Julian Julian
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
or JULIANUS, FLAVIUS US FLAVIUS CLAUDIUS, surnamed THE APOSTATE, FILE APOSTATE, Roman emperor; born in Constantinople, Constantinople, probably Nov. 17, 331. He was the He was the youngest son of Constantine the Great, ine the Great, and was educated in the tenets of Chris- . In Fects of Christianity, but apostatized to paganism , and sent to paganism. In 354 he was declared Cæsar and sent to Gaul, where he obtained several victories the Germans; and in 361 the troops veral vietories over 361 the troops in Gaul revolted from Constantius and for Julian. During the lifetime matantins, and declared the lifetime of his cousin Constantius he made prohe made profession of the orthodox faith; but on succeeding to the throne he threw off all tarew off all disguise, reopened the heathen temples, worship; then temples, and sought to restore heathen then worship; while he labored both by his pen and authority to destroy Christianity. He took i. He took from the Christian churches their riches . es their riches and divided them among his soldiers his soldiers. He sought likewise to induce the Chrisice the Christians, by flattery or by favor, to embrace that or, to embrace paganism; and published an edict an edict that the name of Christian should be abolould be abol ished. His malice was further evinced ther evinced by extraordinary indulgences to the ences to the Jews, and an attempt to rebuild the tembuild the termple at Jerusalem, that the prophecy of Prophecy of Christ might be falsified; but it is said that flames of fire rose from beneath and beneath and consumed some of the workmen, by which men, by which miraculous interposition the design was he design was frustrated. He was killed in 363 in his in 863 in his expedition against the Persians.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
Collier's called Julian the "youngest son of Constantine the Great" in 1921; he was in fact Constantine's nephew, son of Julius Constantius, and a cousin of the Constantius II he succeeded. The claim that fire burst "from beneath" to stop the rebuilding of the Temple at Jerusalem, offered as "miraculous interposition," is now read as a Christian polemical story, most likely dressing up the earthquake that struck the region in 363, the year Julian died in battle in Mesopotamia. Most striking is the change of tone: where Collier's saw "malice" and "disguise," modern historians work largely from Julian's own surviving writings, including the letters, the satirical Misopogon and the fragments of Against the Galileans, and treat him as a serious if doctrinaire reformer whose pagan revival collapsed because it outlived him by no time at all.
Written for this edition, 2026.