On Rome and the Gods

Flavius Claudius Julianus, better known to history as 'Julian the Apostate', was the last Pagan Emperor to ever rule Rome. Despite his formally Christian upbringing, the nephew of Constantine the Great was irrepressibly drawn from a young age to the gods of old. With Christianity coming to predominate among the Roman elite, and Pagan religions throughout the Empire struggling to endure in the face of restrictive laws and violent coercion, Julian sought to protect, unify, and revitalise the ailing Greco-Roman faith during his tragically brief rule.All fourteen of Julian’s extant works and his collected letters are reproduced here with an improved translation by Edward Alexander, as well as an extensive original biography of the fourth century Emperor.As a keen student of philosophy, Julian wrote prodigiously on a wide range of subjects including Neo-Platonism, Greco-Roman theology, just rulership, mythology, and the religious struggle between Christianity and traditional polytheism. The full list of Julian’s writings as featured in this edition: The Deeds of Emperor Constantius; Panegyric in Honour of Eusebia; Panegyric in Honour of Constantius; To the Uneducated Cynics; To the Cynic Heraclius; Consolation on the Departure of Salutius; Letter to the Philosopher Themistius; Letter to the Senate and People of Athens; Fragment of a Letter to a Priest; Miscellaneous Letters; Epigrams and Fragments; Against the Galilaeans; Hymn to Lord Helios; Hymn to the Mother of the Gods; Misopogon; The Caesars