Extract

Julian ‘the Apostate’ (Iulianus, Flavius Claudius), emperor 361–3 ce, was born at *Constantinople in 331, the son of a half-brother of *Constantine I, Julius Constantius. After his father's murder in dynastic intrigues of 337, Julian was placed by *Constantius II in the care of an Arian bishop (see arianism) and from 342 was confined for six years on an imperial estate in Cappadocia. He impressed his Christian tutors there as a gifted and pious pupil (see christianity), but his reading of the Greek classics was inclining him in private to other gods. In 351, as a student of philosophy, he encountered pagan Neoplatonists (see neoplatonism) and was initiated as a theurgist by *Maximus (3) of Ephesus. For the next ten years Julian's *pagan ‘conversion’ remained a prudently kept secret. He continued his studies in Asia and later at Athens until summoned to Milan by Constantius to be married to the emperor's sister Helena and proclaimed Caesar with charge over Gaul and Britain (6 November 355).