Julian (novel)

Julian by Gore Vidal is a work of historical fiction written in the first person dealing with the life of the Roman emperor Flavius Claudius Julianus, (labelled by Christians and popularly known Julian the Apostate), who reigned 360-363 CE.

Plot summary

Julian was the last direct relative of Constantine the Great to assume the purple, his father being Constantine's half-brother, and attempted to destroy the influence of the Christian church, bringing back the worship of the old Roman pantheon, as well as other religions including his attempted restoration of the Jewish Temple, and Mithraism, a mystery religion that had been popular among Roman soldiers. The book relates Julian's life from the time so many members of his family were purged by his cousin, the emperor Constantius II, (whom he succeeded on the throne), his "exile" to libraries as a child, his administration in Gaul, military success over the Germans, to his last days invading and fighting in the Persian empire.

Major themes

Vidal's own introduction notes that it deals with the changes to Christianity wrought by Constantine and his successors. Vidal's view is that the promotion of Christianity by Constantine, and the creation of an orthodoxy, conflicting schools of thought, (many later denounced as heresy) was driven by Constantine's political needs, rather than a deeply held belief, and that this policy was continued by others in the Flavian dynasty.

Like other historical novels by Vidal, the novel is based on extensive use of contemporary sources, including Julian's own works, and much of the latter part of the book obviously uses Ammianus Marcellinus (who witnessed Julian's death) and Libanius, both of whom were friends of Julian and appear as characters in the novel, It also reflects the opinion of Julian held by Edward Gibbon in his History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.

The death of Julian, and the reasons for it, are based on the opinion of Libanius and Vidal's interpretation of a very short but vital lacuna in Ammianus' history as due to active censorship rather than the ravages of time.

See Also

• Flavius Claudius Julianus - Biographical entry
• Mithraism
• Neoplatonism
• Gore Vidal
• Creation, Vidal's novel that covers the development of other religions and philosophies from Persia to China during the 5th century BCE, and the history of the conflict between Greece and Persia.
• Julian's written works in translation on-line
  • Misopogon (Beard Hater) - a satire upon himself
  • Against the Galileans
  • Two Orations