Julian

Julian was a Roman emperor known as Julian the Apostate because he attempted to restore traditional cults after Christian emperors. Before becoming sole ruler he campaigned successfully in Gaul; his invasion of Sasanian Persia advanced to Ctesiphon but ended in retreat and his death.

Julian was born in Constantinople and died in Mesopotamia. Julian also held the offices or ranks of Augustus, Caesar, pontifex maximus, and tribune of the plebs. Julian belonged to the Constantinian dynasty and operated within Ancient Rome.

Michael Curtis Ford’s Gods and Legions follows Julian from watched imperial cousin to successful Rhine commander, rival emperor and pagan religious reformer before his fatal Persian campaign. Gore Vidal’s Julian lets the emperor narrate his own rise and rejection of Christianity, with Libanius and Priscus questioning his version of events from the margins. Ammianus Marcellinus’ The Later Roman Empire supplies a near-contemporary soldier-historian’s account of Julian’s accession, government and invasion of Persia. Ian Hughes’ Thirteen Roman Defeats treats that invasion as one of the strategic disasters that exposed the limits of Roman military power.