Julian (emperor)

Julian (Latin: Flavius Claudius Iulianus Augustus,

Greek: ;[1]
331/332[2] 26 June 363), also known as Julian the
Apostate, was Roman Emperor from 361 to 363, as well
as a notable philosopher and author in Greek.[3]
A member of the Constantinian dynasty, Julian became Caesar over the western provinces by order of
Constantius II in 355 and in this role campaigned successfully against the Alamanni and Franks. Most notable
was his crushing victory over the Alamanni in 357 at the
Battle of Argentoratum despite being outnumbered. In
360 in Lutetia (Paris) he was proclaimed Augustus by his
soldiers, sparking a civil war between Julian and Constantius. Before the two could face each other in battle, however, Constantius died, after naming Julian as his rightful
successor. In 363, Julian embarked on an ambitious campaign against the Sassanid Empire. Though initially successful, Julian was mortally wounded in battle and died
shortly thereafter.

Julian solidus, c. 361. The obverse shows a bearded Julian

with an inscription, FL(AVIVS) CL(AVDIVS) IVLIANVS PP AVG
(PP=Pater Patriae, father of the nation"; AVG=Augustus). The
reverse depicts an armed Roman soldier bearing a military standard in one hand and subduing a captive with the other, a reference to the military strength of the Roman Empire, and spells out
VIRTVS EXERCITVS ROMANORVM, the bravery/virtue of the
Roman army. Under the soldier one reads SIRM indicating the
coin was minted in Sirmium, the home of Constantines family.

name of Julians maternal grandmother is unknown.

Julian was a man of unusually complex character: he

was the military commander, the theosophist, the social reformer, and the man of letters.[4] He was the last
non-Christian ruler of the Roman Empire, and it was
his desire to bring the Empire back to its ancient Roman values in order to save it from dissolution.[5] He
purged the top-heavy state bureaucracy and attempted to
revive traditional Roman religious practices at the cost
of Christianity. His rejection of Christianity in favour
of Neoplatonic paganism caused him to be called Julian
the Apostate ( Apostates, a person who has
abandoned their religion, principles[6] ) by the church.[7]
He was the last emperor of the Constantinian dynasty, the
empires rst Christian dynasty.

1
1.1

In the turmoil after the death of Constantine in 337, in

order to establish himself and his brothers, Julians zealous Arian cousin Constantius II appears to have led a
massacre of most of Julians close relatives. Constantius II allegedly ordered the murders of many descendants from the second marriage of Constantius Chlorus
and Theodora, leaving only Constantius and his brothers Constantine II and Constans I, and their cousins, Julian and Gallus (Julians half-brother), as the surviving
males related to Emperor Constantine. Constantius II,
Constans I, and Constantine II were proclaimed joint emperors, each ruling a portion of Roman territory. Julian
and Gallus were excluded from public life, were strictly
guarded in their youth, and given a Christian education.
They were likely saved by their youth and at the urging of
the Empress Eusebia. If Julians later writings are to be
believed, Constantius would later be tormented with guilt
at the massacre of 337.

Life
Early life

Initially growing up in Bithynia, raised by his maternal grandmother, at the age of seven he was under the
guardianship of Eusebius of Nicomedia, the semi-Arian
Christian Bishop of Nicomedia, and taught by Mardonius, a Gothic eunuch, whom Julian wrote warmly of
later. After Eusebius died in 342, both Julian and
Gallus were exiled to the imperial estate of Macellum
in Cappadocia. Here Julian met the Christian bishop
George of Cappadocia, who lent him books from the classical tradition. At the age of 18, the exile was lifted and
he dwelt briey in Constantinople and Nicomedia.[12]

Flavius Claudius Julianus, born in May or June 332[8] or

331 in Constantinople, was the son of Julius Constantius (consul in 335), half brother of Emperor Constantine
I, and his second wife, Basilina, a woman of Greek
origin.[9][10] Both of his parents were Christians. His
paternal grandparents were Western Roman Emperor
Constantius Chlorus and his second wife, Flavia Maximiana Theodora. His maternal grandfather was Julius
Julianus, praetorian prefect of the East under emperor
Licinius from 315 to 324 and consul after 325.[11] The
1

LIFE

He became a lector, a minor oce in the Christian

church, and his later writings show a detailed knowledge
of the Bible, likely acquired in his early life.[13] (Looking back on his life in 362, Julian wrote, in his thirtyrst year, that he had spent twenty years in the way of
Christianity and twelve in the true way, i.e., the way of
Helios.)[14]
Julian studied Neoplatonism in Asia Minor in 351, at rst
under Aedesius, the philosopher, and then Neoplatonic
theurgy from Aedesius student, Maximus of Ephesus.
He was summoned to Constantius court in Mediolanum
(Milan) in 354 and kept there for a year; in the summer
and fall of 355, he was permitted to study in Athens.
While there, Julian became acquainted with two men
who later became both bishops and saints: Gregory of
Nazianzus and Basil the Great. In the same period, Julian
was also initiated into the Eleusinian Mysteries, which he
would later try to restore.
Julian in military dress. Despite having received no military edConstantine II died in 340 when he attacked his brother
Constans. Constans in turn fell in 350 in the war against
the usurper Magnentius. This left Constantius II as the
sole remaining emperor. In need of support, in 351 he
made Julians half-brother, Gallus, Caesar of the East,
while Constantius II himself turned his attention westward to Magnentius, whom he defeated decisively that
year. In 354 Gallus, who had imposed a rule of terror over
the territories under his command, was executed. Julian
was summoned to court, and held for a year, under suspicion of treasonable intrigue, rst with his brother and
then with Claudius Silvanus; he was cleared, in part because the Empress Eusebia intervened on his behalf, and
he was sent to Athens. (Julian expresses his gratitude to
the empress Eusebia in his third oration.)[15]

1.2

Caesar in Gaul

ucation, Julian proved to be an able military commander, obtaining an important victory in Gaul and leading a Roman army
under the walls of the Sassanid Empire's capital.

1.2.1 Campaigns against Germanic kingdoms

In 356 during his rst campaign he led an army to the
Rhine, engaged the inhabitants there and won back several towns that had fallen into Frankish hands, including
Colonia Agrippina (Cologne). With success under his
belt he withdrew for the winter to Gaul, distributing his
forces to protect various towns, and choosing the small
town of Senon near Verdun to await the spring.[17] This
turned out to be a tactical error, for he was left with insufcient forces to defend himself when a large contingent
of Franks besieged the town and Julian was virtually held
captive there for several months, until his general Marcellus deigned to lift the siege. Relations between Julian and
Marcellus seem to have been poor. Constantius accepted
Julians report of events and Marcellus was replaced as
magister equitum by Severus.[18][19]
The following year saw a combined operation planned
by Constantius to regain control of the Rhine from the
Germanic peoples that had spilt across the river onto the
west bank. From the south his magister peditum Barbatio
was to come from Milan and amass forces at Augst (near
the Rhine bend), then set o north with 25,000 soldiers; Julian with 13,000 troops would move east from
Durocortorum (Rheims). However, while Julian was in
transit, a group of Laeti attacked Lugdunum (Lyon) and
Julian was delayed in order to deal with them. This left
Barbatio unsupported and deep in Alamanni territory, so
he felt obliged to withdraw, retracing his steps. Thus
ended the coordinated operation against the Germanic
peoples.[20][21]

After dealing with the rebellions of Magnentius and Sylvanus, Constantius felt he needed a permanent representative in Gaul. In 355, Julian was summoned to appear
before the emperor in Mediolanum and on 6 November
was made Caesar of the West, marrying Constantius sister, Helena. Constantius, after his experience with Gallus, intended his representative to be more a gurehead
than an active participant in events, so he packed Julian
o to Gaul with a small retinue and Constantius prefects
in Gaul would keep him in check. At rst reluctant to
trade his scholarly life for war and politics, he eventually
took every opportunity to involve himself in the aairs
of Gaul.[16] In the following years Julian learned how to
lead and then run an army, through a series of campaigns With Barbatio safely out of the picture, King
against the Germanic tribes that had settled on both sides Chnodomarius led a confederation of Alamanni
of the Rhine.
forces against Julian and Severus at the of Battle of Ar-

1.3

Rebellion in Paris

gentoratum. The Romans were heavily outnumbered[22] 1.3

and during the heat of battle a group of 600 horsemen
on the right wing deserted,[23] yet, taking full advantage
of the limitations of the terrain, the Romans were
overwhelmingly victorious. The enemy was routed and
driven into the river. King Chnodomarius was captured
and later sent to Constantius in Milan.[24][25] Ammianus,
who was a participant in the battle, portrays Julian in
charge of events on the battleeld[26] and describes how
the soldiers, because of this success, acclaimed Julian
attempting to make him Augustus, an acclamation he
rejected, rebuking them. He later rewarded them for
their valor.[27]
Rather than chase the routed enemy across the Rhine, Julian now proceeded to follow the Rhine north, the route
he followed the previous year on his way back to Gaul. At
Moguntiacum (Mainz), however, he crossed the Rhine in
an expedition that penetrated deep into what is today Germany, and forced three local kingdoms to submit. This
action showed the Alamanni that Rome was once again
present and active in the area. On his way back to winter
quarters in Paris he dealt with a band of Franks that had
taken control of some abandoned forts along the Meuse
River.[25][28]
In 358, Julian gained victories over the Salian Franks on
the Lower Rhine, settling them in Toxandria in the Roman Empire, north of todays city of Tongeren, and over
the Chamavi, who were expelled back to Hamaland.

1.2.2

Taxation and administration

At the end of 357 Julian, with the prestige of his victory

over the Alamanni to give him condence, prevented a
tax increase by the Gallic praetorian prefect Florentius
and personally took charge of the province of Belgica Secunda. This was Julians rst experience with civil administration, where his views were inuenced by his liberal education in Greece. Properly it was a role that belonged to the praetorian prefect. However, Florentius and
Julian often clashed over the administration of Gaul. Julians rst priority, as Caesar and nominal ranking commander in Gaul, was to drive out the barbarians who had
breached the Rhine frontier. However, he sought to win
over the support of the civil population, which was necessary for his operations in Gaul and also to show his largely
Germanic army the benets of Imperial rule. He therefore felt it was necessary to rebuild stable and peaceful
conditions in the devastated cities and countryside. For
this reason, Julian clashed with Florentius over the latters support of tax increases, as mentioned above, and
Florentiuss own corruption in the bureaucracy.

Rebellion in Paris

19th century depiction of Julian being proclaimed Emperor in

Paris at the Thermes de Cluny, standing on a shield in the
Frankish manner, in February 360.

In the fourth year of Julians stay in Gaul, the Sassanid

Emperor, Shapur II, invaded Mesopotamia and took the
city of Amida after a 73-day siege. In February 360, Constantius II ordered more than half of Julians Gallic troops
to his eastern army, the order by-passing Julian and going
directly to the military commanders. Although Julian at
rst attempted to expedite the order, it provoked an insurrection by troops of the Petulantes, who had no desire to
leave Gaul. According to the historian Zosimus, the army
ocers were those responsible for distributing an anonymous tract[30] expressing complaints against Constantius
as well as fearing for Julians ultimate fate. Notably absent at the time was the prefect Florentius, who was usually never far from Julians side, though now he was kept
busy organizing supplies in Vienne and away from any
strife that the order could cause. Julian would later blame
him for the arrival of the order from Constantius.[31] Ammianus Marcellinus even suggested that the fear of Julian
gaining more popularity than himself caused Constantius
to send the order on the urging of Florentius.[32]

The troops proclaimed Julian Augustus in Paris, and this

in turn led to a very swift military eort to secure or win
the allegiance of others. Although the full details are unclear, there is evidence to suggest that Julian may have at
least partially stimulated the insurrection. If so, he went
back to business as usual in Gaul, for, from June to August of that year, Julian led a successful campaign against
the Attuarian Franks.[33][34] In November, Julian began
openly using the title Augustus, even issuing coins with
the title, sometimes with Constantius, sometimes without. He celebrated his fth year in Gaul with a big show
[35]
Constantius attempted to maintain some modicum of of games.
control over his Caesar, which explains his removal of In the spring of 361, Julian led his army into the territory
Julians close adviser Saturninius Secundus Salutius from of the Alamanni, where he captured their king, VadomarGaul. His departure stimulated the writing of Julians ora- ius. Julian claimed that Vadomarius had been in league
tion, Consolation Upon the Departure of Salutius.[29]
with Constantius, encouraging him to raid the borders of

4
Raetia.[36] Julian then divided his forces, sending one column to Raetia, one to northern Italy and the third he led
down the Danube on boats. His forces claimed control
of Illyricum and his general, Nevitta, secured the pass of
Succi into Thrace. He was now well out of his comfort
zone and on the road to civil war.[37] (Julian would state
in late November that he set o down this road because,
having been declared a public enemy, I meant to frighten
him [Constantius] merely, and that our quarrel should result in intercourse on more friendly terms...[38] )

LIFE

tian burial, escorting the body to the Church of the Apostles, where it was placed alongside that of Constantine.[41]
This act was a demonstration of his lawful right to the
throne.[42] He is also now thought to have been responsible for the building of Santa Costanza on a Christian site
just outside Rome as a mausoleum for his wife Helena
and sister-in-law Constantina.[43]
The new Emperor rejected the style of administration of
his immediate predecessors. He blamed Constantine for
the state of the administration and for having abandoned
the traditions of the past. He made no attempt to restore
the tetrarchal system begun under Diocletian. Nor did
he seek to rule as an absolute autocrat. His own philosophic notions led him to idealize the reigns of Hadrian
and Marcus Aurelius. In his rst panegyric to Constantius, Julian described the ideal ruler as being essentially
primus inter pares (rst among equals), operating under the same laws as his subjects. While in Constantinople therefore it was not strange to see Julian frequently
active in the Senate, participating in debates and making
speeches, placing himself at the level of the other members of the Senate.[44]

However, in June, forces loyal to Constantius captured

the city of Aquileia on the north Adriatic coast, an event
which threatened to cut Julian o from the rest of his
forces, while Constantiuss troops marched towards him
from the east. Aquileia was subsequently besieged by
23,000 men loyal to Julian.[39] All Julian could do was sit
it out in Naissus, the city of Constantines birth, waiting
for news and writing letters to various cities in Greece justifying his actions (of which only the letter to the Athenians has survived in its entirety).[40] Civil war was avoided
only by the death on November 3 of Constantius, who, in
his last will, is alleged by some sources to have recognized
Julian as his rightful successor.
He viewed the royal court of his predecessors as inecient, corrupt, and expensive. Thousands of servants, eu1.4 The new emperor and his administra- nuchs, and superuous ocials were therefore summarily dismissed. He set up the Chalcedon tribunal to deal
tion
with the corruption of the previous administration under
the supervision of magister militum Arbitio. Several highranking ocials under Constantius including the chamberlain Eusebius were found guilty and executed. (Julian
was conspicuously absent from the proceedings, perhaps
signaling his displeasure at their necessity.)[45] He continually sought to reduce what he saw as a burdensome
and corrupt bureaucracy within the Imperial administration whether it involved civic ocials, the secret agents,
or the imperial post service.
Another eect of Julians political philosophy was that
the authority of the cities was expanded at the expense of
the imperial bureaucracy as Julian sought to reduce direct imperial involvement in urban aairs. For example,
city land owned by the imperial government was returned
to the cities, city council members were compelled to resume civic authority, often against their will, and the tribute in gold by the cities called the aurum coronarium was
made voluntary rather than a compulsory tax. Additionally, arrears of land taxes were cancelled.[46] This was a
key reform reducing the power of corrupt imperial ocials, as the unpaid taxes on land were often hard to calculate or higher than the value of the land itself. Forgiving
back taxes both made Julian more popular and allowed
him to increase collections of current taxes.
While he ceded much of the authority of the imperial
government to the cities, Julian also took more direct control himself. For example, new taxes and corves had to
On December 11, 361, Julian entered Constantinople as be approved by him directly rather than left to the judgesole emperor and, despite his rejection of Christianity, his ment of the bureaucratic apparatus. Julian certainly had a
rst political act was to preside over Constantius ChrisThe Church of the Holy Apostles, where Julian brought Constantius II to be buried.

1.6

The Persian campaign

clear idea of what he wanted Roman society to be, both in

political as well as religious terms. The terrible and violent dislocation of the 3rd century meant that the Eastern Mediterranean had become the economic locus of
the Empire. If the cities were treated as relatively autonomous local administrative areas, it would simplify the
problems of imperial administration, which as far as Julian was concerned, should be focused on the administration of the law and defense of the empires vast frontiers.

5
that the re was the result of an accident.[50][51]

When the curia still took no substantial action in regards

to the food shortage, Julian intervened, xing the prices
for grain and importing more from Egypt. Then landholders refused to sell theirs, claiming that the harvest
was so bad that they had to be compensated with fair
prices. Julian accused them of price gouging and forced
them to sell. Various parts of Libanius orations may suggest that both sides were justied to some extent[52][53]
In replacing Constantiuss political and civil appointees, while Ammianus blames Julian for a mere thirst for
Julian drew heavily from the intellectual and professional popularity.[54]
classes, or kept reliable holdovers, such as the rhetorician Julians ascetic lifestyle was not popular either, since his
Themistius. His choice of consuls for the year 362 subjects were accustomed to the idea of an all-powerful
was more controversial. One was the very acceptable Emperor who placed himself well above them. Nor did
Claudius Mamertinus, previously the Praetorian prefect he improve his dignity with his own participation in the
of Illyricum. The other, more surprising choice was ceremonial of bloody sacrices.[55] As David S. Potter
Nevitta, Julians trusted Frankish general. This latter ap- says:
pointment made overt the fact that an emperors authority depended on the power of the army. Julians choice
They expected a man who was both reof Nevitta appears to have been aimed at maintaining the
moved from them by the awesome spectacle
support of the Western army which had acclaimed him.
of imperial power, and would validate their interests and desires by sharing them from his
Olympian height (...) He was supposed to be
1.5 Clash with the Antiochenes
interested in what interested his people, and he
was supposed to be dignied. He was not supAfter ve months of dealings at the capital, Julian left
posed to leap up and show his appreciation for
Constantinople in May and moved to Antioch, arriving in
a panegyric that it was delivered, as Julian had
mid-July and staying there for nine months before launchdone on January 3, when Libanius was speaking his fateful campaign against Persia in March 363. Aning, and ignore the chariot races.[56]
tioch was a city favored by splendid temples along with
a famous oracle of Apollo in nearby Daphne, which may
have been cause for him choosing to reside there. It had He then tried to address public criticism and mocking
also been used in the past as a staging place for amassing of him by issuing a satire ostensibly on himself, called
Misopogon or Beard Hater. There he blames the people
troops, a purpose which Julian intended to follow.[47]
of Antioch for preferring that their ruler have his virtues
His arrival on 18 July was well received by the Antioch- in the face rather than in the soul.
enes, though it coincided with the celebration of the Adonia, a festival which marked the death of Adonis, so there Even Julians intellectual friends and fellow pagans were
was wailing and moaning in the streetsnot a good omen of a divided mind about this habit of talking to his subjects
on an equal footing: Ammianus Marcellinus saw in that
for an arrival.[48][49]
only the foolish vanity of someone excessively anxious
Julian soon discovered that wealthy merchants were caus- for empty distinction, whose desire for popularity often
ing food problems, apparently by hoarding food and sell- led him to converse with unworthy persons.[57]
ing it at high prices. He hoped that the curia would deal
with the issue for the situation was headed for a famine. On leaving Antioch he appointed Alexander of HeliopoWhen the curia did nothing, he spoke to the citys leading lis as governor, a violent and cruel man whom the Anticitizens, trying to persuade them to take action. Think- ochene Libanius, a friend of the emperor, admits on rst
ing that they would do the job, he turned his attention to thought was a dishonourable appointment. Julian himself described the man as undeserving of the position,
religious matters.[49]
but appropriate for the avaricious and rebellious people
He tried to resurrect the ancient oracular spring of of Antioch.[58]
Castalia at the temple of Apollo at Daphne. After being advised that the bones of 3rd-century bishop Babylas
were suppressing the god, he made a public-relations mis- 1.6 The Persian campaign
take in ordering the removal of the bones from the vicinity
of the temple. The result was a massive Christian proces- Julians rise to Augustus was the result of military insursion. Shortly after that, when the temple was destroyed by rection eased by Constantiuss sudden death. This meant
re, Julian suspected the Christians and ordered stricter that, while he could count on the wholehearted support
investigations than usual. He also shut up the chief Chris- of the Western army which had aided his rise, the Easttian church of the city, before the investigations proved ern army was an unknown quantity originally loyal to the

6
Emperor he had risen against, and he had tried to woo it
through the Chalcedon Tribunal. However, to solidify his
position in the eyes of the eastern army, he needed to lead
its soldiers to victory and a campaign against the Persians
oered such an opportunity.
An audacious plan was formulated whose goal was to lay
siege on the Sassanid capital city of Ctesiphon and denitively secure the eastern border. Yet the full motivation
for this ambitious operation is, at best, unclear. There was
no direct necessity for an invasion, as the Sassanids sent
envoys in the hope of settling matters peacefully. Julian
rejected this oer.[59] Ammianus states that Julian longed
for revenge on the Persians and that a certain desire for
combat and glory also played a role in his decision to go
to war.[60]

LIFE

1.6.1 Into enemy territory

On 5 March 363, despite a series of omens against
the campaign, Julian departed from Antioch with about
65,000-83,000,[61][62] or 80,00090,000 men,[63] and
headed north toward the Euphrates. En route he was
met by embassies from various small powers oering assistance, none of which he accepted. He did order the
Armenian king Arsaces to muster an army and await
instructions.[64] He crossed the Euphrates near Hierapolis
and moved eastward to Carrhae, giving the impression
that his chosen route into Persian territory was down
the Tigris.[65] For this reason it seems he sent a force
of 30,000 soldiers under Procopius and Sebastianus further eastward to devastate Media in conjunction with Armenian forces.[66] This was where two earlier Roman
campaigns had concentrated and where the main Persian forces were soon directed.[67] Julians strategy lay
elsewhere, however. He had had a eet built of over
1,000 ships at Samosata in order to supply his army for
a march down the Euphrates and of 50 pontoon ships
to facilitate river crossings. Procopius and the Armenians would march down the Tigris to meet Julian near
Ctesiphon.[66] Julians ultimate aim seems to have been
regime change by replacing king Shapur II with his
brother Hormisdas.[67][68]
After feigning a march further eastward, Julians army
turned south to Circesium at the conuence of the Khabur
(Abora) and the Euphrates arriving at the beginning of
April.[66] Passing Dura on April 6, the army made good
progress, bypassing towns after negotiations or besieging
those which chose to oppose him. At the end of April
the Romans captured the fortress of Pirisabora, which
guarded the canal approach from the Euphrates to Ctesiphon on the Tigris.[69] As the army marched toward
the Persian capital, the Sassanids broke the dikes which
crossed the land, turning it into marshland, slowing the
progress of the Roman army.[70]
1.6.2 Ctesiphon
By mid-May, the army had reached the vicinity of the
heavily fortied Persian capital, Ctesiphon, where Julian
partially unloaded some of the eet and had his troops
ferried across the Tigris by night.[71] Before the gates of
the city the Romans defeated the Persians (Battle of Ctesiphon), driving them back into the city.[72]

Although the undeniable tactical success left the Roman

army in control of the battleeld, the Persian capital was
Illustration from The Fall of Princes by John Lydgate (which not taken, the main Persian army was still at large and
is a translation of De Casibus Virorum Illustribus by Giovanni approaching, while the Romans lacked a clear strategic
[73]
In the council of war which followed, JuBoccaccio) depicting the skyn of Julyan. There is no evidence objective.
that Julians corpse was skinned and displayed, and it is likely lians generals persuaded him not to mount a siege against
that the illustrator simply confused the fate of Julians body with the city, given the impregnability of its defenses and the
that of Emperor Valerian.
fact that Shapur would soon arrive with a large force.[74]
Julian not wanting to give up what he had gained and
probably still hoping for the arrival of the column un-

1.7

Tomb

der Procopius and Sebastianus, set o east into the Persian interior, ordering the destruction of the eet.[72] This
proved to be a hasty decision, for they were on the wrong
side of the Tigris with no clear means of retreat and the
Persians had begun to harass them from a distance, burning any food in the Romans path. A second council
of war on 16 June 363 decided that the best course of
action was to lead the army back to the safety of Roman borders, not through Mesopotamia, but northward
to Corduene.[75][76]

1.6.3

Death

7
buried outside Tarsus, though it was later removed to
Constantinople.[80]
In 364, Libanius stated that Julian was assassinated by a
Christian who was one of his own soldiers;[81] this charge
is not corroborated by Ammianus Marcellinus or other
contemporary historians. John Malalas reports that the
supposed assassination was commanded by Basil of Caesarea.[82] Fourteen years later, Libanius said that Julian
was killed by a Saracen (Lakhmid) and this may have
been conrmed by Julians doctor Oribasius who, having
examined the wound, said that it was from a spear used
by a group of Lakhmid auxiliaries in Persian service.[83]
Later Christian historians propagated the tradition that
Julian was killed by Saint Mercurius.[84] Julian was succeeded by the short-lived Emperor Jovian who reestablished Christianitys privileged position throughout the
Empire.

Libanius says in his epitaph of the deceased emperor

(18.304) that I have mentioned representations (of Julian); many cities have set him beside the images of the
gods and honour him as they do the gods. Already a blessing has been besought of him in prayer, and it was not in
vain. To such an extent has he literally ascended to the
gods and received a share of their power from him themselves. However, no similar action was taken by the RoSassanian relief of the investiture of Ardashir II showing man central government, which would be more and more
Mithra, Shapur II and Ahura Mazda above a defeated dominated by Christians in the ensuing decades.
Julian, lying prostrate
Considered apocryphal is the report that his dying
words were , , or Vicisti, Galilaee
(You have won, Galilean"),[85] supposedly expressing his
recognition that, with his death, Christianity would become the Empires state religion. The phrase introduces
the 1866 poem Hymn to Proserpine, which was Algernon
Charles Swinburne's elaboration of what a philosophic
pagan might have felt at the triumph of Christianity. It
also ends the Polish Romantic play The Undivine comedy
written in 1833 by Zygmunt Krasiski.
Detail of the fallen Julian
During the withdrawal, Julians forces suered several attacks from Sassanid forces.[76] In one such engagement
on 26 June 363, the indecisive Battle of Samarra near
Maranga, Julian was wounded when the Sassanid army
raided his column. In the haste of pursuing the retreating enemy, Julian chose speed rather than caution, taking
only his sword and leaving his coat of mail.[77] He received a wound from a spear that reportedly pierced the
lower lobe of his liver, the peritoneum and intestines. The
wound was not immediately deadly. Julian was treated
by his personal physician, Oribasius of Pergamum, who
seems to have made every attempt to treat the wound.
This probably included the irrigation of the wound with
a dark wine, and a procedure known as gastrorrhaphy,
the suturing of the damaged intestine. On the third
day a major hemorrhage occurred and the emperor died
during the night.[78][79] As Julian wished, his body was

1.7 Tomb
As he had requested, Julians body was buried in Tarsus.
It lay in a tomb outside the city, across a road from that
of Maximinus Daia.[86]
However, chronicler Zonaras says that at some later
date his body was exhumed and reburied in or near the
Church of the Holy Apostles in Constantinople, where
Constantine and the rest of his family lay.[87] His sarcophagus is listed as standing in a stoa there by Constantine
Porphyrogenitus.[88] The church was demolished by the
Ottoman Turks after the fall of Constantinople in 1453.
Today a sarcophagus of porphyry, identied as Julians,
stands in the grounds of the Archaeological Museum in
Istanbul.

2 JULIAN AND RELIGIOUS ISSUES

them, as they say, arose the race of men.[91] Further
he writes, they who had the power to create one man
and one woman only, were able to create many men and
women at once....[92] His view contrasts with the Christian belief that humanity is derived from the one pair,
Adam and Eve. Elsewhere he argues against the single
pair origin, indicating his disbelief, noting for example,
how very dierent in their bodies are the Germans and
Scythians from the Libyans and Ethiopians.[93][94]

Porphyry sarcophagi outside the Istanbul Archaeological Museum. Julians is the left-hand one.

2
2.1

Julian and religious issues

The Christian historian Socrates Scholasticus was of the

opinion that Julian believed himself to be Alexander
the Great in another body via transmigration of souls,
in accordance with the teachings of Pythagoras and
Plato".[95]

2.2 Restoration of Paganism as state religion

Beliefs

Julians personal religion was both pagan and philosophical; he viewed the traditional myths as allegories, in which
the ancient gods were aspects of a philosophical divinity.
The chief surviving sources are his works To King Helios
and To the Mother of the Gods, which were written as
panegyrics, not theological treatises.
While there are clear resemblances to other forms of
Late Antique religion, it is controversial as to which variety it is most similar to. He learned theurgy from
Maximus of Ephesus, a student of Iamblichus;[89] his
system bears some resemblance to the Neoplatonism of
Plotinus; Polymnia Athanassiadi has brought new attention to his relations with Mithraism, although whether
he was initiated into it remains debatable; and certain aspects of his thought (such as his reorganization
of paganism under High Priests, and his fundamental
monotheism) may show Christian inuence. Some of
these potential sources have not come down to us, and
all of them inuenced each other, which adds to the
diculties.[90]

Julian the Apostate presiding at a conference of sectarians, by

Edward Armitage, 1875

See also: henosis and henotheism

After gaining the purple, Julian started a religious reformation of the state, which was intended to restore the lost
strength of the Roman state. He supported the restoration of Hellenistic polytheism as the state religion. His
laws tended to target wealthy and educated Christians,
and his aim was not to destroy Christianity but to drive
According to one theory (that of G.W. Bowersock in the religion out of the governing classes of the empire
particular), Julians paganism was highly eccentric and much as Buddhism was driven back into the lower
atypical because it was heavily inuenced by an esoteric classes by a revived Confucian mandarinate in 13th cenapproach to Platonic philosophy sometimes identied as tury China.[96]
theurgy and also Neoplatonism. Others (Rowland Smith, He restored pagan temples which had been conscated
in particular) have argued that Julians philosophical per- since Constantines time, or simply appropriated by
spective was nothing unusual for a cultured pagan of wealthy citizens; he repealed the stipends that Constanhis time, and, at any rate, that Julians paganism was not tine had awarded to Christian bishops, and removed their
limited to philosophy alone, and that he was deeply de- other privileges, including a right to be consulted on apvoted to the same gods and goddesses as other pagans of pointments and to act as private courts. He also reversed
his day.
some favors that had previously been given to Christians.
Because of his Neoplatonist background Julian accepted
the creation of humanity as described in Platos Timaeus.
Julian writes, when Zeus was setting all things in order there fell from him drops of sacred blood, and from

For example, he reversed Constantines declaration that

Majuma, the port of Gaza, was a separate city. Majuma
had a large Christian congregation while Gaza was still
predominantly pagan.

2.2

Restoration of Paganism as state religion

On 4 February 362, Julian promulgated an edict to guarantee freedom of religion. This edict proclaimed that all
the religions were equal before the law, and that the Roman Empire had to return to its original religious eclecticism, according to which the Roman state did not impose
any religion on its provinces. Practically however, it had
as its purpose the restoration of paganism at the expense
of Christianity.

9
tian schools which at that time and later used ancient
Greek literature in their teachings in their eort to present
the Christian religion as being superior to paganism. The
edict was also a severe nancial blow, because it deprived
Christian scholars, tutors and teachers of many students.
In his Tolerance Edict of 362, Julian decreed the reopening of pagan temples, the restitution of conscated temple
properties, and the return from exile of dissident Christian bishops. The latter was an instance of tolerance of
dierent religious views, but it may also have been seen
as an attempt by Julian to foster schisms and divisions
between dierent Christian sects, since conict between
rival Christian sects was quite erce.[99]
His care in the institution of a pagan hierarchy in opposition to that of the Christians was due to his wish to create
a society in which every aspect of the life of the citizens
was to be connected, through layers of intermediate levels, to the consolidated gure of the Emperor the nal provider for all the needs of his people. Within this
project, there was no place for a parallel institution, such
as the Christian hierarchy or Christian charity.[100]
2.2.1 Paganisms shift under Julian

During Julians brief reign from 361-363 CE, his popularity among the people and the army indicated that he might
have brought paganism back to the fore of Roman public
and private life.[101] In fact, during his lifetime, neither
pagan nor Christian ideology reigned supreme, and the
greatest thinkers of the day argued about the merits and
rationality of each religion.[102] Most importantly for the
Coptic icon showing Saint Mercurius killing Julian. According pagan cause, though, Rome was still a predominantly pato a tradition, Saint Basil (an old school-mate of Julian) had
gan empire that had not wholly accepted Christianity.[103]
been imprisoned at the start of Julians Sassanid campaign. Basil
prayed to Mercurius to help him, and the saint appeared in a
vision to Basil, claiming to have speared Julian to death.

Since the persecution of Christians by past Roman

Emperors had seemingly only strengthened Christianity, many of Julians actions were designed to harass
and undermine the ability of Christians to organize
resistance to the re-establishment of paganism in the
empire.[97] Julians preference for a non-Christian and
non-philosophical view of Iamblichus theurgy seems to
have convinced him that it was right to outlaw the practice of the Christian view of theurgy and demand the suppression of the Christian set of Mysteries.[98]
In his School Edict Julian required that all public teachers be approved by the Emperor; the state paid or supplemented much of their salaries. Ammianus Marcellinus explains this as intending to prevent Christian teachers from using pagan texts (such as the Iliad, which was
widely regarded as divinely inspired) that formed the core
of classical education: If they want to learn literature,
they have Luke and Mark: Let them go back to their
churches and expound on them, the edict says.[96] This
was an attempt to remove some of the power of the Chris-

Even so, Julians short reign did not stem the tide of Christianity. The emperors ultimate failure can arguably be
attributed to the manifold religious traditions and deities
that paganism promulgated. Most pagans sought religious
aliations that were unique to their culture and people,
and they had internal divisions that prevented them from
creating any one pagan religion. Indeed, the term pagan was simply a convenient appellation for Christians to
lump together the believers of a system they opposed.[104]
In truth, there was no Roman religion, as modern observers would recognize it.[105] Instead, paganism came
from a system of observances that one historian has characterized as no more than a spongy mass of tolerance
and tradition.[105]
This system of tradition had already shifted dramatically
by the time Julian came to power; gone were the days
of massive sacrices honoring the gods. The communal
festivals that involved sacrice and feasting, which once
united communities, now tore them apartChristian
against pagan.[106] Civic leaders did not even have the
funds, much less the support, to hold religious festivals.
Julian found the nancial base that had supported these
ventures (sacred temple funds) had been seized by his un-

10
cle Constantine to support the Christian Church.[107] In
all, Julians short reign simply could not shift the feeling
of inertia that had swept across the Empire. Christians
had denounced sacrice, stripped temples of their funds,
and cut priests and magistrates o from the social prestige
and nancial benets accompanying leading pagan positions in the past. Leading politicians and civic leaders
had little motivation to rock the boat by reviving pagan
festivals. Instead, they chose to adopt the middle ground
by having ceremonies and mass entertainment that were
religiously neutral.[108]
After witnessing the reign of two emperors bent on supporting the Church and stamping out paganism, it is understandable that pagans simply did not embrace Julians
idea of proclaiming their devotion to polytheism and their
rejection of Christianity. Many chose to adopt a practical approach and not support Julians public reforms actively for fear of a Christian revival. However, this apathetic attitude forced the emperor to shift central aspects
of pagan worship. Julians attempts to reinvigorate the
people shifted the focus of paganism from a system of
tradition to a religion with some of the same characteristics that he opposed in Christianity.[109] For example, Julian attempted to introduce a tighter organization for the
priesthood, with greater qualications of character and
service. Classical paganism simply did not accept this
idea of priests as model citizens. Priests were elites with
social prestige and nancial power who organized festivals and helped pay for them.[107] Yet Julians attempt to
impose moral strictness on the civic position of priesthood only made paganism more in tune with Christian
morality, drawing it further from paganisms system of
tradition.

ANCESTRY

ing martyrs of those who disagreed with his reforms; but

Juventinus and Maximinus admitted to being Christians,
and refused to moderate their stance. John asserts that
the emperor forbade anyone from having contact with the
men, but that nobody obeyed his orders; so he had the two
men executed in the middle of the night. John urges his
audience to visit the tomb of these martyrs.[112]
2.2.3 Charity
Because Christian charities were open to all, including
pagans, it put this aspect of the Roman citizens lives out
of the control of the Imperial authority and under that
of the Church. Thus Julian envisioned the institution
of a Roman philanthropic system, and cared for the behaviour and the morality of the pagan priests, in the hope
that it would mitigate the reliance of pagans on Christian
charity, saying: These impious Galileans not only feed
their own poor, but ours also; welcoming them into their
agapae, they attract them, as children are attracted, with
cakes. [113]

2.3 Attempt to rebuild the Jewish Temple

In 363, not long before Julian left Antioch to launch his
campaign against Persia, in keeping with his eort to foster religions other than Christianity, he ordered the Temple rebuilt.[114] A personal friend of his, Ammianus Marcellinus, wrote this about the eort:
Julian thought to rebuild at an extravagant
expense the proud Temple once at Jerusalem,
and committed this task to Alypius of Antioch.
Alypius set vigorously to work, and was seconded by the governor of the province; when
fearful balls of re, breaking out near the foundations, continued their attacks, till the workmen, after repeated scorchings, could approach
no more: and he gave up the attempt.

Indeed, this development of a pagan order created the

foundations of a bridge of reconciliation over which paganism and Christianity could meet.[110] Likewise, Julians persecution of Christians, who by pagan standards
were simply part of a dierent cult, was quite an un-pagan
attitude that transformed paganism into a religion that accepted only one form of religious experience while excluding all otherssuch as Christianity.[111] In trying to
compete with Christianity in this manner, Julian fundamentally changed the nature of pagan worship. That is, The failure to rebuild the Temple has been ascribed to
he made paganism a religion, whereas it once had been the Galilee earthquake of 363, and to the Jews' ambivalence about the project. Sabotage is a possibility, as
only a system of tradition.
is an accidental re. Divine intervention was the common view among Christian historians of the time.[115] Ju2.2.2 Juventinus and Maximus
lians support of Jews caused Jews to call him Julian the
Hellene".[116]
Despite the emperors attempts to reconcile Christianity
and paganism, many of the Church fathers viewed him
with hostility, and told stories of his supposed wickedness
3 Ancestry
after his death. A sermon by Saint John Chrysostom, entitled On Saints Juventinus and Maximinus, tells the story
of two of Julians soldiers at Antioch, who were over- Ancestors of Julian
heard at a drinking party, criticizing the emperors religious policies, and taken into custody. According to John,
the emperor had made a deliberate eort to avoid creat-

11

Works

Julian wrote several works in Greek, some of which have

come down to us.
Bud indicates the numbers used by Athanassiadi given in
[130]

the Bud edition (1963 & 1964) of Julians Opera.

Wright indicates the oration numbers provided in

W.C.Wrights edition of Julians works.

The religious works contain involved philosophical speculations, and the panegyrics to Constantius are formulaic
and elaborate in style.
The Misopogon (or Beard Hater) is a light-hearted account of his clash with the inhabitants of Antioch after he
was mocked for his beard and generally scruy appearance for an Emperor. The Caesars is a humorous tale
of a contest between some of the most notable Roman
Emperors: Julius Caesar, Augustus, Trajan, Marcus Aurelius, Constantine, and also interestingly Alexander the
Great. This was a satiric attack upon the recent Constantine, whose worth, both as a Christian and as the leader
of the Roman Empire, Julian severely questions.
One of the most important of his lost works is his Against
the Galileans, intended to refute the Christian religion.
The only parts of this work which survive are those excerpted by Cyril of Alexandria, who gives extracts from
the three rst books in his refutation of Julian, Contra
Julianum. These extracts do not give an adequate idea
of the work: Cyril confesses that he had not ventured to
copy several of the weightiest arguments.
These have been edited and translated several times since
the Renaissance, most often separately; but all are translated in the Loeb Classical Library edition of 1913, edited
by Wilmer Cave Wright.

In ction
In 1847, the controversial German theologian David
Friedrich Strauss published in Mannheim the pamphlet Der Romantiker auf dem Thron der Csaren
(A Romantic on the Throne of the Caesars), in
which Julian was satirised as an unworldly dreamer,
a man who turned nostalgia for the ancients into
a way of life and whose eyes were closed to the
pressing needs of the present. In fact, this was a
veiled criticism of the contemporary King Frederick
William IV of Prussia, known for his romantic
dreams of restoring the supposed glories of feudal
Medieval society.[131]
Julians life inspired the play Emperor and Galilean
by Henrik Ibsen.
Julians life and reign were the subject of the novel
The Death of the Gods (Julian the Apostate) (1895)

in the trilogy of historical novels entitled Christ

and Antichrist (18951904) by the Russian Symbolist poet, novelist and literary theoretician Dmitrii
S. Merezhkovskii.
The opera Der Apostat (1924) by the composer and
conductor Felix Weingartner is about Julian.
In 1945 Nikos Kazantzakis authored the tragedy Julian the Apostate in which the emperor is depicted as
an existentialist hero committed to a struggle which
he knows will be in vain. It was rst staged in Paris
in 1948.
Julian was the subject of a novel, Julian (1964), by
Gore Vidal, describing his life and times. It is notable for, among other things, its scathing critique of
Christianity.
Julian appeared in Gods and Legions, by Michael
Curtis Ford (2002). Julians tale was told by his closest companion, the Christian saint Caesarius, and
accounts for the transition from a Christian philosophy student in Athens to a pagan Roman Augustus
of the old nature.
Julians letters are an important part of the symbolism of Michel Butor's novel La Modication.
The fantasy alternate history The Dragon Waiting by
John M. Ford, while set in the time of the Wars of
the Roses, uses the reign of Julian as its point of divergence. His reign not being cut short, he was successful in disestablishing Christianity and restoring a
religiously eclectic societal order which survived the
fall of Rome and into the Renaissance Characters in
the novel refer to him as Julian the Wise.
The dystopian speculative ction novel Julian Comstock: A Story of 22nd-Century America parallels the
life of Julian, with the title character as the hereditary president of an oligarchic future United States
of America who tries to restore science and combat
the fundamentalist Christianity that has taken over
the country.

6 See also
Libri tres contra Galileos
Anbar, the ancient town of Perisabora destroyed by
Julian in 363.
Diodore of Tarsus
Itineraries of the Roman emperors, 337361

12

Notes and references

[1] In Classical Latin, Julians name would be inscribed as

FLAVIVS CLAVDIVS IVLIANVS AVGVSTVS.
[2] Tougher, 12, citing Bouartigue: L'Empereur Julien et la
culture de son temps p. 30 for the argument for 331; A.H.
Jones, J.R. Martindale, and J. Morris Prosopography of
the Later Roman Empire, Vol. I p.447 (Iulianus 29) argues for May or June 332.
[3] Grant, Michael (1980). Greek and Latin authors, 800
B.C.-A.D. 1000, Part 1000. H. W. Wilson Co. p.
240. ISBN 0-8242-0640-1. JULIAN THE APOSTATE
(Flavins Claudius Julianus), Roman emperor and Greek
writer, was born at Constantinople in ad 332 and died in
363.
[4] Glanville Downey, Julian the Apostate at Antioch,
Church History, Vol. 8, No. 4 (December, 1939), pp.
303315. See p.305.
[5] Athanassiadi, p.88.
[6] Chambers Dictionary
[7] Gibbon, Edward. The History of the Decline and Fall of
the Roman Empire. p. Chapter 23.
[8] A.H. Jones, J.R. Martindale, and J. Morris Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire, Vol. I p.447.
[9] Norwich, John Julius (1989). Byzantium: the early centuries. Knopf. p. 83. ISBN 0-394-53778-5. Julius
Constantius...Constantine had invited him, with his second wife and his young family, to take up residence in his
new capital; and it was in Constantinople that his third
son Julian was born, in May or June of the year 332. The
babys mother, Basilina, a Greek from Asia Minor, died a
few weeks later...
[10] Bradbury, Jim (2004). The Routledge companion to medieval warfare. Routledge. p. 54. ISBN 0-415-221269. JULIAN THE APOSTATE, FLAVIUS CLAUDIUS
JULIANUS, ROMAN EMPEROR (332-63) Emperor
from 361, son of Julius Constantius and a Greek mother
Basilina, grandson of Constantius Chlorus, the only pagan
Byzantine Emperor.

NOTES AND REFERENCES

that the kind Eusebia of Julians panegyric is a literary creation and that she was doing the bidding of her husband
in bringing Julian around to doing what Constantius had
asked of him. See especially p.597.
[16] David S. Potter, The Roman Empire at Bay AD 180395,
p.499.
[17] Most sources give the town as Sens, which is well into the
interior of Gaul. See John F. Drinkwater, The Alamanni
and Rome 213496, OUP Oxford 2007, p.220.
[18] Cambridge Ancient History, v.13, p.49.
[19] David S. Potter, The Roman Empire at Bay AD 180395,
p.501.
[20] David S. Potter, p.501.
[21] Cambridge Ancient History, v.13, pp.5051.
[22] Ammianus says that there were 35,000 Alamanni, Res
Gestae, 16.12.26, though this gure is now thought to be
an overestimate see David S. Potter, p.501.
[23] D. Woods, On the 'Standard-Bearers at Strasbourg:
Libanius, or. 18.5866, Mnemosyne, Fourth Series, Vol.
50, Fasc. 4 (August, 1997), p. 479.
[24] David S. Potter, pp.501502.
[25] Cambridge Ancient History, v.13, p.51.
[26] Ammianus Marcellinus Res Gestae, 16.12.27, 38, 55
[27] Ammianus Marcellinus Res Gestae, 16.12.6465
[28] John F. Drinkwater, The Alamanni and Rome 213496,
pp.240241.
[29] Athanassiadi, p.69.
[30] grammation: cf. Zosimus, Historia Nova, 3.9, commented by Veyne, L'Empire Grco-Romain, p.45
[31] Julian, Letter to the Athenians, 282C.
[32] Ammianus Marcellinus Res Gestae, 20.4.12
[33] Ammianus Marcellinus Res Gestae, 20.10.12

[11] Jones, Martindale, and Morris (1971) Prosopography of

the Later Roman Empire volume 1, p.148, 478479. Cambridge.

[34] Cambridge Ancient History, v.13, pp. 5657.

[12] Cambridge Ancient History, v.13, pp.4445.

[36] Cambridge Ancient History v.13, p.58.

[13] Boardman, p. 44, citing Julian to the Alexandrians,

Wrights letter 47, of November or December 362.
Ezekiel Spanheim 434D. Twelve would be literal, but Julian is counting inclusively.

[37] Cambridge Ancient History v.13, p.59.

[14] Letter 47, Wright, v.3, p.149.

[15] R. Browning, The Emperor Julian (London, 1975), pp.
745. However, Shaun Tougher, The Advocacy of an
Empress: Julian and Eusebia (The Classical Quarterly,
New Series, Vol. 48, No. 2 (1998), pp. 595599), argues

[35] David S. Potter, p.506.

[38] In a private letter to his Uncle Julian, in W.C. Wright, v.3,

p.27.
[39] J. Norwich, Byzantium: The Early Centuries, 89
[40] Cambridge Ancient History v.13, p.60.
[41] Cambridge Ancient History, v.13, p.60.
[42] Athanassiadi, p.89.

13

[43] Webb, Matilda. The churches and catacombs of early

Christian Rome: a comprehensive guide, p. 249-252,
2001, Sussex Academic Press, ISBN 1-902210-58-1,
ISBN 978-1-902210-58-2, google books
[44] Cambridge Ancient History, v.13, pp. 634.

[66] Bowersock, Julian the Apostate, p.110.

[67] David S, Potter, The Roman Empire at Bay, p.517.
[68] Libanius, Epistulae, 1402.2

[45] Cambridge Ancient History, v.13, p.61.

[69] Dodgeon & Lieu, The Roman Eastern Frontier and the
Persian Wars, p.203.

[46] Cambridge Ancient History, v.13, p.65.

[70] Ammianus Marcellinus, Res Gestae, 24.3.1011.

[47] Bowersock, p.95.

[71] Dodgeon & Lieu, The Roman Eastern Frontier and the
Persian Wars, p.204.

[48] Cambridge Ancient History, v.13 p.69.

[49] Bowersock, p.96.
[50] Ammianus Marcellinus, Res Gestae, 22.12.8 22.13.3
[51] Socrates of Constantinople, Historia ecclesiastica, 3.18
[52] Libanius, Orations, 18.195 & 16.21
[53] Libanius, Orations, 1.126 & 15.20

[72] Cambridge Ancient History, p.75.

[73] Adrian Goldsworth, How Rome fell. New Haven: Yale
University Press, 2009, ISBN 978-0-300-13719-4 , page
232
[74] Ammianus Marcellinus, Res Gestae, 24.7.1.
[75] Ammianus Marcellinus, Res Gestae, 24.8.15.

[54] Ammianus Marcellinus, Res Gestae, 22.14.1

[76] Dodgeon & Lieu, The Roman Eastern Frontier and the
Persian Wars, p.205.

[55] Ammianus Marcellinus, Res Gestae, 22.14.3

[77] Ammianus Marcellinus, Res Gestae, 25.3.3

[56] David S. Potter, The Roman Empire at Bay, pp. 515516

[78] Lascaratos, John and Dionysios Voros. 2000 Fatal

Wounding of the Byzantine Emperor Julian the Apostate
(361363 A.D.): Approach to the Contribution of Ancient Surgery. World Journal of Surgery 24: 615619.
See p.618.

[57] Ammianus Marcellinus, Res Gestae, 22.7.1, 25.4.17

(Commented by Veyne, L"Empire Grco-Romain, p.77)
[58] See Letter 622 by Libanius: That Alexander was appointed to the government at rst, I confess, gave me some
concern, as the principal persons among us were dissatised. I thought it dishonourable, injurious, and unbecoming a prince; and that repeated nes would rather weaken
than improve the city.... and the translators note upon it:
This is the Alexander of whom Ammianus says (23.2),
When Julian was going to leave Antioch, he made one
Alexander of Heliopolis, governor of Syria, a turbulent
and severe man, saying that 'undeserving as he was, such
a ruler suited the avaricious and contumellious Antiochians. As the letter makes clear, Julian handed the city over
to be looted by a man he himself regarded as unworthy,
and the Christian inhabitants, who had dared to oppose his
attempt to restore paganism, to be forced to attend and applaud pagan ceremonies at sword-point; and be 'urged' to
cheer more loudly.
[59] Libanius, Oration 12, 7677
[60] Ammianus Marcellinus, Res Gestae, 22.12.12
[61] Zosimus, Historia Nova, book 3, chapter 12. Zosimus
text is ambiguous and refers to a smaller force of 18,000
under Procopius and a larger force of 65,000 under Julian
himself; its unclear if the second gure includes the rst.
[62] Elton, Hugh, Warfare in Roman Europe AD 350-425, p.
210, using the higher estimate of 83,000.
[63] Bowersock, Julian the Apostate, p.108.
[64] Ammianus Marcellinus, Res Gestae, 23.2.12
[65] Ridley, Notes, p.318.

[79] Note that Ammianus Marcellinus (Res Gestae, 25.3.6 &

23) is of the view that Julian died the night of the same
day that he was wounded.
[80] Grant, Michael. The Roman Emperors. (New York:
Barnes and Noble Books, 1997), pp. 254.
[81] Libanius, Orations, 18.274
[82] Joannes Malalas, Chronographia, 333334. Patrologia
Graeca XCII, col. 496.
[83] evidence preserved by Philostorgius, see David S. Potter,
The Roman Empire at Bay AD 180395, p.518
[84] Sozomenus, Historia ecclesiastica, 6.2
[85] First recorded by Theodoret, (Historia Ecclesiastica, 3.25)
in the 5th century.
[86] Libanius, Oration 18, 306; Ammianus Marcellinus 23, 2.5
and 25, 5.1. References from G. Downey,The tombs of
the Byzantine emperors at the Church of the Holy Apostles
in Constantinople, Journal of Hellenic Studies 79 (1959)
p.46
[87] Downey gives the text: '...later the body was transferred
to the imperial city' (xiii 13, 25)
[88] Glanville Downey, The tombs of the Byzantine emperors at
the Church of the Holy Apostles in Constantinople, Journal
of Hellenic Studies 79 (1959) 27-51. On p. 34 he states
that the Book of Ceremonies of Constantine Porphyrogenitus gives a list of tombs, ending with: 43. In this stoa,

14

8 SOURCES

which is to the north, lies a cylindrically-shaped sarcoph- [112] St. John Chrysostom, The Cult of the Saints (select homiagus, in which lies the cursed and wretched body of the
lies and letters), Wendy Mayer & Bronwen Neil, eds., St.
apostate Julian, porphyry or Roman in colour. 44 AnVladimirs Seminary Press (2006).
other sarcophagus, porphyry, or Roman, in which lies the
[113] Quoted in : Schmidt, Charles (1889). The Social Results
body of Jovian, who ruled after Julian.
of Early Christianity (2 ed.). Wm. Isbister. p. 328. Re[89] The emperors study of Iamblichus and of theurgy are a
trieved 2013-02-09.
source of criticism from his primary chronicler, Ammianus Marcellinus, Res Gestae, 22.13.68 and 25.2.5
[114] Ammianus Marcellinus, Res Gestae, 23.1.23.
[90] Tougher, Shaun (2007). Julian the Apostate. Edinburgh [115] See Julian and the Jews 361363 CE (Fordham UniverUniversity Press. p. 27, 58f. ISBN 9780748618873.
sity, The Jesuit University of New York) and Julian the
Apostate and the Holy Temple.
[91] Julian, Letter to a Priest, 292. Transl. W.C. Wright,
v.2, p.307.
[116] A Psychoanalytic History of the Jews, Avner Falk
[92] As above. Wright, v.2, p.305.

[117] Athanassiadi, p.61.

[93] Julian, "Against the Galilaeans", 143. Transl. W.C.
[118] Athanassiadi, pp. 623.
Wright, v.3, p.357.
[94] Thomas F. Gossett, Race: The History of an Idea in Amer- [119] The manuscript tradition uses the name Sallustius, but
see Bowersock, p.45 (footnote #12), and Athanassiadi,
ica, 1963 (Southern Methodist University Press) /1997
p.20.
(Oxford University Press, USA), p. 8.
[95] Socrates Scholasticus, Church History, iii, 21.

[120] Athanassiadi, p.85.

[96] Brown, Peter, The World of Late Antiquity, W. W. Norton, [121] Athanassiadi, p.90.
New York, 1971, p. 93.
[122] Athanassiadi, p.131.
[97] Julian, Epistulae, 52.436A .
[98] See Theourgia-Demiourgia John P Anton.
[99] Ammianus Marcellinus, Res Gestae, 22.5.4.

[123] Athanassiadi, p.141, at the same time as To The Cynic

Heracleios.
[124] Athanassiadi, p.137.

[100] See Roberts and DiMaio.

[101] Adrian Murdoch, The Last Pagan (UK: Sutton Publishing
Limited, 2003), 3.
[102] Adrian Murdoch, The Last Pagan (UK: Sutton Publishing
Limited, 2003), 4.

[125] Athanassiadi, p.197, written for the Saturnalia festival,

which began December 21.
[126] Athanassiadi, p.148, doesn't supply a clear date. Bowersock, p.103, dates it to the celebration of Sol Invictus, December 25, shortly after the Caesars was written.

[103] Scott Bradbury, Julians Pagan Revival and the Decline

[127] Athanassiadi, p.201, dates it towards the end of his stay
of Blood Sacrice, Phoenix 49 (1995), 331.
in Antioch.
[104] Scott Bradbury, Julians Pagan Revival and the Decline
[128] Athanassiadi, p.161. - Wikisource:Against the Galileans
of Blood Sacrice, Phoenix 49 (1995).
[105] Jonathan Kirsch, God against the Gods (New York: Pen- [129] Not dealt with in Athanassiadi, or dated by Bowersock,
but reects a time when Julian was emperor, and he had
guin Group, 2004), 9.
other issues to deal with later.
[106] Scott Bradbury, Julians Pagan Revival and the Decline
of Blood Sacrice, Phoenix 49 (1995): 333.
[130] Julians Opera, edited by J.Bidez, G.Rochefort, and
C.Lacombrade, with French translations of all the prin[107] Scott Bradbury, Julians Pagan Revival and the Decline
cipal works except Against the Galilaeans, which is only
of Blood Sacrice, Phoenix 49 (1995): 352.
preserved in citations in a polemic work by Cyril.
[108] Scott Bradbury, Julians Pagan Revival and the Decline
[131] Christopher Clark, Iron Kingdom, p. 446
of Blood Sacrice, Phoenix 49 (1995): 354.
[109] Harold Mattingly, The Later Paganism, The Harvard
Theological Review 35 (1942): 178.
[110] Harold Mattingly, The Later Paganism, The Harvard
Theological Review 35 (1942): 171.
[111] James ODonnell, The Demise of Paganism, Traditio 35
(1979): 53, accessed September 23, 2014, http://www.
jstor.org.proxy.library.vanderbilt.edu/stable/27831060.

8 Sources
Ammianus Marcellinus, Res Gestae, Libri XV-XXV
(books 1525). See J.C. Rolfe, Ammianus Marcellinus, Harvard University Press, Cambridge Mass.,
1935/1985. 3 Volumes.

15
Ammianus Marcellinus, The Roman History of Ammianus Marcellinus During the Reigns of the Emperors Constantius, Julian, Jovianus, Valentinian,
and Valens. Translated by C. D. Yonge. Full text
at Internet Archive at https://archive.org/stream/
theromanhistoryo28587gut/28587-0.txt. Gutenberg etext# 28587.
Julian the emperor: containing Gregory Nazianzens
two Invectives and Libanius Monody : with Julians
extant theosophical works., Translated by C.W.
King. George Bell and Sons, London, 1888. At the
Internet Archive
Claudius Mamertinus, "Gratiarum actio Mamertini
de consulato suo Iuliano Imperatori", Panegyrici Latini, panegyric delivered in Constantinople in 362,
also as a speech of thanks at his assumption of the
oce of consul of that year
Gregory Nazianzen, Orations, "First Invective
Against Julian", "Second Invective Against Julian".
Both transl. C.W. King, 1888.
Libanius, Monody Funeral Oration for Julian the
Apostate. Transl. C.W. King, 1888.

Further reading
Roberts, Walter E., and Michael DiMaio, Julian the
Apostate (360363 A.D.)", De Imperatoribus Romanis (2002)
Athanassiadi, Polymnia. Julian. An Intellectual Biography Routledge, London, 1992. ISBN 0-41507763-X
Bowersock, Glen Warren. Julian the Apostate. London, 1978. ISBN 0-674-48881-4
Browning, Robert. The Emperor Julian, London,
1975.
Dodgeon, Michael H. & Samuel N.C. Lieu, The
Roman Eastern Frontier and the Persian Wars AD
226363, Routledge, London, 1991. ISBN 0-20342534-0
Drinkwater, John F., The Alamanni and Rome 213
496 (Caracalla to Clovis), OUP Oxford 2007. ISBN
0-19-929568-9
Gardner, Alice, Julian Philosopher and Emperor and the Last Struggle of Paganism Against
Christianity, G.P. Putnams Son, London, 1895.
ISBN 0-404-58262-1 / ISBN 978-0-404-582623. Downloadable at https://archive.org/details/
julianphilosophe00gard.

Hunt, David. Julian. In The Cambridge Ancient

History, Volume 13 (Averil Cameron & Peter Garnsey editors). CUP, Cambridge, 1998. ISBN 0521-30200-5
Lascaratos, John and Dionysios Voros. 2000 Fatal Wounding of the Byzantine Emperor Julian the
Apostate (361363 A.D.): Approach to the Contribution of Ancient Surgery. World Journal of
Surgery 24: 615619
Lenski, Noel Emmanuel Failure of Empire: Valens
and the Roman State in the Fourth Century AD University of California Press: London, 2003
Lieu, Samuel N.C. & Dominic Montserrat: editors,
From Constantine to Julian: A Source History Routledge: New York, 1996. ISBN 0-203-42205-8
Murdoch, Adrian. The Last Pagan: Julian the Apostate and the Death of the Ancient World, Stroud,
2005, ISBN 0-7509-4048-4
Neander, August, The Emperor Julian and
His Generation, An Historical Picture, translated by G.V. Cox, John W. Parker, London, 1859.
ISBN 0-217-34765-7 / ISBN
9780217347655.
Downloadable at https:
//archive.org/details/emperorjulianan01neangoog.
Potter, David S. The Roman Empire at Bay AD 180
395, Routledge, New York, 2004. ISBN 0-41510058-5
Rendall, Gerald Henry, The Emperor Julian: Paganism and Christianity with Genealogical, Chronological and Bibliographical Appendices, George Bell and
Sons, London, 1879. ISBN 1-152-51929-8 / ISBN
9781152519299. Downloadable at https://archive.
org/details/emperorjulian00rend.
Ridley, R.T., Notes on Julians Persian Expedition
(363)", Historia: Zeitschrift fr Alte Geschichte, Vol.
22, No. 2, 1973, pp. 317330
Rohrbacher, David. Historians of Late Antiquity.
Routledge: New York, 2002. ISBN 0-415-20459-3
Rosen, Klaus. Julian. Kaiser, Gott und Christenhasser. Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart, 2006.
Smith, Rowland. Julians gods: religion and philosophy in the thought and action of Julian the Apostate,
London, 1995. ISBN 0-415-03487-6
Veyne, Paul. L'Empire Grco-Romain. Seuil, Paris,
2005. ISBN 2-02-057798-4

10 External links
Laws of Julian. Two laws by Constantius II, while
Julian was Caesar.

16
Imperial Laws and Letters Involving Religion, some
of which are by Julian relating to Christianity.
A 4th century chalcedony portrait of Julian, Saint
Petersburg, The State Hermitage Museum.
Julians Spin Doctor: The Persian Mutiny, Article
by Adam J. Bravo.
Rowland Smiths Julians Gods, Review by
Thomas Banchich.
Excerpt from by Adrian Murdoch, The Last Pagan
at the California Literary Review.
The Julian Society. A society of pagans that admires
Julian.
THE EMPEROR JULIAN, PAGANISM AND
CHRISTIANITY., In BTM Format.
Julian the Apostate why he was important, and his
place in world history

10

EXTERNAL LINKS

17

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