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Hello, Edward Gibbon wrote of the decline of the Roman Empire,

while that great body was invaded by open violence

or undermined by slow decay,

a pure and humble religion

gently insinuated itself into the minds of men, grew up in silence

and obscurity, derived new vigor from opposition, and finally erected the triumphant banner

of the cross on the ruins of the capital.

But how far is the growth of Christianity implicated in the destruction of the great culture

of Rome?

How critical were the brawny incursions of the Ostrogoths, the Visigoths and the vandals to the fall of the Roman Empire,

should we even be talking in terms of blame or decline at all?

Centre Guston wrote about the fall of the Roman Empire in the 5th century

A.D. Edward Gibbon famously tackled it in the 18th century and it's a question that

preoccupies my guests today. With me is Charlotte Rousche, historian of late

antiquity at Kings College London,

Richard Alston Lecture in Classics at Royal Holloway University of London

and David Wormesley, fellow and tutor at Jesus College Oxford

and the

the history of the decline and fall of the Roman Empire.

Let's start in 410. It's quite an astonishing year for the West really.

...