Fl. Claudius Iulianus

Fl. Claudius Iulianus Constantinopoli anno CCCXXXI vel CCCXXXII p.C.n. natus est, Constantini Magni fratris filius. Anno CCCXXXVII pater eius et plerique propinqui caede in Palatio facta interfecti sunt. Remotus educatus, Homero et litteris Graecis imbutus, philosophiam apud Platonicos, inter quos Maximum Ephesium, didicit et clam a Christianis ad deos antiquos conversus est.

Flavius Claudius Julianus was born at Constantinople in A.D. 331 or 332, a nephew of Constantine the Great. In 337 his father and most of his family were killed in a palace massacre. Raised in seclusion and steeped in Homer and Greek literature, he studied philosophy with Neoplatonist teachers, among them Maximus of Ephesus, and secretly turned from Christianity to the old gods.

Anno CCCLV Caesar factus et in Galliam missus Alamannos ad Argentoratum vicit (anno CCCLVII), tributa provinciae levavit, et anno CCCLX a militibus Lutetiae Augustus appellatus est. Constantio anno CCCLXI mortuo solus imperavit; templa restituit, aulam correxit, edictum tulit quo Christiani a litteris docendis prohibebantur, quod etiam Ammianus, eius admirator, inclemens iudicavit.

Made Caesar in 355 and sent to Gaul, he defeated the Alamanni at Strasbourg (357), lightened the province's taxes, and in 360 was proclaimed Augustus by his troops at Paris. When Constantius died in 361 he became sole emperor; he restored the temples, reformed the court and issued an edict barring Christians from teaching the classics, which even his admirer Ammianus called harsh.

Antiochiae, annonae caritate laborante, pretia ab eo statuta frustra fuerunt et cives barbam eius philosophicam deriserunt; ille Misopogone, satura in se ipsum, respondit. In Caesaribus, satura Saturnalibus scripta, imperatores coram dis certant et Marcus Aurelius vincit. Anno CCCLXIII Persas invasit et, vulnere in proelio accepto, annos fere duo et triginta natus mortuus est. Orationes, epistulae, saturae eius, Graece scriptae, supersunt.

At Antioch, during a food shortage, his price controls failed and the citizens mocked his philosopher's beard; he replied with the Misopogon, a satire against himself. In the Caesars, a satire written for the Saturnalia, the emperors compete before the gods and Marcus Aurelius wins the prize. In 363 he invaded Persia and died of a wound received in battle, aged about thirty-two. His orations, letters and satires, written in Greek, survive.

1. 331/332 p.C.n.A.D. 331/332Constantinopoli nascitur.Born at Constantinople.
2. 337 p.C.n.A.D. 337Pater eius in caede Palatii occiditur.His father is killed in the palace massacre.
3. 355 p.C.n.A.D. 355Caesar in Galliam mittitur.Sent to Gaul as Caesar.
4. 357 p.C.n.A.D. 357Alamannos ad Argentoratum vincit.Defeats the Alamanni at Strasbourg.
5. 360 p.C.n.A.D. 360Lutetiae Augustus appellatur.Proclaimed Augustus at Paris.
6. 361 p.C.n.A.D. 361Solus imperator.Sole emperor.
7. 363 p.C.n.A.D. 363In Perside moritur.Dies in Persia.