Complex sentence: The claim, though widely accepted at one time, including by the historian Edward Gibbon, cwas also the subject of ridicule.lItawas comprehensively bunked at the start of the twentieth century.
Split into simpler sentences: The claim, though widely accepted at one time, including by the historian Edward Gibbon, w as also the subject of ridicule. It was comprehensively debunked at the start of the twentieth century.