Julian the Apostate, Part 1: Man and Emperor

[@MegaTang1234]

Julian feels like an unfinished story.

[@emadfarhan9482]

Julian , Alexander the Great , ibraham Lincoln, mihai the brave and amyrtauos are unfinished stories

[@emadfarhan9482]

It’s the conflict between horus and seth that will never end

[@kelvyquayo]

His story is John 3:18

[@kelvyquayo]

I also think he was a proto-AntiChrist so I kind of agree about unfinished story (since he wanted to rebuild the Jewish Temple) 🧐

[@ALEJANDROARANDARICKERT]

like everybody else

[@danielchequer5842]

A philosopher emperor who saw himself obliged to engage in military activity. He was truly modelling himself after the good ones

[@alanpennie8013]

As far as I remember in The Caesars he judges Marcus Aurelius as the best emperor which is what you'd expect.

[@thelastmanleftbehind1142]

Julian The Great Julian The Loyal Julian The Philosopher

[@fzzz7x]

Julian the Pee Pee Poo Poo Julian the Owned Julian the Gay Fardt

[@yaruqadishi8326]

The Grwat Saint Julian.

[@jay2159]

@@fzzz7xJulian the based Julian the restorer

[@nickhartman6372]

Thanks for posting this video. Julian is a fascinating figure in history, and you do a wonderful job of breaking down his life. Can't wait for your follow up video!

[@ThersitestheHistorian]

Thanks. Part 2 will be coming soon- hopefully today if I can take care of some of my other obligations.

[@ThersitestheHistorian]

Part 2 is now available.

[@budibausto]

A visionary Hero of the highest breed. He was Romes's last chance to go back to greatness, it could have been a reanassance for Rome if he would survived and apply those reforms.

[@levent-erhan]

@Deniz Julian Metinoğlu T. which coins and bust?

[@TheLoyalOfficer]

Not really. The empire was in bad shape by his time. Not Julian's fault, but the West was in big trouble.

[@OkurkaBinLadin]

@@TheLoyalOfficer These guys build up christianity as sole purpose of empires decline. Useless to argue with them.

[@paprskomet]

@@TheLoyalOfficer By time of julian west was not yet in so bad shape-that really started in 5th century.

[@paprskomet]

@Deniz Metin T. which statue?That which is most commonly attributed to him is almost certainly not his.And his coinage is very much in style of other emperors of his time so why only his coins reminds you of the golden age of Rome?

[@countravid3768]

Julian is the greatest example of the underdog and a fish out of water, always in great danger and facing great and terrible odds, the massacre of the princes was his first great danger and he was still a baby, with only him his brother and his cousin being spared, dude lived in exile in a small island with no connection to the outside world other than the books he was allowed to have. There is so much to who he is that makes him admirable, even though I'm catholic, he was a good man, a soldier, and the last princeps.

[@alanpennie8013]

He seems an admirable person. I don't think his ideas were very practical though.

[@paprskomet]

Why the last Princeps?

[@alanpennie8013]

@@paprskomet Because he tried to turn back the clock to the Empire of Augustus (princeps was Augustus' title) which was more a federation of city states and less a military autocracy.

[@paprskomet]

@@alanpennie8013 yeah,but technically he was not the last emperor to use title of "Princeps".Moreover although Julian wanted to style himself as early Roman Emperors and perhaps honestly rule in their style his age very much did not allowed him to do it so even during his short reign he had to very much resign on it and accept "Dominate" style of emperorship.That was nothing new,already much earlier emperors protested to that but peoples(ironically!Mainly people not Emperors!)were the ones who were making return to principate impossible.

[@alanpennie8013]

@@paprskomet Interesting. Who was the last then?

[@tammijatti9164]

Thersites, i’m still here, and I still love your channel! Getting a lot out of it, and I love how you deliver your lectures. Very engaging, very human and accessible. I’m a blind woman, and I can’t see your face or any images that you may put up. But I gotta Tell ya… I do love your voice! ☺️ ❤️ Tammi

[@mattjohnson7198]

You have a pure heart Tamara. Don't change.

[@rabbani3094]

Julian deserves the magnus moniker more than Theodosius imo. When someone who relied on barbarian generals and lost imperial territory is celebrated while a competent emperor is condemned, you know the end is nigh.

[@flaviusjconstantius]

When did Theodosius lose imperial territory? The only argument you could make to that effect, was his settlement of the Goths in Thrace as Foederati, except Julian did the exact same thing with the Salian Franks in Northern Gaul. He employed several barbarian lieutenants as well.

[@marcvsfvrivscamillvs2594]

A truly great man and one of Rome's last true soldiers/imperators.

[@budibausto]

Ave

[@thenoblepoptart]

@@tgducsfdifxdt4533 he said one of the last, no one is disparaging your precious Justinian lol

[@joeedgerton8646]

I love the book called Julian by Gore Vidal. Very extensively researched.

[@ThersitestheHistorian]

One of my undergraduate professors gave me that book. Sadly, I misplaced it before I could get around to reading it. I am currently reading Vidal's Burr and I can confirm that he really has a knack for doing history well and bringing it to life with lively prose.

[@kaloarepo288]

I've been very interested in this emperor ever since I read Gore Vidal's novel about him.

[@LTrotsky21stCentury]

On of my favorite emperors. Had he lived several more decades as Emperor - much of history would have been quite different imo. It's hard to imagine, fx, Julian being defeated at Adrianople - much less creating the conditions for the rebellion of the Goths. He wasn't stupid.

[@JeffRebornNow]

Have you read Gore Vidal's novel titled "Julian"?

[@lynniejenkins2079]

There's a great historical novel by Gore Vidal called 'Julian'. Well worth reading!

[@Hugh_Morris]

As good as I, Claudius? I'm really thinking about buying Julian

[@lynniejenkins2079]

@@Hugh_Morris Well, not quite as good as I, Claudius, but still a good and well-written, well-researched novel

[@sorenaleksander2670]

Very big Gore Vidal fan here, and Julian is one of his best! After Julian, take a read of Creation! Cheers!

[@JeffRebornNow]

@@sorenaleksander2670 I haven't as yet read "Creation." Noam Chomsky told Vidal that it was the work of his that he liked best.

[@humbertogatica6420]

Thank you, I am preparing for tomorrow's class on Julian the Apostate, Swansea, Wales

[@احمدفریدونی-خ3ج]

Julian was the Roman emperor for a short time. If he had been emperor for more than ten years, he would have become an emperor even bigger than Constantine the Great. But Julian was not lucky and ruled only for a short time.

[@wilsontheconqueror8101]

I will always believe Julian's distaste for Christian faith was from watching the Christian members of his family kill each other. Emperor Constantine (son @ 2nd. Wife) @ then the massacre of the princes. And a healthy dose of Greek philosopher teachings. He is an interesting one for sure.

[@OkurkaBinLadin]

Sure cause pagan emperors werent killing each other family members, lol.

[@wilsontheconqueror8101]

@@OkurkaBinLadin royal families were all treacherous. But was referring to what he was exposed to in his lifetime. I don't see Christianity as a negative. It practically saves the eastern empire for another thousand years.✝️✌🇺🇲

[@maleexile9053]

​@@wilsontheconqueror8101ok christcucks

[@alexandredufresne7464]

this is great! Thank you very much for working on this, its great to see that there's more and more serious work being put up for this type of content, cheers from Lutetia (Parisiorum) 🍻

[@algaedrone1833]

Thank you so much! I just stumbled across your videos and I'm excited to watch this one, since Julian such a unique and tantalizing figure from history, easily my favorite emperor to study! Edit: I believe that statue you reference at the end has actually been re-identified as an unnamed priest of Serapis in recent years.

[@Miloun]

A brilliant video my friend. Plus the reference to Trailer Park Boys makes it a 10/10.

[@KeithShuler]

He was definitely Plato's philosopher king. You either loved the guy or hated him. I really enjoyed the video.

[@mxxmauuhan3597]

I am a Hindu and I admire Julian.

[@eliaspapanikolaou3563]

Thats mean you have a REAL OPen Mind my Friend !

[@notnotness4765]

@@eliaspapanikolaou3563 i think he means he hates christians ie. Westerners Hindu nationalists are hardley open minded.

[@jamesstevenson7725]

​@@notnotness4765 Hindu Nationalists are very open minded! They just want what is theirs

[@dantecaputo2629]

not notness or he could be just stating the fact that he is both Hindu and an admirer of Julian.

[@jamesstevenson7725]

@Silmarrillion123 They should take it all back

[@crackshack2]

Actually the bust is a remains of a larger statue of constantine, modeled after the statue of zeus.

[@aiasheracleides3784]

he was simultaneously classmate with the 3 Saints and "Lighthouses" of Orthodoxy.Saint Basileios- Saint Gregorios Nazianzenos and Saint Jhon Crysostomos in the Plato's Academy in Athens.

[@joshuaschmude7187]

Gore Vidals book, 'The Emperor Julian.' Although it is historical fiction, he used non-fiction sources in writing it. He did a fantastic job at accurately portraying the Emperor Julian.

[@ThersitestheHistorian]

It's a great novel, for sure. I also like his other foray into antiquity, Creation, which I actually enjoyed more since it traverses Greece, China, India, and Persia, all from the perspective of a noble Persian who was close friends with Xerxes.

[@keremkelleboz6959]

The most chill emperor

[@memeboi4569]

I'm Hellenic and i truly wish Julian succeed

[@fabianofonda6758]

I'm italian and I agree.

[@paprskomet]

@@fabianofonda6758 he meant Hellenic rather in sense of "pagan" not greek.

[@fabianofonda6758]

@@paprskomet and I understood It very well and I agree.

[@paprskomet]

@@fabianofonda6758 so why that need for saying you are Italian instead of simply saying "I agree" ,.-)?

[@fabianofonda6758]

@@paprskomet onlybecause he wrote hellenic, It's only to replay. I'm not religious and I think Julian wasn't too.

[@LateNiteLanguageSuperFreqInc]

I applaud anyone who takes the time to present a piece on my favorite subject: Ancient Rome, so thank you very much. That said, I have a quick critique that made me cringe every time I heard it: the C is silent in Ctesiphon fyi. Other than that, the rest is fairly spot on. So Bravo! Cheers 🥂 to you!

[@lolzkai]

ahahahahaha loved the TPB reference. really good stuff man.

[@bfrehksdhf]

He self-smarted himself.

[@Yallahbyee]

This was reaaaaally great and helpful. Thank you for making this.

[@ThersitestheHistorian]

That wouldn't be a bad title for him.

[@causantinthescot]

Julian The Fool?

[@johnmurdoch3083]

Constantius didnt try to have his brothers killed.. He didnt seem to have much love for them but he was fairly busy in the east. As for gallus..i heard this told differently too. I'm curious as to what the skurces art. Constantius cones off as a Machiavellian and cold sort of emperor but dutiful and in no ways incompetent.

[@iDeathMaximuMII]

Constantius was the only good son of Constantine

[@jay2159]

@@iDeathMaximuMII you forgot about Crispus who was more competent that constantius II (who in my opinion was a decent emperor)

[@alanpennie8013]

I've always been fond of Constantius. He definitely tried to keep the Roman Empire show on the road and did a pretty good job.

[@Francis-m2d]

The intriguing thing is this: what if he had lived a normal life span? What if he had lived and ruled for 30 or 40 years? That would have changed everything.

[@LTrotsky21stCentury]

Also, Gore Vidal wrote a historical drama called "Julian" based on the period.

[@charlesabramson9492]

He is remembered well because he died young. Had he lived another 5-10: years, who knows.

[@alanpennie8013]

The last emperors of a united empire (apart from Julian) were Jovian, Valentinian and Theodosius I, none for more than a few months.

[@stayrospaparunas3062]

In the battle at 12:10 he won by light infantry cuz they used them at the end of battle when all armies by 2 sides were exhausted

[@kacperszafranski2983]

3:50 Diocletian first put into effect whole Emperror almost god thing.

[@DirtyMardi]

Literally a god: Dominus et Deus, as was inscribed in his coins. He did allow equals though, unlike Constantine, who took it a step further.

[@vladalex2177]

May Apollo bless Him !!

[@stevenfagbemi7449]

Rome is dead

[@vladalex2177]

@@stevenfagbemi7449 been there last week. Is fine. You getting russian or ukrainian news !

[@Kyle_Schaff]

Yes, this is the reign of the beginning of the late empire imo. Good start to the series

[@blazodeolireta]

3:40 IF I'm not mistaken that head was on top of a 12m statue. 26:38 that's you?

[@eliaspapanikolaou3563]

Grate Emperor Indeed!! Real Philoshopher an d Admirer of Hellenic Spirit !

[@piriabedrabbuh8077]

He was the greatest admirer of Hellenistic style,unfortunately he ruled for very short time.

[@mrsir2254]

Would you ever do a roman/western roman series, maybe from Octavian/Augustus too..well one of several people.

[@ThersitestheHistorian]

Perhaps.

[@mrsir2254]

@@ThersitestheHistorian Well, that would be alot of work. Octavian alone, there are literal tones of volumes of texts written on and about his stately self. It would be cool and hopefully somewhat fun for you as well, i wonder who you would consider the western empires last "true" emperor, ill debate with my professor sometimes that you could in a way consider Justinian too fill that role, in a non literal manner mind you.

[@camoensdecervantes4029]

A essential book for understand Julian mind is Julian the Apostate: The Death of Gods, from russian writer Dmitri Merejkowski. This is a fine historical romance!

[@yaruqadishi8326]

Apostacy from the True Gods.

[@sophiaangelini4368]

Thersites, the Historian , a name - and site - to remember

[@richiekock8835]

I never heard of this guy till this video.

[@akbarralston9714]

That bull is Osiris and Julian the apostate was a follower of the serapis cult the star in the middle of that bull horns is the symbol of the cult of serapis ...

[@yaruqadishi8326]

You are stupid and know little.

[@stayrospaparunas3062]

Constantius died by cancer in his genetic organs,one of his two balls was like orange,that made him terrible pains,so Julian was lucky when his uncle died cuz his troops start to flee to Constantius

[@paprskomet]

I am fan of Julian but I also have good words for Constantius(Julianus fanboys far too often tend to imagine Constantius as some 1 dimensional villain and ignore,or simply dont know,that he was rather decent Emperor) and it would be interresting to know who would won their civil war.Roman writters mentions Constantius rather unssucceful in foreign wars but very fortunate in civil conflicts.

[@alanpennie8013]

@@paprskomet Constantius was unlucky that A. Ammianus didn't like him. B. His rejection of the Homousion formula caused him to be viewed unfavourably by the Eastern Church

[@nsjx]

appreciated

[@paulwellings-longmore1012]

It seems that nowadays no one has anything but admiration for Julian. Perhaps, now that religious intolerance is, generally, on the wane, Julian should be renamed the “Tolerant” instead of the “Apostate?

[@JonBrownSherman]

23:58 He looks like Athelwold from The Last Kingdom

[@2burp2]

Julian the wise

[@caryboyd2181]

Julian was a bad ass soldier. His victory at Strousburg was the first Roman victory in years. His victory was due to the high moral of his troops and his not being cowardly.

[@simonibekwemba6703]

How i wish half of Jesus life biography was kept we would not have a fictional character in hands.

[@saxogrammatikus4195]

Jesus was common jewish guy who became a cult leader. Not really worth of a biographie at that time and he was very likely a illiterat.

[@daledheyalef]

Hi, great video. Will you be uploading the second part which you mentioned?

[@ThersitestheHistorian]

Thanks, I'm glad that you enjoyed it. Yes, I plan on uploading part 2 within a week. It will cover Julian's surviving writings. In the meantime, you might enjoy the video that I uploaded yesterday on Eugenius' Pagan Revival since that is in a similar vein to this video.

[@danielwalack3432]

Great I was about to ask the same question ! Excellent video btw, I watched it just after reading a novel about Julian. I guess the second part will be as good. I'll watch the video on Eugenius in the meantime.

[@ThersitestheHistorian]

Did you read the Gore Vidal novel by chance?

[@danielwalack3432]

Not at all, I read Jacques Benoist-Mechin's "L'empereur Julien, le rêve calciné", a work available only in french.

[@ThersitestheHistorian]

Ah, I see. I am unfamiliar with that work.

[@viktorkukuruzovic5332]

hearing about Julian brings to mind the parable of the two sons. To me it seems like Julian wasn't that far from the unwilling one who reconciled with his obligation and went and done did it. Love to hear how they crushed the Germs and chased them across the Rhine. Where ur Wotan now, big boi lol

[@blaugranisto]

Unpopular pinion, Julian is a very good dude!

[@lindseyreese1124]

Good book by Gore Vidal!

[@justinbivens7314]

This didn't get interesting to me until after half way through as I'm looking into this guy for the religious aspects of his life as I'm going further into my walk as a Christian so parts of this are just staples to a few things for me.

[@johnmurdoch3083]

A worthy emperor. I have no love for neopagans but Julian had the right disposition. Id be curious to see whatbhe would have done had he lived

[@Verntallat7]

what the hell I do have two Julian coins made into necklaces!!! did you met mee????

[@jackparker8602]

Pagang rise up

[@joeroganstrtshots881]

Pagay

[@sureshnair9427]

-it would have been wonderful if Roman paganism had coexisted with Christianity - the untimely death of Emperor Julian was great set back to this hope - unfortunately fanatic christian emperors that followed - like Theodosius - ensured that paganism with its rich culture was wiped out of the Roman empire . Great christian nations that followed continued their intolerance towards pagans , wiping out all traces of their ancient cultures and replacing them with Christianity .

[@charleswilson4526]

Silmarrillion123 you get out pal

[@misterrex684]

@Silmarrillion123 the persecution by romans were so small, in the past christian historians claimed that millions of christians got killed, modern estimates are that it were just hundreds. Human sacrifice was banned in the roman empire, only irish druids and hundreds years later the vikings did every 9 years human sacrafice in a small scale, note that those sacrifices most likely were anyways criminals. Also there was a epidemic of christian martyrs in the roman empire which made suicide to get to heaven, the pagans have seen that as very pathetic and thats similiar to human sarifice which you claimed only pagans did lol

[@milk9613]

Silmarrillion123 stfu

[@cv4809]

When a religion is replaced by another one, it is a testament of the religion's inferiority and backwardness compare to the new religion Every time pagans and christians/muslims came to contact with one another, paganism would always loose

[@sureshnair9427]

@@cv4809 - so in conclusion - the cult of the carpenter god -the cult of the tragic saviour who was unable to save himself is superior to the pagan ways - - got it - - the levant , egypt and spain( for a while at least)moved for from one aggressive abrahamic religion to another ie because the other was / is superior - ie Christianity to Islam - makes sense - now that you mention it

[@barkunderjord3708]

Constantine, wasn't he baptized and thus made a real Christian just before his death? And not sometime after 312...? Just wondering

[@ThersitestheHistorian]

There are diverging accounts about when, how, and why Constantine became a Christian. It looks to me like he flirted with it for a long time and then pulled the trigger late in his life. He never left the post of Pontifex Maximus, so maybe that was his reason for delaying his baptism, since abandoning that office and the traditional religion would have caused controversy and potential turmoil.

[@Pantsinabucket]

Bark Underjord he was a Christian. Many romans at the time waited until their deathbed to be baptized, as baptism washes away all sins.

[@marcvsfvrivscamillvs2594]

The truth is closer to the fact that Constantine was a psychotic power hungry megalomaniac who murdered several of his own family members and more Romans than actual barbarian invaders, cynically using Christianity as a political tool to carve out a powerful constituency amongst the empire's Christian population. The man didn't get baptized till his death bed because he probably saw Christianity for what it actually was, a heaping pile of bullshit.

[@alanpennie8013]

@@Pantsinabucket This is the standard explanation and seems correct. Constantine is generally believed to have been converted in 312 just before his victory over Maxentius, though he combined Christianity with sun worship for a large part of his reign.

[@LuisAldamiz]

@@marmeladov7222 - We don't know exactly how powerful was Christianity when Constantine used it as lever for his power grab. It must have been at least somewhat powerful, else he would not have resorted to it, especially not when his power base was in the much less Christianized West. The fact is that we do not understand well what was going on when "in hoc signo vincis" and his intervention in the Nicaea Council (why not let the Christians open each other's throat on petty theological discussions?, he must have got some good reasons to try to keep the sect together instead of following the "divide et impera" old adagio). My take is that, much like today, Christians were organized in secret influential networks of power-mongering that controlled key resorts and that Constantine simply acknowledged that and used those shady Christian power networks to his advantage (and tit for tat, both benefitted).

[@liamdjatschenko1638]

Julian the Blessed Julian the Loyal

[@MrDizzyvonclutch]

Who is that dude with the Kool Aid!?! lol

[@jerseymusicman3332]

Hold up... are you Mike Duncan?... voice sounds pretty close... right topic...

[@ThersitestheHistorian]

Nope.

[@jerseymusicman3332]

Thersites the Historian if you need original music... free music... let me know.

[@jerseymusicman3332]

And you do sound like him... very slightly different. But I def thought you could be him lol. You know who I’m talking about I’m sure... the guy rules. Anyways... you rule too. Hope you take a listen and think. I love this vid. I love Julian and Constantine was a son murdering jerk,... yet HE’s the one with a good name. Weird no?... anyways. Lol.

[@johnmurdoch3083]

Sound completely different, you must be a foreigner lmao ..all us American english speakers sound the same.

[@jerseymusicman3332]

@@johnmurdoch3083 no. Jersey. But, this as a while ago. I’ve done more listening and concur. But yeah, I sound like John Candy.

[@noneinparticular2338]

If he had lived longer , christianism would have been just another cult. The greatest loss to humanity ever ,ever. Salve Julian , history will.never forget you. Honour and valour.

[@Akrafena]

He could have saved the empire, but "Oc Crist it ne wolde"

[@richardleston5237]

If a Redditor was king

[@sandrothenecromancer6810]

You have conquered, Galilean

[@tophat762]

One of romes greatest emperor's

[@kanyekubrick5391]

Lmaooo I can’t believe you compared Julian, the Emperor of the Romans to Julian from TPB 😂😷

[@ThersitestheHistorian]

Same guy, really. :)

[@juliantherebel9658]

Ave

[@spottsfreund]

redditor on the throne

[@foolishmortal299]

Julian is special to me for reason I can't quite put my finger on... But after Julian died, I stopped listening to Mike Duncan's "History of Rome". I guess cause it starting to become the History of Byzantium. Which is still very awesome, but it's not for me.

[@slavicgypsy5535]

The funny thing about Julian is he tried to rebuild the Hebrew Third Temple and history is full of the account. He enlisted the help of the Jews to rebuild it and there was an earthquake, fire balls came down and burned the workers and Crosses appeared on their clothing and many died. Many historians have said that the workers ran to the church of Saint Helena and the doors closed on them. Yeah that happened. Just read Aristotle of Constantinople and Josephus and you'll see.

[@dantecaputo2629]

That should be taken with a massive grain of salt. It’s very likely that the project was simply abandoned after his death, and the rest was just Church propaganda.

[@alanpennie8013]

Ammianus also gives an account of the abortive attempt to rebuild The Temple.

[@LuisAldamiz]

Josephus could not have written anything on that because he's much much older. You seem to be making things up.

[@adrastoso9727]

Christianity is what ultimately killed the Roman Empire with their oppression ways that we still see today. If Julian didn’t die, he may have been able to keep the empire unified and Hellenistic bringing back the old Roman ways with Roman as the capital. If this could have been accomplished , the empire may have been able to regain its old strength and drive out the goths. I think Julian was the empires last hope of survival......

[@calebsmith462]

Nonsense... 476 marked a radical change but it was certainly not the end of the empire. The Roman empire was around for another millennium after Julian, a millennium! And as a thoroughly Christian empire at that. And the Roman identity continued to survive in the Mediterranean even after Constantinople finally fell to the Turks.

[@calebsmith462]

And oppressive ways? Really? Hardly a purely Christian phenomenon. Examples of pre-Christian oppression within Rome are so exponentially numerous it makes your comment quite absurd.

[@adrastoso9727]

Caleb Smith the eastern half did survive for another 1000 years, but not the western half which was the true Roman Empire as the East had changed quite a bit over the years. Actually, it is hard to call the empire “Roman” when the capital was moved to Byzantine by Constantine and renamed after himself! The empire splitting was the beginning of the end. The rise of Christianity didn’t have a huge impact at first as both Hellenism and Christians mantained the peace together once Christianity was excepted. Over time as Christians started converting more and more and stating how their religion is the only true religions with all others gods being false, well you can imagine that didn’t go over so well Hellenistic romans. Religion to the romans was always a personal matter which varied from town to town on which god they would worship but yet still excepting the existence of the other gods! There were also many cultural clashes such as Christianity has always stated that god comes before all else including family, but to the romans family is always first! We still see this in some regards with Mediterranean cultures where life is centered around the family with extended members living with one another. Religion Christianity also ended up halted much creativity in the arts that were seen as indecent or even demonic such as nudism. This kind of intolerance ended up getting the olympics banned by emperor theodosus in the 4th century. Another example would be during the renaissance; in Florence there was freedom and democracy where Lorenzo Medici ruled until his death in 1492. He had commissioned great works of art including sculptures that had long since banned by the Catholic Church. After his death his studio was ransacked by people who believed these works of art to be satanic due to Christian values. Emperor Julian in around 360AD was raised as a christian and recognized what Christianity was doing to Rome. He sought to change it back to the way that it was to bring back the true culture of Rome and the Greek world!. If he didn’t go off to war and get him self killed after only 3 years on the throne he may have succeeded! His successor Emperor Jovian re established Christianity as the state religion. Now of course Christianity is not the sole or main cause of the collapse, that had been going on since the 2nd century due to all the wars and bad emperors between the good and great emperor. Christianity just changed the Roman culture and who they were and what they believed in. A lot of freedom in terms of art and what you were allowed to worship changed. This did of course cause a lot of unrest being told which god they had to worship and what values they had to follow.

[@LuisAldamiz]

Ditto. With one caveat: Christianity was only a natural outcome of semi-barbarization (with a Neo-Hellenistic varnish) by the Balcanic generals, of de-Romanization or de-Italianization of the Empire. The problem with Christianity and with Rome's disintegration began with a non-Christian (and actually the worst persecutor of Christians): Diocletian. It's a bit strange (but not really) that Christian historians admire Diocletian so much, the reason is because he literally paved the road for the Christian takeover and subsequent destruction of the Empire, effectively inaugurating the Middle Ages with his feudalist and anti-Italian reforms.

[@adrastoso9727]

Luis Aldamiz not to mention Emperor Diocletian divided the empire into two halves naming a co emperor to rule the Eastern half from Byzantium because the empire was too big to administer from Rome. Well if it was too big then it shouldn’t have grown so large to begin with, which Emperor Augustus warned against, or find a better way to consolidate power that keeps Rome the sole capital. The empire cannot have two heads of state, that would be like having two presidents of the United States.....

[@juliantherebel9658]

I made a little dark age video about me check it out 😉

[@PiedFifer]

Darwin takes a dim view of celibacy. Imagine if natural selection worked not with pleasure, but with pain. Or if morality actually offered life and happiness rather than death and fear. I know of one. Got Galt?

[@Breakfast_of_Champions]

He couldn't win... christianity was predetermined to become the official imperial cult a long time before Julian. Already Domitian extended the initial idea by Titus of making a false peaceful messiah for the jews into a universal slave religion. Domitian added things like Paul, Revelation and other additions to the gospels to create a universal appeal and an acceptable cult alongside the other exotic mystery cults of the era. Already Hadrian was OK with christianity as can be seen from his answer to Livy the younger's letter.

[@AdriatheBwitch]

This is really dumb that atheist praise Julian because well even if Julian did lot of things to prevent christianity to be a big power in the state, he was a fervent believer in the pagan religion of the roman empire and atheist believs in no religions so i dont get why they praise him so much since even him udnerstood that faith was important while atheist dont get that point

[@patricklubbers2885]

its just the fantasy that Julian would have been the last person to be able to revert Christianization and revive even at his time old and traditional (religious) practises. Atheists that do admire him probably saw the coming time of widespread christianization as intoxicating and repressive compared to what once was. A not so fervently religious empire.

[@AdriatheBwitch]

@@patricklubbers2885 Well, yes i agree, but when you isten to how chistainity spread, it was really just more and more in place and not because of constantine but even before constantine they just gathered more and more followers which was just a matter of itme before it become the main rleiigon, and i can understand why because the christian god was all about forgivness and the confession of sins (the one from new testament notice that they didnt care about old testament one praised by jews) compared to the old gods which just punished =/

[@cv4809]

Because most atheists are just anti Christians

[@OkurkaBinLadin]

@@cv4809 Julian was not atheist, though. Which makes his reverence among atheists hilarious.

[@OkurkaBinLadin]

@@cv4809 True. If you took apart everythig, that atheist "hate" you would end up with nothing at all. They have nothing in common except hatred.

[@charliebrown5755]

Deified

[@puk4763]

'A very fascinating guy'... Says it all really... More human shallowness on YT. Well done!

[@richiekock8835]

Better known roman emperors: Augustus, Trajan (for all the good reasons), Nero and Caligula (for all the bad reasons), etc.. certainly not Julian..

[@charliebrown5755]

Many emperors were defied before Constantine why don't you know that, so much for what you know , click

[@stayrospaparunas3062]

In the start had enough sex with his wife...so thats a small lie....of course he wasnt a sex maniac....he had biggest problems from sex...the obsession for se after 35 in my opinion it means that u are animal than human

[@Youtuber-xs9cp]

Julian the Great.

[@parrotjunglecolada8270]

Why do atheists like him? He was pagan, that’s even more religious then Christianity