Julian the Apostate

Rating:
Summary: Author all but ignores Julian's anti-Christian polemics.
Review: Bowersock's book is a thoughtful account of the life of Julian II. It is filled with insight and is very even-handed in presentation. It is easy to overlook Julian's less desirable characteristics (much like Gore Vidal did, but that was fiction) and turn him into a tragic hero. There is not a wasted sentence in this book, and it is very readable. In short: an excellent portrait. I wish that Mr. Bowerstock had added a chapter describing the background of the 4th century but this is a minor objection.

Rating:
Summary: If You Buy Only One Book about Julian
Review: G.W. Bowersock has resoursefully taken the many contemporary accounts of Julian's life and successfully composed the multifarious opinions of pagan panegyrists and christian cavilers into one artful and engaging display of facts...although the selective enfeeblement of Julian's virtues tends to engender a more partial and scathing portrayal of his life. Nevertheless, Bowersock's powerful imagery conveys the most revealing and formidable picture of the enigmatic visionary Julian the Apostate.

Rating:
Summary: Good Introduction to Pagan Intolerance
Review: I dove into this book after recently "discovering" the last pagan Roman Emperor, Julian the Apostate. I was pleasantly surprised to find an objective appraisal of an unpopular puritannical reactionary. I expected to read a romantic account of a leader who represented a dying religion. This book was an uncompromising account of the unrealistic ambitions of a man who was out of step with his times and the religious realities of his age.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting but not quite engaging enough
Review: I have a general interest in ancient history but I've only recently become interested in Julian the Apostate. Of the two books I've read about Julian (three if you count Gore Vidal's novel), I found 'The Last Pagan' (Adrian Murdoch I think?) the most readable of the two. Otherwise, I suppose you could go for Gore Vidal - good writing, terrible history!

Rating:
Summary: Interesting but not quite engaging enough
Review: I have a general interest in ancient history but I've only recently become interested in Julian the Apostate. Of the two books I've read about Julian (three if you count Gore Vidal's novel), I found 'The Last Pagan' (Adrian Murdoch I think?) the most readable of the two. Otherwise, I suppose you could go for Gore Vidal - good writing, terrible history!

Rating:
Summary: Pagan Martyr
Review: Julian the Apostate, the last pagan emperor of Rome, has been a central part of Christian demonology for the best part of the last two millenia. At his death, Christian tradition holds that he cried, "Vicisti, Galilaueus," i.e., Christ, you have conquered me! Recently, revisionist writers have sought to resurrect Julian as a noble martyr to the grand lost Pagan cause. As this able and concise biography shows, the truth about Julian is infinitely less glamorous. On the plus side, Julian was an extremely able warrior, trusted by his men and brave in battle. He was also a keen student of Hellenic culture, popular in Greece and utterly sincere in his desire to reinvigorate the pan-theistic system. On the minus side, he was an utterly inept politician who simply couldn't comprehend that the pagan religion was so irreversibly in decline. As Bowersock explains, some of his political naivete may have arisen from Julian's years of isolation under house arrest at the hands of his predecessor emperor. Even though Julian fell in battle fighting the Persians, his true demise came somewhat earlier, in Antioch where he met humiliation in trying to organize a pagan sacrifice. This is a balanced yet unsparing portrait of a man who, while no demon, was nonetheless married to a lost cause.

Rating:
Summary: Pagan Martyr
Review: Julian the Apostate, the last pagan emperor of Rome, has been a central part of Christian demonology for the best part of the last two millenia. At his death, Christian tradition holds that he cried, "Vicisti, Galilaueus," i.e., Christ, you have conquered me! Recently, revisionist writers have sought to resurrect Julian as a noble martyr to the grand lost Pagan cause. As this able and concise biography shows, the truth about Julian is infinitely less glamorous. On the plus side, Julian was an extremely able warrior, trusted by his men and brave in battle. He was also a keen student of Hellenic culture, popular in Greece and utterly sincere in his desire to reinvigorate the pan-theistic system. On the minus side, he was an utterly inept politician who simply couldn't comprehend that the pagan religion was so irreversibly in decline. As Bowersock explains, some of his political naivete may have arisen from Julian's years of isolation under house arrest at the hands of his predecessor emperor. Even though Julian fell in battle fighting the Persians, his true demise came somewhat earlier, in Antioch where he met humiliation in trying to organize a pagan sacrifice. This is a balanced yet unsparing portrait of a man who, while no demon, was nonetheless married to a lost cause.

Rating:
Summary: The fairest treatment a Christian is allowed to give
Review: Let me say first that Julian II is my favorite emperor. I spent more than $500 to have one of his "Apis" coins made into a pendant. That being said, I don't know what the other reviewers have agains Mr. Bowersock. Julian did have a temper. From certain perspectives he did persecute Christians. But, as for sheer unbiased treatment of ALL the extant contemporaneous sources, this book does a wonderful job. Rather than getting the feeling that Mr. Bowersock was chastizing Julian for his temper it was more like he was explaining the public sentiment or sometimes (sometimes painfully) making excuses for him. I highly recommend this book for anyone who wants to know a little bit more about the "last pagan emperor". Not only was Mr. Bowersock very scholarly, but very entertaining to read. The only reason it missed five stars by me is because the maps (only 2, alas) were almost indecipherable - and this from an (amateur) student of ancient history.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting, but Biased Account of a Fascinating Figure.
Review: There are certain historical figures that are nearly impossible to get to know in anything approaching an objective sense. Something about them compels us to a judgement. Julian the Apostate, like Jesus of Nazareth, is one of those rare figures who forces us to react emotionally - no matter how objective we think we are. And our reaction often says more about who WE are, than about the object of our judgement.

Flavius Julianus was the last pagan Emperor of Rome. He briefly attempted to reverse the ongoing Christianization of the Roman Empire begun by his detested uncle, the Emperor Constantine. He failed miserably and died young, but his attempt to reverse the cultural tides of his day will always fascinate any who encounter Julian and his century.

Glen Bowersock's book is a classic example of 20th Century historical revisionism. The historical consensus concerning Julian since the time of Gibbon and Voltaire has been cautiously admiring on the whole. Bowersock seeks to reverse that consensus by reinterpeting the abundant historical evidence. In doing so his dislike of Julian is displayed on nearly every page. I can't go into detail here, but there are numerous instances in which the author achieves a "new" interpretation by placing the very worst construction on the evidence. In nearly every case he favors whatever presents Julian in the least favorable light. Nowhere is this more evident than in Bowersock's account of Julian's "usurpation" of the title of Augustus in 361. He strains every nerve to prove the mutiny of the soldiers was engineered by Julian and his friends and that they lied about it later, all against formidable evidence to the contrary.

That being said, this is an interesting book. The author does a fine job introducing the historical context, and his scholarly account of the facts of Julian's life is lively. Read the darn thing, but do yourself a favor and read the best account ever written of Julian's reign, that contained in Ammianus Marcellinus' Res Gestae. It is available in translation as a Penguin paperback. Ammianus served in Julian's army and was a balanced witness of the Apostate's good and bad qualities. Julian was a complex man. He was a soldier, emperor, scholar, orator, philosopher, and a deeply religious pagan. He was also credulous, didactic, a fanatic, a pedant, an egomaniac, and a public nuisance at times. In the end however, our very best witness, Ammianus, admired Julian greatly. So, I must confess, do I.