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

[@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

[@AverytheCubanAmerican]

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

[@Biggvs_dickvs]

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!!

[@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.

[@ChrisDyn1]

*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?

[@superstructure23]

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

[@Cjnw]

*@DarkMatter2525* did this too

[@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.

[@jeffbland375]

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

[@yellowrose0910]

. -- ` ++

[@LeDeadlySniper]

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

[@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.

[@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

[@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.

[@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.

[@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.

[@Nikki-tx6kh]

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

[@jaybajan]

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

[@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.

[@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).

[@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.

[@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.

[@albusnightspring8057]

The last true one

[@johndoedeer5250]

RIP Julian

[@christidiscipulus1576]

rip bozo lol

[@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.

[@hf3923]

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

[@sbrown480]

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

[@Ali-bu6lo]

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

[@gustavalexander3789]

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

[@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.

[@mikefabbi5127]

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

[@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.

[@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

[@Biggvs_dickvs]

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

[@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

[@Table_Down_Left737]

"Julian was a Caesar" Julian, Caesar

[@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.*

[@pridelander06]

Can't wait to Bismarck it up on Wednesday.

[@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.

[@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.

[@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.

[@MatheusLB2009]

That's why you should buy armor before rushing B

[@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.

[@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!

[@archsteel7]

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

[@stargazer4683]

JC has holes in his hands lol

[@heiskanbuscadordelaverdad8709]

I prefer to call this guy the last hope for rome

[@BroadwayRonMexico]

FedoraShrek.jpg

[@TheJalipa]

Brutal assessment Poor Julian

[@joraninator]

There is only history... unbiased history

[@GermanPanzerBoy]

Julian forgot to wear his trusty plot armor smh.

[@amanrahmani2632]

one of the best late roman emperors you cant change my mind

[@badboje6040]

2:22 Julian supposedly wanted to keep pushing into Persia, but his officers refused to do so

[@paprskomet]

In versian given by Ammianus Marcellinus.Given to the fact Romans already had huge problems Ammianus either exaggerates or Julian did not show much foresight if he really wanted to continue despite Romans failed to even capture Ctesiphont or defeat main royal Persian army.

[@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.

[@rubywest5166]

Barbarossa be like "Okay, so don't take your armour off when going to war in the Middle East, got it"

[@عليياسر-ذ5ب]

The Persian army penetrated his camp and besieged it

[@PhilWood82]

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

[@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.

[@thehumanian634]

And every drill sergeant ever screamed “don’t be a cowboy” when they heard that

[@DukeoftheAges]

There's actually a few emperors after him that might have been pagan, including some usurpers that were technically emperor that we do know were openly pagan.

[@jovian9711]

can you tell me the name? All I know is anthemius (not a pagan but tried to revived paganism) pls

[@PinkyJujubean]

My uncle Bill had a problem with his apostate. He had to take these big pills and drink lots of water

[@vinista256]

1:01 “Julian also promised that he would reform the empire and bring back the good times.” Like, MRGA (Make Rome Great Again)?

[@SinaASuren]

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

[@collectiveconsciousness5314]

He tried to rebuild the temple destroyed by Titus, but failed spectacularly.

[@arpitarunmishra]

00:00-00:04 whoah what a surprise

[@mrniceguy7168]

1:10 So Julian was a good Christian emperor...OH WAIT turns out he had been lying

[@thiscatania612]

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

[@Artur_M.]

Ah, Julian! Such an interesting figure. While I wouldn't call myself a proper Christian (or a religious man in general) I'm definitely *not* one of those people who think that Christianity ruins everything and in particular that it ruined the Roman Empire, which seems to be an increasingly popular opinion (although it has been around at least since Edward Gibbon). Yet I still always felt a strange sympathy for Julian and couldn't stop wondering how history would change if he had a long and successful reign.

[@BroadwayRonMexico]

The belief that Christianity killed Rome is an increasingly popular opinion just because of atheists and others with a chip on their shoulder for Christianity who regurgitate history "memes" uncritically. It's pretty much a thoroughly discredited idea among historians and academics with any knowledge of European late antiquity, however.

[@alanpennie8013]

He was a virtuous man fighting for the losing side. He's attractive no matter how misguided his thinking was.

[@lucafagioli2848]

The idea that christianity caused the downfall of rome is just nosense, the crisis of the third century (from which the west never recovered) started when christianity was still illegal and reached it's peak under decius and valerian, both of whom were famous for brutally purging christians. The peak of roman stability after the crisis was ironically under constantine, the guy who legalized christianity and stopped the persecutions... Then again the eastern roman empire lasted more than a thousand years as a christian empire, even having 2 golden ages...

[@colbydenton2050]

Miss the longer videos.

[@Cjnw]

Bisonette is broke!

[@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!

[@Ravi9A]

Ah, Julian the hero.

[@ObtuseGoose2]

I feel like Julian is just me if I got ahold of a Time Machine

[@peterh9427]

I swear most of these videos start with “a bit dead”

[@TheTrooper115]

Another day, another short video. Can we please get some clarification from you on whether or not you're still going to be doing longer videos? When you made the change to the channel you gave us the impression that you would still be doing the longer videos, can you please tell us if you actually are or not? FYI, I do not believe we are owed anything from you, but it would be nice to know what is going on. I subscribed to your channel for the 10 min videos that you put out, not for these 3/4 min little clips that are quite frankly unsatisfactory(IMO). If you are no longer going to do the longer format videos I am sad to say that I'll probably be unsubscribing, something I do not want to do as I believe that you can put out some phenomenal work. And to be clear, I am not saying that these shorter videos are bad, they aren't. They're just not my cup of tea.

[@michaelfisher7170]

Julian came so close...then forgot his armor. Roman facepalm ensues.

[@RonJohn63]

Banning pagan philosophers was seen as anti-Christian????

[@alanpennie8013]

It was a confusing time. Actually he mainly tried to stop Christians teaching them though he did also consider banning he wrong sort of pagans as well.

[@machtrebel]

Thou hast conquered, O pale Galilean; the world has grown grey from thy breath; We have drunken of things Lethean, and fed on the fullness of death.

[@alanpennie8013]

marinetti Sob. It isn't much that a man can save ...etc

[@Akrafena]

God really pulled an epic gamer move

[@julien8629]

What a great name for an emperor

[@masterspark9880]

According to one tradition, Saint Basil once prayed before an icon on which Mercurius was portrayed as a soldier carrying a spear. He asked God not to permit the emperor Julian the Apostate (361-363) to return from his war against the Persians and resume his oppression of Christians. The image of the holy Great Martyr Mercurius depicted on the icon became invisible, only to reappear later with a bloodied spear. Julian the Apostate, on his Persian campaign, was mortally wounded by the spear of an unknown soldier.

[@gamedevyoutube3.030]

And today boys, we hear another invention

[@jairiske]

That's beautiful ❤☦❤

[@neame-bh3uq]

God came in clutch once against

[@Sphere723]

The odd thing is that Julian only managed to become emperor because Constantius II (a devote Christian) came down with a illness and died on his way to battle with Julian for the throne. A battle in which Julian was probably going to lose. So, you know, which side was God really on?

[@the_kimchi_kommandant2603]

@@Sphere723 God does not root for pagans, and thus Rome became Christian.

[@srbtlevse16]

I learned about this guy from Dovahhatty the penalty merchant

[@Alphanerd2]

Well that's pretty neat. I'd only ever seen the word apostate in a one punch man translation

[@actin9294]

"No wild beasts are such dangerous enemies to man as christians are to one another" - Julian.

[@Sphere723]

Yeah, that's the part that makes a long reign of Julian such an interesting "What if?" He understood clearly that violently purging Christianity was impossible. But fracturing Christianity was childsplay. His seemingly benevolent policy of universal religious tolerance was brilliant, because it meant the Christian splinter groups would no longer be Imperially repressed like under Constantine and Constantius, but rather given Imperial protection. A complete shattering of Christian unity and church structure was almost guaranteed. It's not hard to imagine Christianity going the way of Sol Invictus, just another cult that enjoyed brief popularity in the Roman Empire, but ultimately went away.

[@arcticarazon6941]

The c in Ctesiphon is silent

[@sto_karfi842]

As this video is showing, the Empire's capital is Constantinople,and so when the western part fell after the division, it's just some land lost from the empire, and not the end of the Roman empire as it is usually described.And when the division happened, the first capital was certain(Constantinople) the second capital was to be chosen, cause the western part wasn't actually an empire, but a relief of the Roman empire to deal with the Persians, and so the Emperor in the east gave his western part to be governed by his close relatives, and not the opposite.The empire fell at 1453 and it started with Augustus, and also had the law system and the political structure of the first Roman republic...So, it was an unbroken continuance of 2000 years!

[@christianfreedom-seeker934]

I don't agree with the 1453 date only because the city had fallen to the Crusaders and was sacked in the 1200's. I believe when it fell to the Latin West, it was OVER and the puppet dynasty that ruled it to 1453 was only delaying the inevitable. In fact, by the 1400's the rulers of Constantimople didn't refer to themselves as "The Roman Empire" but simply "Byzantium" because that was all that was left.

[@goranpersson7726]

@@christianfreedom-seeker934 you seem to lack sources for that mate, they were known as the roman empire all the way up until they fell to the turks my dude, they refeered to themselves as the roman empire(state) aswell. the whole byzantium part came after they fell to the turks from the germans trying to legitimize themselves

[@friedrichtietzsches]

A GREAT hero! I especially like his beard!

[@Killzoneguy117]

"Julian's plan was to crush the Persians in battle" Persians: "How many times do we have to teach you this lesson old man?"

[@butterw55]

Imagine becoming f'ing Roman Emperor only to have historians say you're "not of much note."

[@Augustus_Imperator]

"Julian went south" yeah, no sh*t 😂

[@Cjnw]

Shit

[@duran9664]

“MAKE ROME GREAT AGAIN.” -First pagan president.

[@ottomaticallyawesome]

Why is Korean the only subtitle?

[@decem_sagittae]

There's a persisting Christian legend which says that Julian was killed by Saint Mercurius.

[@graysonguinn1943]

Caiã Wlodarski Maybe he chucked the spear from heaven

[@Ggdivhjkjl]

@@caiawlodarski5339, Julian was slain by the ghost of St Mercurius, as St Didymus the Blind saw in a vision and sent word to St Athanasius the Pope of Alexandria about before anyone else even knew he was dead.

[@eho6380]

@@caiawlodarski5339 Mercury came from heaven and killed him.

[@grimaldus1523]

@@steamytree7951 The Saint was in Heaven at this point, so it would be a person in heaven with God at his side vs a nerdy Pagan who died in the middle of a campaign, we know who is going to win.

[@steamytree7951]

Luis Padilla yeah ofc I do. The battle trained military leader will obviously win because your god is a wimp who let himself be nailed to a piece of wood.

[@matei8master8]

What the hell happened to the Rome of the Punic Wars?

[@norym6585]

Imagine going home to your wife and kids and saying you stabbed the Roman emperor to death because he suicide charged you

[@DustinBarlow8P]

We need a lot more Julians! Especially in the Middle East! Religion has its uses in giving hope to people living in a hopeless world, or to control the simple minded. Now that moving out into space is becoming more and more likely, religion should be dialed back. It would be like if I found a copy of Lord of the Rings and stated that it was the word of God....

[@andrei19238]

You missed the point completely. Julian wanted MORE religion. He wanted people to take the paganism serious again

[@hmmm3210]

Fartlow

[@jcrosenkreuz5213]

I can rec Gore Vidal's book on Julian, it's a great work of historical fiction

[@thejumpmaster8728]

julian was a really good emperor.i wont take much time explaining his reign,but Zosimus and Ammianus marvellinus show you thathis reign both as ceasar of Gaul,and as the emperor,were full of reforms good for the empire,and military victories.Christian historians and priests just named him apostate so we would have a negative opinion on him.

[@paprskomet]

Julian was a good emperor-although far from perfect but you should not base your opinion about him just on Zosimus and Ammianus Marcellinus.Both were his superb fans and especially Zosimus is often far from objective.

[@kzizzles8329]

He also tried to rebuild the Jewish temple to own the Christians but that didn't work out

[@Storming360]

Fun fact: Iranian emperor in the time of julian was crowned before he was born. Shapur II the great.

[@franciscomm7675]

How could he be crowned before knowing the sex of the child?

[@alanpennie8013]

@@franciscomm7675 The didn't need ultrasound, they had magi.