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The decline and fall of the Roman Empire has always maintained its appeal to both the general public and scholars alike. Its sheer scale is daunting, encompassing over a millennium of history, covering not merely the Western Empire from the days of the early emperors to its extinction in 476 AD, but also the Eastern Empire, which lasted for another thousand years until the Turks vanquished it in 1453.

In this recording, David Timson incorporates the most salient of Edward Gibbon's footnotes from his Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Gibbon explores the state of the Roman provinces after the dissolution of the Western Empire, and examines the reasons for its fall-not excluding its immoderate greatness. He then moves to the Empire in the East and its rule under Justinian (527-565), whose formidable leadership saw the re-fortification of Constantinople and the frontiers of the Eastern Empire. However, dangerous times remain ahead as the Persians make attempts to siege Constantinople. Gibbon ends with the state of the Eastern Empire in the sixth century and its weaknesses after a long war.

David Timson is an actor, voice actor, and playwright. He is best known for his narration of The Complete Sherlock Holmes audiobook, in which he voices all 125 characters in the Holmes novels and short stories. His narrations have earned eight AudioFile Earphones Award.

Edward Gibbon (1737-1794), an English historian and member of Parliament, had little formal education. He went to Oxford, but was forced to leave when he converted to Roman Catholicism. His family then sent him to Lausanne, where he was reconverted to Protestantism. His most important work, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, was published in six volumes between 1776 and 1788.