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Themistius, Julian, and Greek Political Theory under Rome
Themistius' close relationship with Christian emperors from Constantius to Theodosius makes him one of the most important political thinkers and politicians of the later fourth century, and his dealings with Julian the Apostate have recently attracted much speculation. This volume presents a new critical edition, translation and analysis of Themistius' letter to Julian about kingship and government, which survives mainly in Arabic, together with texts, translations and analyses of Julian's Letter to Themistius and Sopater's Letter to Himerius. The volume is completed with a text, translation and analysis of the other genuine work of Greek political theory to survive in Arabic, the Letter of Aristotle to Alexander, which dates from an earlier period and throws into relief the particular concerns of Themistius, Julian, and the rulers of the fourth-century Roman world.
eBook
Sons of hellenism, fathers of the church
This groundbreaking study brings into dialogue for the first time the writings of Julian, the last non-Christian Roman Emperor, and his most outspoken critic, Bishop Gregory of Nazianzus, a central figure of Christianity. Susanna Elm compares these two men not to draw out the obvious contrast between the Church and the Emperor's neo-Paganism, but rather to find their common intellectual and social grounding. Her insightful analysis, supplemented by her magisterial command of sources, demonstrates the ways in which both men were part of the same dialectical whole. Elm recasts both Julian and Gregory as men entirely of their times, showing how the Roman Empire in fact provided Christianity with the ideological and social matrix without which its longevity and dynamism would have been inconceivable.
eBook
Emperor Julian, Paul of Tarsus, and the Octopus
The so-called “octopus norm” was originally described by Pindar and Theognis. It represented the way in which a poet could adapt to contingent circumstances without abdicating his own sensibility, grasping what might be appropriate to say or not to say in relation to a specific audience or context. This contribution considers two occurrences of this so-called norm in the works of the Emperor Julian, revealing a polemical use of the image of the octopus. This study primarily attempts to contextualize the two Julian passages, highlighting their sources, and to clarify the polemical value of his use of the “octopus norm”, which is very different from the virtuous manner suggested by the archaic poets.
Journal Article
A companion to Julian the Apostate
Few Roman emperors enjoy such fame as Julian the Apostate (361-363), the man who tried in vain to reverse the transformation of the Roman Empire into a Christian monarchy. This companion synthesizes international research on Julian and develops new perspectives on his rule.
eBook
Dream Divination in a Context of Social Disruption: Julian’s Vision of the Two Trees
The late Roman discourse on divinatory dreams and their interpretation reflects a context of cultural fragmentation. The political turbulence of the 350s to 360s was due partly to the ongoing external war with the (Persian) Sasanians, but also to the internal struggle between the heirs of Constantine for rule over the Roman empire, still undergoing a process of Christianization when Julian was acclaimed Augustus in 360. A third arena of fragmentation was religious beliefs and practices during the 350s and 360s. The contested transformation of Rome in the religious sphere was the context of Julian’s dynastic vision of the two trees, received in late 358 or 359.
Journal Article
TOWARDS A NEW EDITION OF JULIAN'S CONTRA GALILAEOS: ASSESSING THE MATERIAL FROM THE SYRIAC TRANSMISSION OF CYRIL'S CONTRA IVLIANVM
Emperor Julian's three-book treatise Contra Galilaeos survives solely in those Christian sources that quoted it in order to respond to its forceful attack on Christianity. The bulk of these survivals comes from Cyril of Alexandria's twenty-book Contra Iulianum. The recent publication of the first modern critical edition of Cyril's work creates the occasion for a fresh study of the remnants of Julian's text that can be recovered from it. This is especially true for Books 11–20 of Cyril's treatise that are themselves lost and survive only in quotations in later Greek and Syriac sources. The present article undertakes a reassessment of the Julianic material preserved via the Syriac transmission of Contra Iulianum, including several passages hitherto unknown or ignored in earlier studies of Julian's treatise. It provides the Syriac text and English translation of eight passages and contextualizes them in the wider argumentative aim of Contra Galilaeos.
Journal Article
JULIAN, AETIUS AND ‘THE GALILEANS’
By the mid fourth century c.e., violently divergent Christian communities had developed across the Roman empire: Nicene or Homoousian (God and Jesus ‘are of the same substance’), Homoiousian (‘are of similar substance’), Homoian (Jesus is ‘like’ God), Anomoean or Heterousian (God and Jesus ‘are of different substance’) and others. The first emperor to be a strong supporter of traditional cult in more than a generation, Julian ruled over an empire of numerous religious groups that were often at variance with one another, both extra- and intra-communally, and how all of these should be treated was one of the chief problems pressing the emperor upon his accession in late 361. Julian's religious thought and action during his short sole reign (3 November 361 to 26 June 363) has long exercised scholars, its impact on Christians and Christianity in particular. To be sure, Julian tended to be hostile to Christians and Christianity, but he was by no means hostile to all, and he even favoured some Christians, some of whom he counted among his friends and officials. The emperor's Christian policy thus was complicated. One of the best examples of this complexity is Julian's epistle to the Heterousian Christian leader Aetius (Ep. 15 Wright = 46 Bidez). In a shorter note published in this journal, Pierre-Louis Malosse focussed his attention on Julian's letter to Aetius, which dates to early 362 and which is the only such epistle to this future bishop that is extant. As transmitted, Julian's missive to Aetius is critical for the light it helps to shed on the emperor's views and treatments of Christians at the outset of his sole reign, and my conclusions on this missive differ from those of Malosse.
Journal Article
TEXT AND PARATEXT
We possess more extant literary works by Julian (361–3 c.e.) than by any other Roman emperor. This article examines the role of Libanius of Antioch in the early dissemination of Julian’s texts. Rather than focusing on the identification and activities of possible early collators and editors, it makes a case for the application of paratextuality to study the way that Libanius sought to condition the reception of a Julianic oeuvre among a contemporary readership. A brief comparison with Julian’s detractor, Gregory of Nazianzus, exposes a similar paratextual agenda among other of Julian’s interlocutors, and throws Libanius’ objectives into higher relief.
Journal Article
RECUPERATA RE PUBLICA
In 361 c.e., the Roman Emperor Julian engaged in a civil war with his cousin and Augustan superior, Constantius II. It is well-known that Julian at this time focused, in part, on managing his public image in the Balkans by disseminating an open letter to the community at Athens, among others, which he wrote at Naissus (Niš) in a bid to seek public support against Constantius. However, Roman cities themselves could also play a role in managing an emperor’s image, such as by erecting miliaria or milestones dedicated to him, which, I will argue, served as a public, practical, and prominent means for promoting Julian’s post-Constantius imperial profile in Illyricum and Thrace in late 361/early 362. My focus here is on a series of nine (fragmentary) columns dedicated to Julian from the municipal territory of Serdica (Sofia) that have hitherto not been identified as belonging to the same series and studied as such. Consequently, I consider the function of these milestones with their Latin inscriptions and what they contribute to our understanding of Julian as sole emperor and his relationship with Serdica after civil war.
Journal Article