I was reading from ‘The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire’ and Gibbon states that “... the ingenious youth... resorted to Athens... were alike instructed in every school to reject and to despise the religion of the multitude.” In other parts of this chapter ‘Of the Union and Internal Prosperity of the Roman Empire, in the Age of the Antonines’ he also speaks on religions use to appease the masses and how the intellectual class were not necessarily believers but performed the rituals and rites to appease their fathers.
My question is, was atheism more common in antiquity than what is typically prescribed (Not just the belief of a few but rather widespread). Also is the Rise and Fall a good source and used in contemporary studies or has it fell through in certain aspects? Published in 1776 it is relatively modern.
Also is the Rise and Fall a good source and used in contemporary studies or has it fell through in certain aspects? Published in 1776 it is relatively modern.
In short, no. While Gibbon's work certainly was groundbreaking in the 18th century, it's even less useable in academic context than Theodor Mommsen's Römische Geschichte, unless your subject is early modern historiography. Gibbon is biased towards Age of Enlightenment thinking (especially in regards to religion) and his opinions are drenched with 1700s morals and beliefs - there's also the fact that his research did not much include any of the auxilliary sciences and instead mostly relied on literary sources of which he often isn't critical enough with.
It's definitely a well-written narrative, but not really useable as secondary literature these days.