Emperor and Author

This volume offers the first comprehensive analysis in English of all the writings of Julian (r. AD 361-363), the last pagan emperor of Rome, noted for his frontal and self-conscious challenge to Christianity. The book also contains treatments of Julian's laws, inscriptions, coinage, as well as his artistic programme. Across nineteen papers, international specialists in the field of Late Antique Studies offer original interpretations of an extraordinary figure: emperor and philosopher, soldier and accomplished writer. Julian, his life and writings, are here considered as parts of the tumult in politics, culture and religion during the Fourth Century AD. New light is shed on Julian's distinctive literary style and imperial agenda. The volume also includes an up-to-date, consolidated bibliography.

This volume offers the first comprehensive analysis in English of all the writings of Julian (r. AD 361-363), the last pagan emperor of Rome, noted for his frontal and self-conscious challenge to Christianity. The book also contains treatments of Julian's laws, inscriptions, coinage, as well as his artistic programme. Across nineteen papers, international specialists in the field of Late Antique Studies offer original interpretations of an extraordinary figure: emperor and philosopher, soldier and accomplished writer. Julian, his life and writings, are here considered as parts of the tumult in politics, culture and religion during the Fourth Century AD. New light is shed on Julian's distinctive literary style and imperial agenda. The volume also includes an up-to-date, consolidated bibliography.

IntroductionNicholas Baker-Brian and Shaun Tougher 1 Julian the writer and his audienceSusanna Elm 2 Reading between the lines: Julian's First Panegyric on ConstantiusShaun Tougher 3 'But I digress...': Rhetoric and propaganda in Julian's second oration to ConstantiusHal Drake 4 Is there an empress in the text? Julian's Speech of Thanks to EusebiaLiz James 5 Julian's Consolation to Himself on the Departure of the Excellent Salutius: Rhetoric and philosophy in the fourth centuryJosef Lossl 6 The tyrant's mask? Images of good and bad rule in Julian's Letter to the AtheniansMark Humphries 7 Julian's Letter to Themistius - and Themistius' response?John W. Watt 8 The emperor's shadow: Julian in his correspondenceMichael Trapp 9 Julian the lawgiverJill Harries 10 Words and deeds: Julian in the epigraphic recordBenet Salway 11 Julian and his coinage: a very Constantinian princeFernando Lopez Sanchez 12 Roman authority, imperial authoriality, and Julian's artistic programEric R. Varner 13 Julian's Hymn to the Mother of the Gods: the revival and justification of traditional religionJ. H. W. G. Liebeschuetz 14 Julian's Hymn to King Helios: the economical use of complex Neoplatonic conceptsAndrew Smith 15 The forging of an Hellenic orthodoxy: Julian's speeches against the CynicsArnaldo Marcone 16 The Christian context of Julian's Against the GalileansDavid Hunt 17 The politics of virtue in Julian's MisopogonNicholas Baker-Brian 18 The Caesars of Julian the Apostate in translation and reception, 1580-ca. 1800Rowland Smith 19 Afterword: Studying Julian the authorJacqueline Long