Barbarism and Religion Volume 4, Barbarians, Savages and Empires [Paperback]

The fourth volume of Barbarism and Religion, first published in 2005, which focuses on eighteenth-century Europe.This fourth volume of Barbarism and Religion focuses on the idea of barbarism, which was central to the history of western historiography, to the history of the enlightenment, and indeed to Edward Gibbon himself. As Barbarism and Religion develops, its full stature as one of the great scholarly projects of our time becomes apparent: in the end, it will stand not just as a remarkable analysis of the making of Gibbon's Decline and Fall, but as the definitive history of history-writing in what David Hume famously called 'the historical age'.This fourth volume of Barbarism and Religion focuses on the idea of barbarism, which was central to the history of western historiography, to the history of the enlightenment, and indeed to Edward Gibbon himself. As Barbarism and Religion develops, its full stature as one of the great scholarly projects of our time becomes apparent: in the end, it will stand not just as a remarkable analysis of the making of Gibbon's Decline and Fall, but as the definitive history of history-writing in what David Hume famously called 'the historical age'.This fourth volume in John Pocock's great sequence on Barbarism and Religion focuses on the idea of barbarism. Barbarism was central to the history of western historiography, to the history of the enlightenment, and to Edward Gibbon himself. As a concept it was deeply problematic to enlightened historians seeking to understand their own civil societies in the light of exposure to newly-discovered civilizations hitherto beyond the reach of history. The troubled relationship between philosophy and history is addressed directly in this fourth volume.Acknowledgements; List of abbreviations; Introduction; Part I. The History and Theory of Barbarism: 1. Introducing the barbarian: problems of barbarism and religion; 2. Anquetil-Duperron: despotism and prophecy in Sassanid Persia; 3. Antoine-Yvel“'