The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

*Title should say 'reading group', apologies

>>9841399
>All are welcome!
Except women and nonwhites who contributed nothing to Western civilization

what's it about?

sorry, can't join, just started reading City of God, i figure I should start with the actual Roman account of the fall of Rome, and then read the British one later

>>9841409
Italian ppl

>Day 1 of 1094: Volume I, Chapter 1, pages 1-42
kek

>>9841419
like goodfellas?

>>9841399
Been a while since I read it, so I'll join your group. We should just use chapters though because different editions have different pages.

Why would you want to read an outdated non-fictional book? I mean, if you're already familiar with the era and can recognize the factual errors, it's alright, but otherwise...?

>>9841429
Unironically yes.

Both of them end with all of them shooting each other with revolvers

>>9841677
Why would you post in this thread if you're not interested?

inknow /his/ is fucking horribly reddit, but this shit has got to go

>>9841882
Gibbon is a pretty significant literary author though. Decline and Fall is read more often today for its prose style than it is its history.

I will be participating. Even brought pretty set recently so perfect timing

What edition do you guys recommend? Is there an unabridged edition that isn't exorbitantly expensive?

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>>9842673
No, especially because there are tons of used editions available. I got mine (same set as pic related, with slip cases) at a local store for $18.

Also you can get them unabridged new from penguin if you really want.

I'd participate but I'd like to know if it gives me a thorough understanding of the history of Rome or it's just about the prose

>>9841408
thanks for the mayme friend, have a tasty (you)

i thought this one would start getting stale after the 50th regurgitation but wow it just keeps getting tastier am i right guys? ha ha

Only notable for its contributions to the discipline of history. It gets a lot wrong, namely blaming Christianity for Rome's downfall, and for spouting the "dark ages" meme.

>>9842914
>It gets a lot wrong, namely blaming Christianity for Rome's downfall

I hear this criticism against Gibbon so often, and there are so few people even on this board who have read him, that I'm starting to believe this line of attack is being blown way out of proportion.

Like how normies hear about Don Quixote and say "tilting at windmills right haha?" when really that's one short episode out of dozens, and has no significant bearing on the overall book.

I have an eight volume edition of it and I'd be interested in joining. Could we come up with an alternative to page numbering in tracking progress?

>>9842971
Yeah of course. What would you like to use to track? Actually you could make a new thread if you want and specify the rules there and then we'll migrate. I already bungled the title and description here.

>>9841399
Gibbon's book is shit.

Read Peter Brown's The World of Late Antiquity

>>9842993
I have an appointment in the morning so I've got to sleep now but when I get a chance I'll take a look and see what we could use as benchmarks, then report back.

>>9842717
Can you post the ISBN from the unabridged penguin? The only one I can find is the ~900 pages one.

>>9843076
Ok

>>9841880
Kek

>>9843046
>implying

>>9842673
I have the Everyman's Library 6 volume hardcover set and its fucking nice, if you're willing to drop around 85 dollars for 6 books. It's unabridged and Everyman's makes some quality shit.

>>9843079
This is vol 1 of 3:
0140433937

But given the price it looks like you'd be way better off buying a lightly used Heritage Press or Everyman's hardcover set. They're good looking books, well made, and basically nobody actually reads Gibbon so they're usually like new.

>>9844588
Thank you, anon I'll look into it.

On a side note, can anybody compare the abridged version with the complete work? I'm curious about the rough story and can get it for free as a paperpack. Would be nice if I could get the main story and just reread the full work once I get a nice offer.

>>9843564
>>9843076
>>9842993
>>9842971
Okay, so I've got the first volume next to me right now. My edition has chapters but I'm not sure if that's uniform across editions.
Top of the table of contents looks like this:
>Introduction
>Introduction to Volume I
>The Roman Emperors from Nerva to Diocletian
>1. The Extent and Military Force of the Empire, In the Age of the Antonines
>2. Of the Union and Internal Prosperity of the Roman Empire, in the Age of the Antonines
And so on. Obviously the introductions are something we can all dispense with independently but if the chapters aren't shared we'll still have to find some workaround.

>>9841399

>Day 1 of 1094
What?

>>9845102
THotDaFotRE is long as fuck. Six volumes, over 3500 pages in total.

>>9845034
Pretty sure the chapters are the same everywhere. Can someone confirm?

So we could go a chapter every few days or something?

>>9845757
YES, same for me, different page spans obviously depending on edition.

>>9845127
It shouldn't take 3 years...

>>9845757
>>9845766
How about 2, 3 chapters a day?

>>9845771
Okay then.

Anyone else have the Penguin Classics version?

>>9845771
I mean there's 71 total chapters, 1 per day is fine really, new discussions every 2 days? Wish I could participate, I just bought a set, but I think I need to read more roman history first.

>>9845955
Just participate anyway. There might not be another thread later.

We aren't experts either

>>9845957
Hmm maybe. I'd feel guilty considering my backlog of books. It's just that reading Gibbon is a pretty large undertaking, so I'd rather be prepared when I first dive in, rather than read it in ignorance, and have to read it again.

>>9845981
Do it faggot

>>9841677
Christian detected

>>9841399

Wasnt Gibbon the guy whose balls were sweating all the time? lol

>>9847591
Not sure. I haven't been researching the condition of Edward Gibbons balls

>>9841979
Every single thread about the book boils down to one side yelling about how it's outdated and more valuable for prose and the other yelling about how the history hasn't changed. Neither side has read the book or even excerpts.

>>9845766
Good point. At the pace of 40 or so pages a day like OP seems to outline it would be less than 3 months

>>9848344
Ok. Someone make the new thread with the official page method

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>copped this shit at a library sale 5 years ago like new for like 24 dollars.

finally have a reason to read it, at least the first half of the volumes.

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I guarantee you fucks won't finish it.

sceencap this post these threads will fizzle out in a week max.

>>9851129
she's pretty fucking hot for a dude

>>9851122
>>9851129
>>9851144
Let's go. Someone start the discussion. Op said he wanted someone else to start it.

>>9851129

True Grit's all grown up eh

Is there any kind of commentary online or book form that gives some passages analysis like it would say if a comment is outdated?

>>9849825
I started reading it sometime last month and I'm finishing up the second volume, but I'll stop by these threads with questions and comments. So far I really like Gibbon's style.
>>9851122
nice cop
>>9851976
Julian did nothing wrong except for his retarded price fixing.

>>9852094
>Julian
?

>>9842717
how do you stop thinking about the previous owner handling the book in the bathroom and/or after masturbating?

>>9853281
Why do you think he kept it in the first place?

>>9852280
Emperor Julian the Apostate (chapters 22-24)

>>9853281
stop being a cuck and focus on how you yourself will plow that pussy--other dicks dont matter you pathetic beta

>>9842767
Just don't reply to him. Everyone else in this thread managed it. By replying to him you're only reinforcing his behaviour.

>>9854366
This. /pol/tards are minimum wage cucks, who still think they're better than blacks, just because they look like other whites, who look down on them.

They're barely worth a mention.

>>9841399
>Day 1 of 1094
Are we seriously going to have this thread every day for the next 3 years?

>>9854454
No. OP was probably baiting. There haven't been subsequent entries from OP tracking his progress, so just consider it a nicely intentioned prank.

I think if OP were to be more consistent, he'd last the summer, but life's priorities would probably get him to chapter 13 before he fucked off.

OP here.

I started this thread as a joke, but now that it's got so many replies I actually want to do it. No, it wouldn't take 1094 days.

The only problem is i haven't read it. So if someone that has wants to lead the way then I'll happily participate along with the 10 other people that wanted to

>>9842952
I've read it. And yes it IS blown way out of proportion. First volume appeared in 1776, for instance. Merely ask yourself, how likely? Answer: Not very. And this is in fact the correct answer. A large portion of the work concerns the rise of Islam, and Islam itself is responsible for the ultimate, actual fall of Rome in 1453 (Constantinople) by means of a military operation that employed the first overwhelmingly successful use of artillery.

>>9842673

Penguin Edition is great, got mine for 30 bucks, read it in 3 months.

>>9851122
oh shit i paid 80 buck for that