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The Long Defeat: The Fall of the Roman Empire in East and West

The Long Defeat: The Fall of the Roman Empire in East and West

Lecture by Clifford Ando

Given at the Oriental Institute, University of Chicago, on December 4, 2013



The Roman Empire remains one of the world’s longest lived polities. Its collapse has therefore endured as a great historical puzzle. Was it barbarians or internal decay? Or was Christianity to blame? The lecture will explore a range of theories and consider in detail why the two famous theories, those of St. Augustine and Edward Gibbon, have found so little favor.

Clifford Ando

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