This is the biography of Julian the Apostate, Emperor of Rome from 361 – 365 AD. And if you, like myself, were confusing apostate with apostle, we were both very wrong, since an apostate is someone who renounces a religion. Once I finally looked up the definition, matters became much clearer.
Anyway, Julian, who was never expected to lead anyone, was the second nephew of Emperor Constantine the Great, who ruled the Roman Empire from Constantinople rather than Rome. First nephew, or Julian’s older brother, got knocked out of the picture fairly early on, to everyone’s satisfaction, since he was (a commonly trait with these guys) amazingly sadistic. Off you go. Gallus.
Now at this time, the Roman Empire stretched from Britain through most of southern and Mid-Europe, and around all Mediterranean including much of Egypt. Constantine was a Christian, but his empire contained a wide variety of races and religions, and there really was no thought of making everybody toe the same line. But there was still an expectation that the head of the Empire would be Christian.
But Julien had not grown up as a military man, preferring to study philosophy. And he had some issues on this point. He thought the disciples of Mithras had some valid points, but in the end, he was actually just an old school guy, preferring the Roman sun god, Helios. He really had no use for the Christians (or as they were often known then, Galileans), but was a firm believer in letting everyone do their own thing. In the end, he was knocked out of battle in a stray slash of a spear, and thus was the end of the last non-Christian ruler of the Roman Empire.
Gotta admit, it wasn’t an easy read, because I was unfamiliar with this era of history, and it was narrated by a plethora of teachers, advisors, and other historical figures. Coulda used a score card to give me a clue on who’s who.
