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Roman Emperor Julian, called the “Apostate” by Christians, reigned in the years 361-363 CE. He was the greatest of Roman rulers. Living in difficult times, he was able to carry out numerous internal reforms and conduct an active foreign policy. At the same time, he was a lover of ancient Roman deities, which created a conflict with the growing Christianity. What was the religious policy like under the Emperor Julian the Apostate?
Family murder and Julian’s upbringing
Flavius Julian was born in the year 331 or the spring of 332 in Constantinople. He was the son of Julius Constantius, who in turn was the half-brother of Emperor Constantine I and his second wife Basil, women with Greek roots. Both his parents were Christians, but it was Julian’s mother’s house that was more closely related to the achievements and values of ancient culture. Julian’s paternal grandfather was the emperor of the west, Constantius Chlorus.
When Constantine the Great died in 337 CE, there was a serious turmoil in the government. Wanting to stabilize and strengthen his position, Constantius II, the son of the deceased emperor, shortly after his death, ordered the massacre of his relatives from the second marriage of his grandfather Constantius I Chlorus. Eutropius, a Roman historian writing between 350 and 370 CE, argued that Constantius approved more than ordered1; Julian later had a different opinion, accusing his cousin of murdering his father in a “Letter to the Athenians”. Two of Constantius’s uncles (including Julian’s father) and six cousins, including Dalmatian and Hannibalianus, stewards of (successively) Moses and Pontus, were killed. The massacres were avoided by two brothers of Constantius II: Konstantyn II (the elder) and Konstans (the younger) and three cousins: Gallus, Nepocjan and Julian himself. It was Julian’s family that suffered the most in this family murder.
Shortly thereafter, Constantius II met his brothers in Pannonia in the city of Sirmium to divide the Empire. Eventually, Constantius received the eastern provinces, including: Constantinople (which was the capital from his father’s time), Thrace, Asia Minor, Syria, Egypt and Cyrenaica. His brother Constantine II received: Britain, Gaul, Spain and Mauritania; when Konstans had to be content with: Italy, Africa, Illyria, Pannonia, Macedonia and Achaea.
Julian and Gallus were excluded from public life and were under guard in their youth. At the behest of Constantius II, who professed Arianism, the stepbrothers were to be brought up in the Christian faith. The very fact of saving the two heirs probably resulted from their young age and the instigation of Empress Eusebia herself, the second wife of Constantius, who clearly favoured Julian in particular (the later emperor was very grateful to her for this). If Julian’s writings are to be believed, Constantius would later regret his decision to murder his family in 337 CE.
Julian originally grew up in Bithynia under the care of his maternal grandmother. At the age of seven, the boy was brought up by Eusebius – the Christian bi