Edward Gibbon (Summer Repeat)

In Our Time

BBC

History

4.6 • 9.2K Ratings

🗓️ 5 October 2023

⏱️ 53 minutes

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Summary

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the life and ideas of one of the great historians, best known for his History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (published 1776-89). According to Gibbon (1737-94) , the idea for this work came to him on 15th of October 1764 as he sat musing amidst the ruins of Rome, while barefooted friars were singing vespers in the Temple of Jupiter. Decline and Fall covers thirteen centuries and is an enormous intellectual undertaking and, on publication, it became a phenomenal success across Europe. The image above is of Edward Gibbon by Henry Walton, oil on mahogany panel, 1773. With David Womersley The Thomas Wharton Professor of English Literature at St Catherine’s College, University of Oxford Charlotte Roberts Lecturer in English at University College London And Karen O’Brien Professor of English Literature at the University of Oxford Producer: Simon Tillotson

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, let me ask you, sir.
0:03.8	Have you heard George's podcast?
0:06.1	Me and Ben Brick are back with a blast.
0:08.1	This time with stories from Africa's past, not too distant, unsolved mysteries, unsung
0:13.8	heroes from untold histories.
0:15.8	I'm trying to make sense of the present day, join me on this journey by pressing play.
0:23.8	Have you heard George's podcast, Chapter 4?
0:27.2	Listen on BBC Sound.
0:29.2	BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, Podcasts.
0:35.1	In our time is on its annual break, and we'll be back on BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sound
0:40.2	on the 14th of September.
0:42.4	Until then, each week we're offering an episode from our archive of nearly 1,000
0:46.5	programmes, which I hope you'll enjoy.
0:48.9	Have a good summer.
0:50.7	Hello.
0:51.7	On the 15th of October, 1764, Edward Gibbons sat amidst the ruins of Rome, while
0:56.7	barefooted friars were seeing a vestibus in the Temple of Jupiter, then an idea came
1:01.4	to him.
1:02.4	This was to write the history of the decline and fall of the Roman Empire, covering 13 centuries,
1:08.6	an enormous intellectual undertaking that became a phenomenal success.
1:13.0	It ran to six large volumes and was published within 1776 and 1789.
1:18.5	And in doing so, he reinvented what it meant to write history, to be a historian, and
	...

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