Julian the Apostate (361 - 363)

Julian, the last of the dynasty of Constantine. Last of the pagans, last of the old Romans who had risen from a small Italian town to rule the world. This old Roman world was dying, but it was not dead yet. This is the story of Julian. Julian was born in 331 in Constantinople, just a year after the city was dedicated as the new imperial capital of Rome. His father was Julius Constantius, half-brother of Constantine the Great. This made him a relative of Constantine, giving him a potential mandate to rule the empire one day. But Constantine had three sons and many other relatives, so in all likelihood, Julian would end up as little more than a distinguished politician. Julian's childhood was troublesome. He was barely six years old when his uncle Constantine died in 337. His cousin Constantius was quick to storm the capital, taking over the palace and all of its inhabitants. Constantius then executed Julian's father, his uncle, and many of his other relatives. Only him and his half-brother Constantius Gallus were left alive. Six-year-old Julian must have been surprised at how empty the halls of the palace had become. While Constantine's sons had their time in the sun, Julian spent his time studying, mostly the Bible and other Christian texts. After an early separation, Gallus and Julian spent their teenage years together in Macellum, an out-of-the-way town in Cappadocia. It was there that Julian was first exposed to the teachings of the classical past. When a Neo-Platonist philosopher visited him and spoke to him on philosophy and religion, Julian was moved away from his studiously cultivated Christian beliefs and became a pagan, though no one knew at the time. In 354, Julian's career trajectory changed drastically. His half-brother Constantius Gallus, who had been promoted to Caesar, was executed for treason because of disloyalty to Constantius. The senior emperor, who was suspicious of Julian as well, placed him under house arrest in Milan, but later decided he was loyal and sent him to live for a few months in Athens. As Julian harbored a deep passion for the classical past, his time in the cultural heart of ancient Greece was a revelatory experience. A year later in 355, Constantius decided that Julian was a suitable candidate for junior emperor and appointed him to govern Gaul and Britain. Julian, having consummated his classical education in Athens, happily packed his bags and took command of the army in Gaul. The Rhine frontier there was practically an active war zone and had been for several years. Julian quickly took on the responsibility of waging war against the dangerous Alamanni. There, he proved himself in his first major campaign, winning decisive battles against Alamanni armies that were invading Roman territory. He then retook the city of Cologne from the Franks who had occupied it the year before, forcing Frankish kings to submit to a favorable peace. Finally, he marched his army beyond the Rhine and into the territory of the Alamanni, where he again met their armies on the field and routed them. Apparently, the Romans lost 247 soldiers and officers, while the Alamanni lost over 6,000. Julian showed himself to be both humble and benevolent. First, his army, overcome by the joy of victory, tried to declare him Augustus, but Julian flatly refused this honor, acknowledging Constantius as his senior emperor. He then gave mercy to one of the captured Alamanni kings, sending him to live peacefully on an estate in Italy for the rest of his days. Over the next couple years, Julian pursued periodic campaigns in Germany, forcing independent groups of Franks and Alamanni into surrender as they attempted to raid Roman territory. His campaigns in German territory were also successful, as he proved more than able to deal with their guerrilla tactics. He spent his spare time in his tent, studying classical literature and writing. Sound like anybody to you? That's right, Julian was really trying to be Marcus Aurelius. He often expressed his admiration for the Stoic philosopher-king, and he must have felt parallels between his wars against the Germans and Marcus Aurelius' wars against the Germans. Julian was a general by day, and a philosopher by night. Julian was also a conscientious administrator. While in Gaul, he realized that the tax rates were too high, and were disproportionately affecting the poor. He worked to lower the tax and distribute the tax burden more equally among the population, which made him unpopular with rich nobles, but brought him much admiration from the people. While Julian was enjoying success in the West, Rome was under siege in the East. Shapur, the great Persian Shah, invaded Mesopotamia and captured the important city of Amida after a siege. Constantius, desperate for reinforcements, sent an immediate order to the West and called for half of Julian's army to be sent to the East. His army, upon hearing the order, rose in revolt and declared Julian Augustus on a cold day in Paris. This time, Julian was ready to accept their acclamation. Constantius was outraged by Julian's insolence. He called up legions from other provinces, assembled an army, and held the Persians to a stalemate before making a peace agreement. He was now free to put down the rebel. In the spring of 361, both Julian and Constantine collected their armies and marched on one another. Julian's army was smaller than Constantius' army, and it seemed that he would likely be defeated. But before their armies met, a funny thing happened. Constantius, while marching his army through Thrace, dropped dead. Julian, the usurper in open revolt, was now the only man with a legitimate claim to the throne. Constantius' army declared its loyalty to Julian, and the emperor marched peacefully into Constantinople in November of 361. The first thing Julian did was openly declare his departure from Christianity. His highest allegiance was now to Helios, the god of the sun, like Elagabalus and Aurelian before him. But he respected the whole Greco-Roman pantheon of gods. In almost all aspects, Julian pursued a return to Rome's past greatness. He modeled his administrative style after those of Hadrian and Marcus Aurelius, actively engaging in Senate debates in Constantinople and presiding over court cases rather than ruling as an independent autocrat. This was no coincidence. Both Hadrian and Marcus Aurelius were avid followers of Greek culture and philosophy, as was Julian. He was trying to transform Roman emperors back to the old idea of princeps, the first citizen of Rome. Julian's religious policy was not overtly hostile to Christianity, but he did restore pagan temples and replace Christian officials with pagans. His goal was not to wipe out Christianity—it was way too late for that—but simply to make Christianity politically irrelevant. He passed several edicts declaring religious tolerance to protect pagan beliefs from Christian authorities. Julian also reformed the bloated bureaucracy cultivated by Constantius. Observing the state of the imperial court, he saw hundreds of eunuchs and other officials, most of whom were either unnecessary or corrupt. He organized a tribunal to try those corrupt officials, executing many for their conduct, and sent most of the others away from the court. He idealized the old days of imperial courts, which were much smaller, more efficient, and less royal. Julian even took an active role in drafting legislation, which was something very few emperors had done ever since the 3rd century crisis. He actively concerned himself with the levying of tax and the structure of local administration. As a peacetime administrator, he was perhaps the most active and effective emperor since Diocletian. Perhaps the most scandalous thing Julian would do was speak to his subjects as an equal. He would frequently engage with common citizens on the streets of the capital, and he attended plays and shows as a normal audience member. This is also what emperors of previous eras, including Augustus himself, would do. Julian's critics called him vain for this, so desperate for popularity that he would seek the favor of common beggars. This was only because previous emperors had worked hard to transform the Roman emperor into a detached, godlike figure. Personally, I think the god-emperor thing is a lot more vain than treating your citizens as equals, but times change. In late 362, Julian packed up his bags after just a year in Constantinople, heading for Antioch in Syria. His plan was to prepare for a great war against Persia. By winning a victory, Julian would avenge the defeats of his cousin Constantius, and humble the great Persian king Shapur. He spent the winter of 362 assembling his army, and in early 363, he marched out into Mesopotamia with an army 80,000 men strong. On his march, several kingdoms offered him military support, but he denied them all. Instead, he split his army in half. He sent about 30,000 men to march down the Tigris toward the Persian capital of Ctesiphon. He led the remaining men on a slow march down the Euphrates River, keeping his army supplied with a large fleet of ships that he had constructed for the campaign. As the Romans approached the vicinity of Ctesiphon, the Persians flooded the plains by breaking the dykes, turning the whole area into a wet marsh, and making maneuvering very difficult. Nevertheless, Julian crossed the Tigris River, and fought a brief battle with a small Persian garrison, forcing them back into the city. However, his army from the north was failing to arrive, and he received news that Shapur would soon arrive with a Persian army. Ctesiphon's walls were too strong to besiege before Shapur arrived, so Julian was left with a difficult decision. After some deliberation, it was decided that the Romans should abandon the Persian capital, and try to raid other Persian cities. In doing this, the Romans were forced to burn their supply ships and leave the Euphrates River. However, this left them with no easy path for resupply, as the Persians quickly secured the surrounding countryside and began harassing the Roman columns. Eventually, the Romans were left with no choice but to begin a slow and painful retreat back to Roman territory. On the retreat, the Romans were ceaselessly attacked by Persian raiding parties from the Persian army that was stalking them. Each day, their supplies and morale were more and more depleted. During an inconclusive battle, Julian himself was leading a unit against a fleeing Persian unit when he was struck by a spear. In his haste to pursue the raiders, he had not worn any armor, which allowed the spear to sink itself deep into his vital organs. The wound was not immediately fatal. Julian lived for a few more hours while his army faced down the Persians, but that midnight he died in his tent. His last words went something like this, "...the time has now come for me to leave this life, which I rejoice to return to nature, at her demand, like an honorable debtor, not bowed down with sorrow, having learned from the general conviction of philosophers how much happier the soul is than the body, and bearing in mind that wherever a better condition is severed from a worse, one should rejoice rather than grieve." Thus died Julian, the last of the Constantinians, the last pagan emperor. He was a good man, a wise leader, a philosopher. With him died the old Rome and all of its ideas. After him, nothing was the same.