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Brief Lives

Julian the Apostate (331-363)

Eli Sclar reports on a weaponizer of tolerance.

In 361 AD, the newly-crowned Roman emperor Julian (Flavius Claudius Julianus, 331-363 AD) openly proclaimed his conversion from Christianity to the pagan faith of the ancient Greeks that Rome had previously appropriated. History would soon recognize him as Rome’s last pagan emperor and brand him ‘the Apostate’, an apostate being someone who renounces their faith.

Julian’s conversion to polytheism came at an unusual time for Rome. Thirty-seven years prior, his uncle, Constantine I (popularly known as ‘the Great’) had become the first Christian emperor. His son, Constantius II, followed in his footsteps.

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