Julian the Apostate

Julian the Apostate (Flavius Claudius Julianus), 331?-363, Roman emperor (361-63), nephew of Constantine I; successor of Constantius II. He was given an education that combined Christian and Neoplatonic ideas. He and his half brother Gallus were sent (c.341) to Cappadocia. When Gallus was appointed caesar (351), Julian was brought back to Constantinople. After Gallus had been put to death, Julian was called from the quiet of a scholar's life and made (355) caesar. Sent to Gaul, he was unexpectedly successful in combating the Franks and the Alemanni and was popular with his soldiers. When Constantius, fearing Julian, ordered him (360) to send soldiers to assist in a campaign against the Persians, Julian obeyed, but his soldiers mutinied and proclaimed him augustus. He accepted the title, but Constantius refused to yield the western provinces to him. Before the two could meet in battle to decide the claim, Constantius died, naming Julian as his successor. Sometime in the course of his studies, Julian abandoned Christianity. Although as emperor he issued an edict of religious toleration, he did try unsuccessfully to restore paganism; the result was much confusion since Christianity was rent by the quarrel over Arianism. His short reign was just, and he was responsible for far-reaching legislation. During a campaign against the Persians, he was killed in a skirmish. He was succeeded by Jovian . Julian was a writer of some merit, and his works have been translated into English by W. C. Wright (3 vol., 1913-24).

Bibliography: See G. W. Bowersock, Julian the Apostate (1978); P. Athanassiadi-Fowden, Julian and Hellanism (1981).

Julian the Apostate (c.331–63 ad), Roman emperor from 360 ad. He restored paganism as the state cult in place of Christianity, but this move was reversed after his death on campaign against the Persians; his last words are said to have been, vicisti, Galilaee [‘you have conquered, Galilean’).

Julian the Apostate (332–63), ‘Flavius Claudius Julianus’, Roman Emperor from 361. A nephew of Constantine, he was won to Neoplatonism and initiated into the Eleusinian mysteries. In 355 he was presented to the army as Caesar and in 360 proclaimed Emperor by the troops. After the Emp. Constantius II's death (361), Julian, now sole Emperor, embarked on ambitious reforms. He aimed to degrade Christianity and promote paganism by every means short of open persecution. In 362 he set out for a campaign against the Persians. In Asia Minor and Syria his strict discipline and anti-Christian policy were unpopular; he was struck by an arrow and died. Most of his treatise Adversus Christianos can be recovered from Cyril of Alexandria's refutation of it.