that can only perish with the language itself." The quality of the pages is a bit tipsy but aside from that, It's a crown jewel for any bookshelf.

This is a concised volume, just good enough for the average reader who needs the basic informations.

Good product item, thank you.

4 stars only because of book binding and physical shortcomings. The contents of the book are spectacular. Edward Gibbon explores the depths of Roman society giving special attention to the mindset of the Caesars and various other factors and how it hastened the demise of Rome. The book binding on the other hand leaves a lot to be desired. It is a massive book and the pages are stuck together in a flimsy manner.

It's a classic, but the font of this edition is too small, cannot read beyond a few pages at a stretch, and no other reasonably priced editions.