Synopses & Reviews
Review
Bowersock has written the best narrative history of Julian's career...His success is due not only to the vivid style but to the command of the very wide variety of sources that enables him to derive new insights from unexpected facts. W. H. C. Frend
Review
The most reliable and lucid account available of Julian's haunting obsession...An extraordinarily good book about an extraordinary man. New York Review of Books
Review
Packed with skillfully deployed information and remarkable insights...The picture is drawn with an incisive vigor which is completely convincing, and with unusual elegance of style. George Steiner - London Times
Synopsis
This portrayal of one of antiquity's most enigmatic figures offers a vivid and compact assessment of the Apostate's life and reign. Proceeding directly from an evaluation of the ancient sources--the testimony of friends and enemies of Julian as well as the writings of the emperor himself--the author traces Julian's youth, his years as the commander of the Roman forces in Gaul, and his emergence as sole ruler in the course of a dramatic march to Constantinople. In G. W. Bowersock's analysis of Julian's religious revolution, the emperor's ardent espousal of a lost cause is seen to have made intolerable demands upon pagans, Jews, and Christians alike.
Description
Includes bibliographical references (p. [126]-129) and index.
About the Author
G. W. Bowersock is Professor Emeritus of Ancient History at the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton.
Institute for Advanced Study, School of Historical Studies
Table of Contents
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Gibbon and Cavafy on Julian
Prologue
1. Approaching the Reign
2. The Personality of the Emperor
3. The Heritage of Adolescence
4. Gaul
5. The Acclamation at Paris
6. The Mask Removed
7. Justice and Reform
8. The Puritanical Pagan
9. Antioch
10. The Final Campaign
Appendix 1: The Chronology of the attempt to Rebuild the Jewish Temple
Appendix 2: The Inscription at Ma'ayan barukh
Appendix 3: The Author of On the Gods and the Universe
Bibliography
Index