Julian the Apostate: Rome's Last Pagan Emperor - History Matters (Short Animated Documentary)

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This episode covers Emperor Julian, the last pagan emperor of Rome. His very short reign saw his usurp the throne from Constantius II (Constantine the Great's son). He attempted to make some reforms, mostly economic but his main purpose was to reverse the empire's conversion to Christianity. He tried but before he could secure his position he died on campaign in Persia and he was succeeded by the Christian Jovian.

[@HistoryMatters]

Next week's episodes are all 19th century wars. Because I want to. Wednesday is the Franco-Prussian War and Sunday is the Crimean War.

[@heyapplestudios4608]

History Matters 1870 and France is a tiny bit pissed off

[@gballer4041]

All right!!

[@maxf8805]

History Matters I can’t wait for the Franco Prussian war

[@tospsy]

@@maxf8805 yeah and the Crimean war sound interesting🙂 love this chanal!

[@franciscomm7675]

Great

[@noahjohnson935]

"He began to invade Persia" *notices the video is almost over* Welp, I can see where this is going

[@thekhans2823]

@ Noah Johnson , ??? Persia is weak

[@noahjohnson935]

@@thekhans2823 Persia is either easily conquered or not at all. The Romans were particularly bad at attacking it.

[@thekhans2823]

@ Noah Johnson , 🇲🇳 conquered it in a year

[@noahjohnson935]

@@thekhans2823 "easily or not at all"

[@thekhans2823]

@ Noah Johnson , OK OK

[@CollinBuckman]

Moral of the Story: Wear armor, you dolt.

[@Rikard_A]

Or you can do as Fredrich Barbarisa to wear dull armour when are in a rive, su you can drown.

[@alanpennie8013]

@@Rikard_A You can't win.

[@abbad707]

preach

[@hfar_in_the_sky]

"Wear armor, you dolt." Richard the Lionheart: "Don't tell me what to do! Raaaaaah!" *shot*

[@Septimus_ii]

Don't image Russia in the winter, don't invade Persia at any time

[@AverytheCubanAmerican]

All roads lead to Rome.... *country roads, take me Rome*

[@Bigsmoke11001]

Constantinople* Rome is old now.

[@acebalistic1358]

Country roads, Take me Rome, To the place, I invade. Colosseum, Western romans, Take me Rome Country roads Like to hear the rest of the song

[@willkp50]

Cuba gey

[@boogeymann6686]

All the provinces To it belongs from Hispania to Crimea Take me to Rome Country roads

[@MrBigCookieCrumble]

Oh for goodness sake now ill have it stuck in my head AGAIN!!

[@edwardglass9602]

I love the irony of the restorer of Rome’s Christianity being named Jovian.

[@MessiKingofKings]

What's the irony behind that?

[@edwardglass9602]

@@MessiKingofKings “Jove” is another term for Jupiter… the traditional king of the Roman pagan gods.

[@MessiKingofKings]

@@edwardglass9602 Ah okay, thank you.

[@ChristianF15cher]

And that the last Roman “Emperor” was a child named Romulus.

[@askindo5466]

@@ChristianF15cher And the last Byzantine emperor was called Constantine

[@Kerriangel]

“Death Scene No.2” The little signs are the best

[@AGS363]

Bonus Fact(s): - Julian died 32 years of age (just like Alexander the Great). - The following emperor, Jovian, also died with 32 while retreating from persia (he suffocated while heating his tent with a charcoal fire).

[@denizmetint.462]

What a 'heroic' way to go for Jovian.

[@geniewiley4217]

Julian also claimed to be Alexander the great.

[@dantecaputo2629]

Genie Wiley He didn’t.

[@dantecaputo2629]

Trace Fleeman Garcia Socrates Scholasticas was a notoriously unreliable source. He was writing nearly eighty years after Julian’s death, had never known Julian personally, and was a church historian. His main aim was not to document Roman history, but the history of the church during the Constantinian era. He was also biased against the Emperor, as most ecclesial historians were, and was likely to repeat unfounded rumors. If you want a good source on Julian’s life, I suggest reading Ammianus Marcellinus, an officer under Julian who wrote a history that covered his rule extensively, or Licenius, a philosopher who was part of Julian’s retinue. Many of the Emperor’s letters and writings have survived, making his reign remarkably well documented.

[@AlexanderDiviFilius]

Imagine trusting a Christian source on a Pagan Emperor. The last Pagan Emperor at that, after several Christian ones.

[@pieceofschmidtgamer]

Keep in mind that when Julian invaded Persia he had no real specific goal in mind. He had no specific vision of what victory looked like other than "defeat the Persians".

[@dantecaputo2629]

I think the goal was to punish them for destroying Amida. The story is often told like Julian started a war with Persia out of the blue, when in reality he was simply continuing the war that had begun in 359 between his cousin and Shapur.

[@alanpennie8013]

@@dantecaputo2629 True. He can be blamed for not accepting a Sassanian peace offer though.

[@SalTarvitz]

Did he tell you that?

[@pieceofschmidtgamer]

@@dantecaputo2629 Sure, but that's not what I meant. I meant he had no specific war aim that would signify that the war was won. Like sacking the Sassanid capital. He was kind of waging war by the seat of his pants. Much like the Americans in Afghanistan.

[@dane1382]

@@pieceofschmidtgamer it literally said his goal was to take a city at first, and he had a method of attack planned out for it involving sending a decoy over the armenian mountains

[@james_baker]

Once again I learned things I didn't know before. Which is why we few, we happy few. we band of Brothers watch. History does matter.

[@ChrisDynamo]

*Ten Minute History Never forget...

[@MrBigCookieCrumble]

and gentlemen in England now a bed, shall think themselves acursed they were not here!!!

[@johnpijano4786]

You are selling yourself short by just watching this channel. Watch full flegde documentaried made by KZbinrs. They are of much higher quality.

[@cheguevara8769]

@@johnpijano4786 shut up nerrrrd

[@johnpijano4786]

@@cheguevara8769 then why did you watch the video then?

[@dontsearchdocumentingreali9621]

You should do mongol invasion of vietnam

[@mankytoes]

The one where the Mongols lose in Egypt is pretty dope.

[@youtubeuser1820]

mankytoes They never reached Egypt, they tried conquering Palestine but Mamluks stopped them.

[@someone-wi4xl]

mankytoes Ain jalout was in Palestine Not Egypt

[@Cjnw]

Lol the "me so horny" girl has Mongol ancestry 😛🙎

[@biliminsrlar5752]

@@youtubeuser1820 didn't Eyyubis ruled the Egypt at the time?

[@Nitrousoxidification]

Imagine how different the world would be today if Julian never fought the Persians and had a long reign.

[@Bigsmoke11001]

He'll probably be killed. Maybe he'll have a succesor and The Roman empire will split later on. Paganism will lose on a later date.

[@rafaelsegura8962]

Without the cult of Sol Invictus -Christianity established by Constantine , no Islam would ever have apppeared…

[@rafaelsegura8962]

Христо Луков, because Islam is a mixture of Judaism, pagan Arab beliefs and Christian gnostic Gospels

[@nodspruductionss3812]

the world would be a better place... so would be greece and italy (aka the succesors of rome and bysandium)

[@nicholaspanos1559]

@@rafaelsegura8962 But how does that mean that a lack of Sol Invictus-Christianity have caused Islam to never rise?

[@k.k.9923]

Julian did not "simply retreat", he won the battle in Ctesiphon (defeated the army in front of the city and surrounding it) and Shapur 2(emperor of Persia) offered a pretty good deal (giving Rome a lot of territories, gold and etc) just so the romans would leave. The mistake Julian did was not taking that offer and dwelling further into the country, while he did not receive the backup and resources that was expected, also the persians sat on fire vast amount of lands in order to starve the roman army, thus they began a difficult march home in which he was stabbed with a spear by one of his close servants, as there was a plot long before that event, organized by his christian generals and others. He was a very intelligent and admirable emperor, also a highly skilled in battles (I believe he does not have a loss at all). The reforms he planned were enormous, alas they were never fully realized. Read Gore Vidal's book on the matter.

[@auroraflos2498]

Damn generals can’t stop themselves from killing amazing emperors

[@BDonks]

Julian was indeed a good tactician. But I think the supposed plot and theory of Julian being killed by one of his own christian servants has never been confirmed though. However, Vidal uses this interesting rumour in his outstanding novel.

[@abdullahamir119]

It was just that Julian had to die, and Europe to become fully christianized. Had he not been killed in such a way, we would have been living in a different world.

[@woodrobin]

@@abdullahamir119 Yes, a much better world. The Inquisition (caused by the Roman Catholic church) and the Holocaust (inspired by the later teachings of Martin Luther and Germany's long history of anti-Semitism under both Catholic and Lutheran rule), as well as the Crusades, never would have happened in such a world. Literally millions of lives would have been saved.

[@abdullahamir119]

@@woodrobin Better or bitter, we cannot say because we can never know what bad could have happened instead of those things.

[@superstructure23]

2:49 I love how there are holes in his hands from the nails

[@Cjnw]

*@DarkMatter2525* did this too

[@jeffbland375]

I wonder how the video will star... "... is dead!" Yeah, thought so 😂😂

[@yellowrose0910]

. -- ` ++

[@sarsath7481]

How did Rome lose that territory in Morocco.

[@marvelfannumber1]

@Sarsath During the Crisis of the 3rd Century Berbers began raiding the area, and since the Romans were busy with more pressing matters they de facto lost control of the area to various Berber tribes.

[@varana]

The Vandals were later, in the 5th century.

[@Bigsmoke11001]

The Roman Empire did retake a very small part but something happend after the Sassanid war in early 600, are you talking about that? Its probably because they had to focus on the middle east.

[@acebalistic1358]

Barbarians

[@xmaniac99]

The colonies where abandoned and legal authority transferred to the Mauri. Reports between the Mauri rulers and the Romans were good until the Arabic conquest. The Mauri / Moors asked for help from Constantinople but Rome was in no position to help.

[@Graham-gt4gr]

The truest cause of why Rome fell was Romans killing Romans.

[@aaronTGP_3756]

We have Honorius, Valentinian III, and Ricimer to blame.

[@dddd-uk4vn]

@@aaronTGP_3756 Especially Ricimer..smh

[@xmaniac99]

You forgot to mention Julian is considered to be one of Rome's greatest authors, writing comedy (about his own family); drama's and history books. That is his claim to fame, not that he was Rome's last pagan Emperor.

[@alanpennie8013]

Mediolanon The Haters of the Beard is a really cool title.

[@minch333]

Also his time as Caesar was a great triumph against many adversities. He's honestly my favourite emperor and I'll feel this video sells him short

[@alanpennie8013]

@@minch333 It's quite easy to view him as a comical figure and this is partly down to his telling stories against himself (like the story of the goose of Daphne). It's very sad that such an attractive person died so young but perhaps a long and successful reign would have soured his character.

[@BroadwayRonMexico]

@@alanpennie8013 Well, he wasnt exactly well-liked by anyone during his reign Traditional polytheistic pagans didnt like his emphasis on charity with the pagan church he tried to establish (and pagan priests actively hated him since he tried to crack down on and correct the hedonistic and debaucherous behavior that had always been the norm for them). Monotheistic/henotheistic pagans (like the Neoplatonists) saw him as an eccentric larper at best, and at worst were actively repulsed by his bizarre fondness for blood sacrifice (which had long since fallen out of favor with them), not to mention we have writings from a few of them who werent too happy with his attempt to ban Christians from teaching and engaging with the Classics. Christians...that goes without saying. Politically, he was trying to decentralize the government and revert to a more Principate-styled government, including a restoration of Senatorial power-which would have gone over like a lead balloon with the (often quite powerful) bureaucrats, *many* of whom were Christian, along with any general or relative of his with a feasible shot at the throne. Rome had changed far too much for any sort of return to the Principate to be remotely feasible and be anything other than (pretty much literal) suicide. Even his allies and supporters who knew him personally admitted he had a pretty hair-trigger temper and was prone to hotheaded and bullheaded decisions from time to time because of it. He was pretty much doomed to die early (by assassination if not war) because of a combination of these factors. His war in Persia was pretty ill-advised but it was basically his best way to try and gain a much-needed popularity boost.

[@raptorfromthe6ix833]

he seemed like a really great guy

[@AncientAccounts]

Julian tries to reinstate roman paganism Jupiter: *Nice* God *Am I a myth to you?!*

[@al-uc7cb]

please stop

[@Bigsmoke11001]

Julian was a neo platonist.

[@AncientAccounts]

@@Bigsmoke11001 yeah i know but he pushed for roman paganism rather than try and spread neo platanism

[@AncientAccounts]

@@al-uc7cb im surprised this bothers you that much

[@Bigsmoke11001]

@@AncientAccounts that's true.

[@LeDeadlySniper]

How to start a history matters video/ten minute history. its {inset year here} and {insert ruler here} is dead.

[@nikolaytsankov9066]

I'm not that early, but i'm going to think of a joke anyway The Perpetual Peace between the Byzantine Empire and Sassanid Persia

[@theshin_5229]

* Slaps Knee * *W h e e z e*

[@acebalistic1358]

So painful, yet so true Actually painful tens of hundreds of thousands died in those wars

[@johnmurdoch3083]

Maurice achieved it ..no thanks to phokas

[@Perririri]

Normie

[@richardgonzalez6409]

i love it when your videos start with *insert date* and *insert person* is dead, just amazing

[@skeletorrobo]

No mention of Julian's defense of Gaul, his chastisement of the Germans across the Rhine, nor his strategem of passing through Germany itself, to bypass Constantius' eastern defences. All heroic exploits worthy of mention, and a prequel episode?

[@alanpennie8013]

skeletorrobo We need more Julian.

[@julianfernandezduca2196]

@@alanpennie8013 Hi

[@db4517]

He got wrecked by persia by being a idiot

[@zimriel]

yeah the German war was a particular high point which deserves mention. there are people here arguing for Julian as a "great emperor" which he was not, but he did great work for Rome before he was emperor.

[@Nikki-tx6kh]

I've seen a fair number of your videos, and the thump when someone dies always gets me

[@oliversherman2414]

I love your channel keep up the great stuff

[@charlieputzel7735]

He was also the last man proclaimed Pharoh by the priests of Amun, though he never formally accepted the title.

[@zimriel]

I assume he was waiting to earn it. If he'd inflicted a defeat and settlement upon the House of Sasan, his panegyrists would have sung him a new song of Amun.

[@aegisofhonor]

Even though it seems like a footnote, Julian's act to ban Christian philosophers from teaching the "classics" changed Christian doctorand and dogma for centuries. Christians adapted quickly and created their own doctorands and dogmas completely separate from the classics with only a few Greek and early Roman philosophers really getting much traction in the early Catholic teachings even after Julian died. Also due to Julian living such a short reign, he made these very damaging and dividing acts against Christianity without really forming the Pagan traditions he wanted to emphasize, so it went right back to Christianity but in a slightly different direction, with a possibly even more conservative direction then before Julian. If Julian never became emperor, it's very possible, the Catholic Church would have been much more open minded about a lot of their doctorands and dogmas based a lot more on the Greek Classics then they ended up having and it's possible the way Christianity developed over the centuries quite possibly would be very different.

[@bluezero8557]

I love how your jokes just flow so smoothly in your videos.

[@jaybajan]

the ( thud) sound when ever someone dies, really cracks me the fuck up lol

[@sbrown480]

One of my favorite emperors! Thank you for covering this!

[@gabrielnugrahaandika4807]

"Make Rome Great Again" - Julian, 351 AD

[@70jantje]

I like these short video's but do hope that you make good on your promises of making some longer video's as well, though i get that these of course take more time to make.

[@wholeNwon]

Ditch the apostrophes.

[@iddomargalit-friedman3897]

He also started building a third jewish temple in Jerusalem. Quite an important deal

[@allenkeettikkal3149]

He did it more out of his anti-christian ideology, not really out of his pro-jewish ideals.

[@iddomargalit-friedman3897]

@@allenkeettikkal3149 yea sure That makes it even more relevant to the story

[@marvelfannumber1]

@Iddo Margalit-Friedman He didn't actually. Julian issued an edict in which he stated he was going to rebuild the Jewish Temple AFTER his victory in Persia. Seeing as he died during that campaign, the construction never started.

[@iddomargalit-friedman3897]

@@marvelfannumber1 are you sure? I read that he started, then there was an earthquake, then he said he would start again and *then* he died.

[@marvelfannumber1]

@@iddomargalit-friedman3897 Nope, the tale of the earthquake (or in some sources, intentional sabotage, or a lightning strike) is from a considerably later source.

[@KULCAT79]

Constantius kept sending Julian on impossible missions and had generals simply ignoring his requests for reinforcements. They had trust issues. Didnt help that when Julian was a boy Constantius murdered Julian`s entire family

[@paprskomet]

To be objective-nobody knows exactly how it happened.Julian had no doubts that family purge was ordered by Constantius(we know that from his writtings) but was it really so?Quite likely but not necessarilly.Official version was that it was spontaneous act of an army.

[@hf3923]

Whilst I'm happy to see more uploads I'm sad the 10 minute history series for the UK is dead

[@fangzhoushao5404]

You made a video on Julian the Apostate. I fucking love you.

[@akapbhan]

He started an unwanted war against Persia and got himself killed. It was one of my big what ifs as to what would have happened had he survived.Only other thing I think could change entire religion would be Maurice surviving and not going to another stupid war against Persia due to his overthrow

[@paprskomet]

He didnt started it.That war was already raging when he bacame sole Emperor.However Persian King was ready to make peace which Julian refused several times.

[@mattmacaulay2900]

Best history channel on KZbin

[@acebalistic1358]

Oversimplified: hold my beer Historia civils: hold my beer Extra credits: hold my beer Me: umm, I’ll introduce the rest later, I can’t hold this many beers

[@dariobarboni9276]

@@acebalistic1358 also Dovahatty for true unbiased history.

[@scintillam_dei]

This is the funniest. The best is HOC EST BELLVM from what I recall.

[@aperson22222]

So Julian wanted to show he was a big man by breaking from his predecessors’ policies and invading Persia . . . even though he’d gotten the top spot by refusing to send troops to invade Persia when Constantius had called for them? 😒

[@darylthomas7317]

WeLCum tO pOLiTiCS

[@hueylongdong347]

His troops refused to go to Persia and neither of his predecessors followed their own ones (Constantine obviously because he favored Christianity and Constantius II was an Arian, which was declared heretical during the Council of Nicea by Constantine).

[@Vienna3080]

So Julian wanted to Make Roman Great Again and failed?

[@zerosuitsamus2340]

Vienna The Grill ironicly it is because of their neighbour wall this time.

[@wholeNwon]

He needed a hat and an ignorant base.

[@alanpennie8013]

Vienna The Grill He invented The Franks. So there's that. He put them in Belgium but they didn't like it there and moved to France which is called that because of them.

[@MrJoebrooklyn1969]

@@wholeNwon like Obama?

[@wholeNwon]

@@MrJoebrooklyn1969 Was there an Obama hat? Missed that.

[@albusnightspring8057]

The last true one

[@JoeSmith-sl9bq]

I’m a Christian, but you have to admire a man that stands for his beliefs. It sounds like he actually cared about Rome, unlike most Emperors.

[@jimmyfaeth6954]

espacilly in the later empire when meny emprors didnt care about the fall of the west

[@alanpennie8013]

Joe Smith He had lots of good ideas. Probably too many really.

[@a.e.m.1452]

I honestly love this story, could've turned into such a historical fluke.

[@TheJalipa]

Brutal assessment Poor Julian

[@scorpionfiresome3834]

Oh, if only the old ways remained… Julian’s story will forever remain unfinished, too brave for his own good.

[@sarasamaletdin4574]

Being Pagan is the only reason why he is so well known, he was Emperor for so little time and his campaing to East was a disaster.

[@alanpennie8013]

Sara Samaletdin He did other stuff. Don't sell my boy Julian short. He was fortunate to live in an unusually well - documented period of Roman history. Many of his own writings survive, unlike those of Claudius another literary emperor.

[@johndoedeer5250]

RIP Julian

[@christidiscipulus1576]

rip bozo lol

[@pridelander06]

Can't wait to Bismarck it up on Wednesday.

[@cosminbanica1169]

Yey, more Roman history

[@natea6812]

Did romans wear togas by the 360s? I think they went out of style with Constantine

[@marvelfannumber1]

@Nate A Nope, they still wore togas until at the latest the 8th Century, albeit they were much simpler than the classical toga. These togas were also only worn by the nobility, just like in classical times and most people would wear a tunic.

[@varana]

Constantine didn't have much to do with it - it went out of fashion in the 3rd century and had lost its meaning as distinguishing Roman citizens from non-citizens (as all inhabitants of the Empire were citizens by then); also, civilian officials tended to wear military-style garb from Diocletion onwards. A toga was only used by senators in the Senate, the prefects (mayors) of Rome and Constantinople, and often consuls.

[@bumblebeeeoptimus]

Nate A what did the fashion become then?

[@SidheKnight]

For the elites, the palium (a sort of simple toga). For the rest, tunics I think.

[@SidheKnight]

And for the emperors, ornate purple robes with gold trimmings.

[@MeatyGorak]

Ctesiphon is pronounced TESS-i-fon

[@koffieslikkersenior]

No, it's also Κτησιφῶν in Koine, the K is there for a reason

[@LionKing-ew9rm]

@@koffieslikkersenior The original term is Teesphoon apparently, there's no K.

[@ledWenceslas880]

@@koffieslikkersenior Ktesiphon is the Hellenic version. Tespon or Tispun or however is the original Iranian term (being an Iranian city founded to control Nahrain). It later evolved into Tisfon for similar reasons that Greek /p^h/ evolved into /f/. Considering that Tisfon, or Mahoze in Aramaic (also Qtesiphon in Aramaic, from Greek), is certainly not Greek in anyway, it's better to use the term that the elites used, or at least Mahoze for the natives. (Tho Mahoze refers to the dual cities of Tisfon and Seleukia, the natives probably didn't care either way, still foreign rulers).

[@reinatr4848]

@@LionKing-ew9rm No its teaspoon (jk)

[@thiscatania612]

you really need to do the punic wars and the fall of the republic as videos

[@colbydenton2050]

Miss the longer videos.

[@Cjnw]

Bisonette is broke!

[@Dayvit78]

I always wait for the "thank you to our supporters..." to see if the day will ever come when James Bisonnette is not mentioned first.

[@Table_Down_Left737]

"Julian was a Caesar" Julian, Caesar

[@Rocinante2300]

Can you do the Imjin war?

[@nothingtoospiffy7913]

Good topic

[@thomasbeninger4753]

The ancient Etruscan oracles warned Julian: DON'T INVADE PERSIA. But he insisted on listening to his court-wizard yes-men instead! Moral: ALWAYS HEED THE ORACLES

[@alanpennie8013]

If only he'd read that story in The Bible about King Ahab and the lying prophets.

[@thomasbeninger4753]

@@alanpennie8013 He read the entire Bible, and like any intelligent man was aware that it was a pack of lies and forgeries written by schizophrenic sadists

[@alanpennie8013]

@@thomasbeninger4753 I Kings, chapter 22, if anyone's interested. It's a great chapter no matter who wrote it.

[@dr.manofculture1492]

@@thomasbeninger4753 butthurt pagacucks seething to this day

[@scintillam_dei]

@@thomasbeninger4753 Logic shits on atheism in my series "The Politically-Incorrect History of atheism + Refutations of atheist Myths" showing who are the liars and who are the deceivers and who are the crazies and who are the ones asking for suffering. Atheists like you hate the Bible because it says you're not the boss. Atheism says you can crown yourself the king of the cosmos and pull rights out of your ass, and impose your bigoted opinions onto others. Atheism also says you can get away with evil when you die.

[@bluemik2518]

When is the next pole coming? Also, I'm having exam at history ( 8th grade) and a lot of videos help me, so thank you very much!

[@royharel2147]

An episode on Aurelian or the 3rd century crisis could be nice.....

[@mikefabbi5127]

LOL "Oh wait, turned out he'd been lying to everyone" that's right up there with " because of course, war"

[@christianfreedom-seeker934]

You missed a BIG ONE: He allowed the Jews to return to Jerusalem to resettle the city and rebuild the Temple. According to a witness the foundation stone of the "new Temple" was sucked under during an earthquake and the Sanhadrien disbanded not long after!

[@Ali-bu6lo]

2:018 Actually the capital of Persia was called Tesiphon. the C was not pronounced.

[@misinformation_spreader777]

I swear that land secession at 2:43 looks like the Gulf of Riga

[@99xstallerthanmost]

The dialogue is so fast here, it is unsurprising that it is shorter than Julian's reign!

[@lucassantos-xy4rz]

Now tell about his time as caesar, his campaign in gaul was one of the greatest on late roman empire. Anyone interested, i believe kings and generals cover it, or maybe history march

[@dantecaputo2629]

He also headed one of the last successful major Roman invasions of Germania, and was one of the last Rhine crossing Emperors.

[@gustavalexander3789]

Rome's best Emperor** also read 'Julian' by Gore Vidal.

[@acebalistic1358]

Why does it cut of at the end when it sounds like there’s another couple minutes of video?

[@ArtistryofDebauchery]

2:47 reference to Chernenko's 13 month reign?

[@Ghost-vi8qm]

Interestingly there has been made a statue of him in Belgium 😀

[@scintillam_dei]

Whatever is against Jesus is loved by the cesspool of liberal extremism that is the European Union using a Tower of Babel imitation look for the parliament building, showing they are of the satanic New World Order builders.

[@jukahri]

@@scintillam_dei You are funny I'll give you that.

[@Bigsmoke11001]

Isn't the C of Ctesiphon silent? 2:18

[@SidheKnight]

Yes

[@erikmardiste]

Love the way you and hes dead they fall over lol

[@MatheusLB2009]

That's why you should buy armor before rushing B

[@zyanego3170]

May he rest in Peace...

[@ryansmith8345]

With Hades ?! 😆 🤣 😂

[@Alfred_Leonhart]

I can’t wait till I watch the Unbiased History of Rome episode on this guy

[@VAWM.]

I still view that as one of the best episodes of Unbiased History. It was what got me into the series in the first place.

[@scintillam_dei]

That art style looks gay in the non-happy way.

[@NihilSineRex1881]

Can you do a video about Romania?

[@SinaASuren]

Great video! but why are your Persians so dark toned?!

[@jackbloomer1334]

This paints him as an irrelevant emporer when in actuality he was one of the only good emporers of the 4th century

[@august8696]

he was irrelevant. and what about constantine? he was extremely successful

[@dantecaputo2629]

@@august8696 Julian was not irrelevant. It’s true that his time as Augustus was cut short, but as Caesar he prevented an early collapse of the Western Empire to a major Germanic invasion of Gaul.

[@joellaz9836]

He definitely was not the only good emperor of the 4th century. Most historians regard him as a mediocre emperor even Edward Gibbons (who was an anti-Christian) regarded him as a mediocre/average emperor. *Valentinian and Valens faced a different, less visible type of crisis as well. They had taken over an empire that could not pay the bills previous emperors had accumulated and could not cover the future promises that Julian and Jovian had made. Much of the blame lay with Julian. Julian had cut tribute payments in many different parts of the empire, and he had also forgiven a large number of debts owed the treasury. He led an army of perhaps sixty-five thousand people into Persia, spent a great deal of money supplying it, and promised significant bonuses to his troops during the campaign. In addition to increasing expenses and cutting revenues, Julian reduced the total amount of property that the imperial government owned-an important resource that emperors could use to address food or revenue shortfalls. He returned to temples the properties that Constantine had taken from them, he returned to the cities civic estates that Constantius had taken over, and he gave properties to friends as gifts.* *Even pagan supporters of Julian understood the severity of the situation. Ammianus compared the debts that Valentinian inherited from Julian to those left to the third-century emperor Aurelian (an allusion whose significance would be clearer if the books of Ammianus’s history covering the reign of Aurelian had not been lost) and Eutropius characterized Julian as “having a mediocre concern for the treasury.”* *As sole emperor, Julian also succumbed, as many Roman leaders before him (e.g. Crassus, Trajan, Septimius Severus) to "Alexander the Great syndrome": the desire to emulate the Macedonian general and conquer the Persian empire. He invaded Mesopotamia at the head of an enormous army of 65,000. But the campaign was a disaster: Julian lost his own life and his army was forced to retreat with huge losses. Although most of these would have been from the eastern comitatus and from the emperor's own escort army, the comitatus of Illyricum and Gaul would undoubtedly have been stripped of troops to fill the gaps. The result was that in 366 Gaul was again overrun by Alamanni hordes and Julian's painstaking work of restoration undone. This forced Julian's successor, Valentinian I, to spend years carrying out a virtual replay of Julian's Gallic campaign.*

[@christianbuffum-robbins8904]

Has Rome ever fought a war with the Persians in which they won? This is a genuine question, since most of my Rome knowledge is lodged in Caesar, Octavian/Augustus, and Justinian.

[@awesomeness9107]

Christian Buffum-Robbins Ctesiphon, the Parthian capital, has been captured by the Romans 5 times in history.

[@CarLostis]

The Persian capital of Ctesiphon was sacked for more times than i can remember, counting the bizantine empire, i think the seventh time was Heraclius in the 600s. When reading Roman-persian wars im always looking if the poor Ctesiphon is going to be sacked again Lol. Julian tried but the capital was sacked so many times that for the time when Julian decided to attack the city, the inhabitants were ready this time,i mean the city by that time was sacked five times already and the people were like, fockin romans this time we will be ready

[@varana]

In the 2nd and early 3rd century, Rome had the upper hand against the Parthian Empire, and sacking Ctesiphon became something of a regular occurrence. That changed when the Sassanids took over in the 220s and turned the balance of power in the East around. And then at the very end, Herakleios defeated them again in the early 7th century.

[@acebalistic1358]

Many ended in technical Roman wins, but the destruction they caused felt like a loss

[@CarLostis]

@@acebalistic1358 not really, at least when they sacked it, there were the spoils of war from the city and the surroundings, and that without mentioning the villages and cities that they sacked in the way to ctesiphon

[@Akrafena]

God really pulled an epic gamer move

[@arpitarunmishra]

00:00-00:04 whoah what a surprise

[@heiskanbuscadordelaverdad8709]

I prefer to call this guy the last hope for rome

[@BroadwayRonMexico]

FedoraShrek.jpg

[@theyoodoo]

You should put those adorable little cartoon figures on t-shirts and sell them!

[@MichaelAndersxq28guy]

I second that.

[@Cjnw]

*Migos wants to know your location*

[@friedrichtietzsches]

A GREAT hero! I especially like his beard!

[@PhilWood82]

Jovian: (looks at Julian who is near death) How'd it go?

[@SamuriLemonX18]

British expedition into Abssynia? I read the Wiki page but there's hardly anything there

[@alanpennie8013]

You might enjoy Flashman on the March, the last of MacDonald Fraser's historical novels about Victorian adventurer Harry Flashman which concerns Napier's Abbysinian (Ethiopian) campaign. The author was careful to make his novels as historically accurate as possible.

[@thomasturner6980]

Roman Empire: I'm the only legitimate Roman Empire Byzantine empire: hold my beer

[@strikefall2218]

Both are literally the same thing.

[@ChristianAuditore14]

What is a byzantine?

[@allenkeettikkal3149]

Christian leontsinis It was another name for the Eastern Roman Empire

[@ChristianAuditore14]

@@allenkeettikkal3149 /woosh

[@Bigsmoke11001]

Its like saying, Roman Empire: I'm the only legitimate Empire. Roman Empire: Hold my beer (in greek) Its like saying I'm a different person because I'm older and I speak greek now

[@archsteel7]

Unfortunately for him, Pandora had already opened the box and there was no stopping what had come out of it.

[@GermanPanzerBoy]

Julian forgot to wear his trusty plot armor smh.

[@nazdhillon994]

Seems like he wanted to make "Make Rome Great Again" XD

[@powerist209]

Except Julian was capable and educated men, like his sucesses at Strasbourg and Western Roman Empire.

[@joraninator]

There is only history... unbiased history

[@stargazer4683]

JC has holes in his hands lol

[@drswag0076]

do a video on the rise of Rome

[@Bigsmoke11001]

Watch the Imperator rome dev clash. Just kidding

[@AlexanderDiviFilius]

It would be a long video.

[@freddiecawston2892]

If julian hadn't been so reckless maybe some of us would be worshipping Apollo and Jupiter now

[@alanpennie8013]

The Casterereian Raynes He tried to organise a Pagan Church. Mind you organising pagans is a bit like herding cats.

[@alanpennie8013]

@@BroadwayRonMexico Sounds like you are not familiar with E.A.Thompson, the historian of the early barbarian kingdoms (not to be confused with his contemporary and near namesake E.P. Thompson) who argued that the barbarians became converted after they settled within the frontiers as a badge of romanitas. The Franks (who remained pagan for over 100 years after Julian settled them in Toxandria) seem to have been an exception to this rule.

[@BroadwayRonMexico]

@@alanpennie8013 The Goths and Vandals *definitely* didn't adopt Arian Christianity as a badge of Romanitas and converted to it prior to entering Roman territory

[@alanpennie8013]

@@BroadwayRonMexico Disagreed. The Tervingi (Visigoths) were predominantly pagan prior to their crossing the Danube into Roman territory in 376. In the years prior to that they seem to have been dividing into an anti - Roman party (led by Athanaric) and a pro - Roman party (led by Fritigern). The latter accepted baptism, probably in the hope of gaining the assistance of Emperor Valens.

[@BroadwayRonMexico]

@@alanpennie8013 You're factually wrong. Ulifilas was the missionary who converted the Goths and Vandals to Arianism, and it was precisely the fact that he *wasnt* very Roman (he was born to parents from Capadoccia, but they were captured and enslaved by Goths and he grew up more or less as a Goth himself) that he was able to find success among the Goths and Vandals. And at the time, the Goths and Vandals were still in Eastern and Central Europe, well outside of Roman territory

[@degenerate3288]

Are you still going to make 10 minute videos

[@MrMaiaBang]

I really miss longer videos :c I thought the name change was so he could vary between shorter videos and longer ones, but so far, 3 min to 4 min seems to be new standard. I watch the old 10 min vids with deep nostalgia and for the monstrous power they possess in making me just abstract from everything else and enjoy everything, which can still be done in these smaller videos but to a smaller extent.

[@philipwaters5043]

Can we please have English captions for this video? Thanks

[@julien8629]

What a great name for an emperor

[@ZephLodwick]

Julian had the potential to be one of Rome's best emperors. As Caesar, he distinguished himself as a skilled military commander, leading a successful campaign into Germany. As an administrator, he granted local provinces and cities autonomy and decreased the size of the top-heavy Roman bureaucracy. He was also a considerable scholar, writing many books on philosophy and theology. His reign was tragically cut short, but had he survived, we would probably remember him as one of the best emperors of late antiquity.

[@joellaz9836]

Oh my. His short reign was disastrous enough. Definitely overrated once you read more about him. *Valentinian and Valens faced a different, less visible type of crisis as well. They had taken over an empire that could not pay the bills previous emperors had accumulated and could not cover the future promises that Julian and Jovian had made. Much of the blame lay with Julian. Julian had cut tribute payments in many different parts of the empire, and he had also forgiven a large number of debts owed the treasury. He led an army of perhaps sixty-five thousand people into Persia, spent a great deal of money supplying it, and promised significant bonuses to his troops during the campaign. In addition to increasing expenses and cutting revenues, Julian reduced the total amount of property that the imperial government owned-an important resource that emperors could use to address food or revenue shortfalls. He returned to temples the properties that Constantine had taken from them, he returned to the cities civic estates that Constantius had taken over, and he gave properties to friends as gifts.* *Even pagan supporters of Julian understood the severity of the situation. Ammianus compared the debts that Valentinian inherited from Julian to those left to the third-century emperor Aurelian (an allusion whose significance would be clearer if the books of Ammianus’s history covering the reign of Aurelian had not been lost) and Eutropius characterized Julian as “having a mediocre concern for the treasury.”* *As sole emperor, Julian also succumbed, as many Roman leaders before him (e.g. Crassus, Trajan, Septimius Severus) to "Alexander the Great syndrome": the desire to emulate the Macedonian general and conquer the Persian empire. He invaded Mesopotamia at the head of an enormous army of 65,000. But the campaign was a disaster: Julian lost his own life and his army was forced to retreat with huge losses. Although most of these would have been from the eastern comitatus and from the emperor's own escort army, the comitatus of Illyricum and Gaul would undoubtedly have been stripped of troops to fill the gaps. The result was that in 366 Gaul was again overrun by Alamanni hordes and Julian's painstaking work of restoration undone. This forced Julian's successor, Valentinian I, to spend years carrying out a virtual replay of Julian's Gallic campaign.*

[@aaronTGP_3756]

There is way too much polarization here. Julian was a decent emperor with naive ideals (Rome had been Christian for decades). Almost defeated Persia once and for all, but didn't take the peace offer.

[@zoeygeorge2403]

​@@aaronTGP_3756it had been Christian for decades but Pagan for centuries, alot of Julian's ideals were lofty but a long reign and strong will could absolutely reduce the position of Christianity under the empire, much like his uncle Constantine had done in the reverse.

[@odysseusrex5908]

That was very interesting. I had. of course, known he was a pagan, but had no idea he had reverted to paganism from Christianity, or that he had done so secretly before assuming the purple, or that he had been killed in battle after such a short reign.

[@hentaioverwhelming]

You could say that he forgot to wear his plot armor.

[@kieferonline]

Was there a calendar somewhere in there? Or is that a different Julian?

[@Spiderfisch]

The calendar was made by Julius Caesar