The Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire

[Anonymous No.20212259]

Worth the read?

[Anonymous No.20212267]

>>20212259
No.

[Anonymous No.20212278]

>>20212259
the title sort of gives away the story

[Anonymous No.20212285]

>>20212259
Just read this instead

[Anonymous No.20212304]

Gibbon just hated christianity because of his youth, the books are okay, but there are modern historians who do late antiquity better.

[Anonymous No.20212316]

>zoomers who won't read a book asking "is it worth my time to read this book" so other zoomers who haven't read the book can talk about it based on what they've heard from other zoomers who haven't read the book on /lit/

[Anonymous No.20212407]

>>20212259
Halfway through volume 1 rn. I'll finish the series but it's underwhelming desu. I'd rather read Will Durant whose gentle prose makes you sympathize with historical players, thus giving you an emotional connection to what you learn. Gibbon is like a sardonic and apathetic 18th century intellectual who sprinkles a very tiny amount of Plutarch-like virtue-worship here and there to remind you that he has a soul. The eloquence of the prose only makes it slightly more palatable

[Anonymous No.20212412]

>>20212407
>gentle prose makes you sympathize with historical players
It's hard to root for the Roman empire. The Republic on the other hand was unfathomably based

[Anonymous No.20212413]

>>20212259
I think I got halfway through the 2nd or 3rd book until I realized I did not see the big picture at all and there's really no point in going on. Maybe there's some required reading or basic historical context I miss, maybe I'm just a retard.

[Anonymous No.20212492]

>>20212316
You godamm right

[Anonymous No.20212515]

>>20212259
Nice prose, but very outdated by archeology by now.

[Anonymous No.20212591]

>>20212259
Why would anyone read books when there are youtube videos on the topic?

[Anonymous No.20212863]

>>20212304
>but there are modern historians who do late antiquity better.
Please name them friend

[Anonymous No.20212876]

>>20212591
Because there are almost no good youtube videos on the topic and absolutely no good youtube videos on most topics. It is very evident once you've read a book.

[Anonymous No.20212892]

>>20212876
>toldinstone
Garrett Ryan, PhD - and there are dozens like him. You should do some digging.

[Anonymous No.20214245]

>>20212259
No

[Anonymous No.20214264]

>>20212515
Everyman's edition has all his factual errors corrected in the footnotes.
>>20212259
I'm reading it right now. I'm on the 13th chapter, first book. I like it very much, but you may benefit from having a good grasp on prior Roman history up until Marcus Aurelius, since the book starts from there and assumes you are educated on the subject.

[Anonymous No.20215397]

>>20212259
Bit outdated. Gets some things wrong.

[Anonymous No.20215442]

>>20212259
Just read it if you're interested in the topic. Nobody here reads anyway so I don't know why you're asking here. You'll get the same 3 responses in a Gibbon thread:
>"It's dated" (no shit, and they won't actually name anything he gets wrong of course, past maybe calling him a neckbeard)
>"Yes"
>"No"

[Anonymous No.20215448]

>>20212591
>YouTube history videos
Please tell me this is bait. Even the best video doesn't compare to a book.

[Anonymous No.20215455]

>>20215397
Like what?

[Anonymous No.20215553]

>>20215455
Facts. I could quote some footnotes to you, but they are usually unimportant. Dates, persons, events. For example, Gibbon asserts that some provinces of Armenia were under integral Roman authority after Diocletian's war with the Persians when that was not the case.

[Anonymous No.20215561]

>>20212863
>pic related

not only good history but very well written. almost poetic in certain passages

[Anonymous No.20216044]

>>20212259
He talks about way more than rome. Also get a version with his footnotes

[Anonymous No.20216385]

>>20212863
>>20215455
I want to strange you g*bbontards so bad but nah
watch this and repent for your 18th century retardation
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7fQb2lDlU8

[Anonymous No.20216392]

I mean strangle fuck

[Anonymous No.20216615]

>>20212259
If it doesnt mention the fact that it was multi cultural and that partly lead to its downfall then it's not worth it.

[Anonymous No.20216623]

>>20212863
Bowersock, Brown, Cameron

[Anonymous No.20217332]

>>20216623
>Cameron

[Anonymous No.20218117]

Enjoy it for the prose. I'm a Classics PhD and still found it a good read (obviously stuff is outdated, but that's such an irrelevant opinion - it was written in 1776 lmao)

[Anonymous No.20218151]

>>20218117
>Classics PhD
Your sure do like wasting your time on this Earth

[Anonymous No.20218159]

>>20216392
>strangle fuck
A man of taste, I see.

[Anonymous No.20218585]

>>20218117
>Classics PhD
I wish I were you.

[Anonymous No.20218700]

>>20218117
This, I downloaded public domain epubs onto my phone and sometimes I’ll jump to a section that sounds fun before bed. Trying to read it cover to cover or for the sake of getting the real story about antiquity sounds painful.
t. Boring 40 something

[Anonymous No.20218953]

>>20212316
Literally this

[Anonymous No.20218968]

>>20218700
I listen to audiobooks before bed. I listened to Eusebius and Lactantius for an earthly feeling of the world of the early church and late Roman empire, and now I'm listening to all of Durant's mega history of the west. I put it on about 1.15x speed and figure I can finish in about a year if I listen to one section a night.

[Anonymous No.20219073]

>>20218968
More power to you but I just can’t. Earbuds messed up my ears I will never use them again. I cosleep with one of my toddlers so I can’t just play it out loud. My 6 yo loves Alex Rider audiobooks though. I’ll read ebooks large font, white text on black. Don’t need my glasses and doesn’t wake anyone up. Working through the pentateuch now and have a bunch of other public domain ebooks queued up, mostly from ccel.org these days. I too enjoy late antiquity writers. Your listening choices sound good, enjoy.

[Anonymous No.20219087]

>>20219073
Earbuds are terrible I agree. Have you tried over the ear headphones? I use Soundcore Q30 sound cancelling headphones and they are pretty good in a quiet room. (One warning: if you link them to two devices, sometimes the second device's volume will take precedence while the first device is playing, or vice versa, and you'll get a nasty surprise.)

There are gorgeous audiobooks of the KJV on Youtube. One dramatized, and another read by Scourby. The Scourby one seems really beloved but I listened to the other.

Just suggestions in case they are helpful down the line somehow, obviously do whatever works for your rhythm. Never heard of ccel before, thanks for the rec.

[Anonymous No.20219305]

>>20212259
If it doesn't mention how the Jews and race mixing played a role in the downfall of Rome it's not worth reading.

[Anonymous No.20219481]

>>20216385
I'm not listening to some Balkan try to speak english for one minute let alone an hour. What is his main argument?

[Anonymous No.20220119]

>>20219481
Usually "Fuck Albania" or something similar.

[Anonymous No.20220213]

>>20218151
>>20218585
>>20218700
I'm wasting away in my late twenties... about to right a comprehensive exam on Latin and Greek tomorrow. Academia can be shit, but it's also better than a lot of other dog shit jobs.

I'll be going on a 2.5 month dig this summer then a German language program after. If I fail my comps I'll probably coast a bit then drop out and go work on an oil rig.

Thanks for reading :)

>>20218968
>>20219073
Durant is unequivocally based. His work along with Gibbon's is on my mantle

Also for audiobooks I'd recommend Plutarch

[Anonymous No.20220224]

>>20220213
I'm going to be starting my Classics degree next year
Any advice plus what did you enjoy from it.

[Anonymous No.20220501]

>>20212316
Everyone is so cynical on this board….

[Anonymous No.20220521]

>>20220213
Good luck on your exam bro, this is your comps? Hope you ace it. Just do me a favour and promise to yourself that you will never ever let more than a few days go by without really using your Latin and Greek. I've seen way way way way way too many Classics PhDs lose almost all of their language skills by the later years.. and carry this failure into their professorial careers if you can believe that. What typically happens is they lose the language that their dissertation doesn't focus on, but I've seen people even get rusty in their primary language because all they do is read secondary literature.

Don't worry about failing your comps. Maybe it's different where you are but academia is way too forgiving now. I know people who retook like two times. Nobody really took them seriously where I went, and it was a high ranked program.

Good luck!

[Anonymous No.20220526]

>>20220501
frfr tho

[Anonymous No.20220533]

>>20220501
I mean yes, the real trick is to quit reading the board entirely after getting the reading list charts, and only spend time reading the actual books instead of online.

[Anonymous No.20220792]

>>20220224
Study languages hard and early, including German and French or Italian. Look for archaeology projects to go on. Most of the time they are just kids pissing around, which admittedly is a lot of fun, but now as I'm older I wish I took them a bit more seriously... I'm trying to establish myself on ONE project so I can help publish, etc. Even if your a philologist I think that the future of academia lies in being well rounded. Also if your willing to engage with technology learn a bit of python (I haven't lol, but people I know in PhD's with this skill get work on digs and then jobs). I focus more on photogrammetry and RTI.

>>20220521
Yah comps. Thanks bro, I haven't done Latin and Greek in awhile since I've been so demotivated but I 100% agree with your opinion. I'm at a second rate school so I an retake them lol... But yah, I'm not great at the languages - for example I was proud of reading Eutropius with almost not dictionary help - but, talking to people in my program is shocking to this idea of not "translating" so rare.

Problem is that I haven't the slightest idea of what my dissertation will be on... perhaps doxxing myself, but the dig will be in Georgia and I'm hoping to meet some people or get inspiration as I like Late Antiquity and Early Medieval.

Which school you at homie?

[Anonymous No.20220855]

>>20220224
Seconding the other anon's advice of doing your languages constantly, like if you do nothing else, make sure you work on your Latin and Greek (obviously) every single day and also your French German and any other standard research languages. This will save you tons of time later and make you look much better on applications. If you go into anything in the humanities for grad school, having strong French and German will be a huge bonus, plus whatever target languages you study.

Languages languages languages for everybody thinking of going to grad school, get them down early. Better to do 30 minutes a day and feel like you're not doing much than to have to do 10 hours a day in four years and want to kill yourself. Remember what Hesiod said:
>Εἰ γάρ κεν καὶ σμικρὸν ἐπὶ σμικρῷ καταθεῖο
>καὶ θαμὰ τοῦτ᾽ ἔρδοις, τάχα κεν μέγα καὶ τὸ γένοιτο.
>For if you add only a little to a little and do this often, soon that little will become great.

>>20220792
Def be careful about giving too many details just in case! Sounds really cool though, I'm jealous, I finished years ago at a decent school and now teach elsewhere. Don't wanna be too specific. But I was extremely lucky to get the job, the market is really not good for classicists, especially now. I'm sure you know that already.

Sounds like you're way ahead of many people I've known. Also like you've got a really level head, I wish I were more like that, I was much more doom and gloom about grad stuff. Hope you keep doing well man.

[Anonymous No.20220905]

>>20220855
Thanks anon. You seem like a chill guy. Yah the market is rough. I've resigned myself to not getting a job as a professor. The goal is to go into some level of government as research or analyst - PhD just looks good in that case and not the number of publications, dicksucking, etc. that needs to happen. I started the program the fall after Covid start so it's been pretty shit but getting better now as I can travel. Also lost a lot of weight and working out. I don't want to end up like the usual onions that is in a Classics program.

Hope your happy too

[Anonymous No.20220935]

>>20212316
this says a lot about our board as a whole