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Explicitly quoted at the beginning of the episode, described as 'one of the most famous passages of historical prose ever written,' discussing Gibbon's view on the Battle of Tours and Charles Martel

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Referenced as an example of Enlightenment culture's fascination with Rome, noting that Gibbon cast the Christian period as a dark age.

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Referenced when discussing the 'pornocracy' period of the papacy and Marozia's influence. A passage is quoted from Gibbon about Marozia's descendants who became popes.

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Referenced multiple times as the influential historical work that inspired science fiction. Mentioned that Gibbon 'moved in circles where people were dissing luxury and dissing ambition and corruption' and his famous quote about the fall of Rome being 'the greatest, perhaps, and most awful scene in the history of mankind.'

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Gibbon is mentioned as the 'great author of The Decline of the Roman Empire' in the context of discussing his commentary on the pornocracy period and Pope Joan legend, noting that 'there was nothing he enjoyed more than popes behaving badly.'

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Explicitly referenced as Gibbon's 1776 work in which he defined the reigns of Hadrian and his predecessors/successors as 'the period in the history of the world during which the condition of the human race was most happy and prosperous'

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Referenced when discussing Sade's theory that Christianity caused Rome's decline, noting Gibbon had also suggested Christianity was a cause of Rome's fall

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Referenced multiple times as the source of the myth that a Christian mob destroyed the Library of Alexandria in 391 AD. Gibbon is quoted directly about the library being 'pillaged or destroyed' and later quoted expressing gratitude for texts that survived rather than mourning losses.

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Referenced when discussing Diocletian's character - Gibbon is described as providing 'the great narrative account of this process' and is quoted as saying Diocles' 'abilities were useful rather than splendid.' Also referenced later when discussing the suspicious death of Numerian, with Gibbon 'ever skeptical' questioning why no aromatics could be found in the imperial household to mask the smell of the decomposing body.

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Discussed as one of the major works Churchill read during his autodidactic period in Bangalore, India. Churchill wrote 'I devoured Gibbon. I rode triumphantly through it from end to end'

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Referenced when discussing how the image of Byzantium as a period of decline has dominated English-speaking perceptions since Gibbon's famous work. Mentioned twice in the transcript as shaping negative views of the Byzantine Empire.

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Referenced multiple times in the discussion as the traditional model for understanding Rome's decline. Mentioned as 'the old kind of Edward Gibbon decline and fall sort of model' and later referenced when discussing Gibbon's view that the Antonine Age was 'the happiest in human history.'

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Referenced as the source who described Subotai's military campaign as 'one of the most extraordinary bits of military achievement in history' - likely from The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

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Referenced at the end of the episode when comparing their discussion to Gibbon's work: 'it took Edward Gibbon 20 years' to write about the fall of Rome.

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Explicitly mentioned at the start of the episode as 'his great book' that Gibbon completed on June 27, 1787, taking 20 years to write about the fall of Rome.

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Referenced when discussing the golden age of the Antonines, with a quote from Gibbon about the period from the death of Domitian to the accession of Commodus being when 'the condition of the human race was most happy and prosperous.'

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A listener question references 'Listening to Gibbons, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire' on audiobook, discussing Gibbon's descriptions of peoples as 'savages'

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Ali references Gibbon's notion about the Persians being 'over-civilized' and becoming decadent, discussing how Europeans categorized Persians as civilized rather than barbarians