The Fall of Rome and Ideas of Decline

Abstract

In this chapter, I discuss the ancient and typically theological origin of decline narratives that inform the perspective on the decline of Rome by two of the architects of this “myth”—Augustine and Edward Gibbon. The latter author receives particular attention as the most important single source for the decline and fall myth. Not only does he represent its most influential and iconic formulation, but the historian is frequently and directly invoked by intellectuals or filmmakers throughout the period relevant to this thesis, right up to the present day. For this reason, I look at how Gibbon is directly invoked by more modern writers—and how he is seen as symbolizing the interpenetration of the ancient and modern worlds.