A Companion to Julian the Apostate

Few Roman emperors enjoy such fame as Flavius Claudius Iulianus - although he was sole ruler of the Roman Empire for only eighteen months (361-363). Since his early death he has been known as Julian the Apostate - the nephew of Constantine the Great who in vain tried to reverse the transformation of the Imperium Romanum into a Christian Empire. This companion synthesizes research on Julian conducted in many languages over the last decades and develops new perspectives. The authors scrutinize the voluminous and variegated sources for Julian’s life and rule and reflect on the perceptions of modern research. Since Julian is the subject of scholarly discussion in various fields, this companion offers an interdisciplinary dialogue in which experts from many countries participate.

Contributors are Bruno Bleckmann, Scott Bradbury, Peter Heather, Arnaldo Marcone, Neil McLynn, Heinz-Günther Nesselrath, Stefan Rebenich, Christoph Riedweg, Sebastian Schmidt-Hofner, Peter van Nuffelen, Konrad Vössing, Hans-Ulrich Wiemer.

Stefan Rebenich holds the Chair of Ancient History and the Classical Tradition at the University of Bern (Switzerland). He has published widely in the field of late antiquity and the history of historiography, including Jerome (London: Routledge, 2002), and Theodor Mommsen. Eine Biographie (2nd ed, C.H. Beck 2007). Recently, he has edited a volume on Monarchische Herrschaft im Altertum (W. de Gruyter, 2017).

Hans-Ulrich Wiemer holds the chair of Ancient History at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg (Germany). He has published monographs and many articles on Alexander the Great, Hellenistic history and historiography, on Late Roman history and on the history of the Goths, including Libanios und Julian. Studien zum Verhältnis von Rhetorik und Politik (C.H. Beck, 1995) and Theoderich der Große. König der Goten, Herrscher der Römer (C.H. Beck, 2018).