Julian's Gods: Religion and Philosophy in the Thought and Action of Julian the Apostate [Hardcover]

Rowland B. E. Smith (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 8, 1995 | ISBN-10: 0415034876 | ISBN-13: 978-0415034876 | Edition: 1

Julian's brief reign (360-363 AD) had a profound impact on his contemporaries, as he worked fervently for a pagan restoration in the Roman Empire, which was rapidly becoming Christian.
Julian's Gods focuses on the cultural mentality of `the last pagan Emperor' by examining a wide variety of his own writings. The surviving speeches and treatises, satires and letters offer a rare insight into the personal attitudes and motivations of a remarkable Emperor. They show Julian as a highly educated man, an avid student of Greek philosophy, and a talented author in his own right.
This elegant and closely-argued study will deepen understanding not only of Julian, but of the context of fourth century Neoplatonism.

Editorial Reviews

Review

'Rowland Smith analyses Julian's intellectual and religious beliefs with a clarity and subtlety that permits him to evade the extremes of recent treatments of the reign' - TLS

'The object of this learned and careful study is to dispose of the rabid infidel, the omnipresent Mithraist, and the enterprising despot who have masqueraded under the name of Julian in ancient and modern writings on this short-lived Emperor' - Journal of Theological Studies Volume 47

About the Author

Rowland B. E. Smith is a lecturer in Ancient History at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Routledge; 1 edition (December 8, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0415034876
• ISBN-13: 978-0415034876
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,435,405 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars THE book on Julian!!!, December 7, 2007

By 

Curtis Steinmetz (just outside the beltway) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Julian's Gods: Religion and Philosophy in the Thought and Action of Julian the Apostate (Hardcover)

This is the only recent book (in the last several decades!) in the English language on Julian that is accurate and reliable. It is extremely well written - Smith has a very clear and engaging style. At the same time it is a very scholarly book that makes the kinds of demands on the reader that any book with lots of footnotes makes.

Even more importantly - Rowland Smith has produced the single most important scholarly work on late antique Paganism available in the English language. Seriously. More important than Sarah Iles Johnston's "Hekate Soteira", more important than Pierre Chuvin's "Chronicle of the Last Pagans", more important than the work of Ramsay MacMullen and Robin Lane Fox, etc.

"Julian's Gods" presents the story of the last Pagan emperor of Rome. The author deals in great depth with the spiritual dimension of its subject - which is the main reason why people are interested in Julian in the first place. This is a difficult subject, because Julian's Paganism is both a complex issue on it's own - and also a very contentious issue among modern day scholars - and also among modern day Pagans.

Rowland Smith takes great pains to calmly and cooly rebut the distortions found in G.W. Bowersock's psychotic rant "Julian the Apostate". Smith also clears up much of the confusion caused by Polymnia Athanassiadi's loopy "Julian and Hellenism: An Intellectual Biography". Both Bowersock and Athanassiadi fail to understand the seamless continuity between Platonic philosophy and traditional Hellenistic Paganism.

The thing that distinguishes Smith's treatment of Julian (and his Gods) is that he eschews the rigid, anachronistic approach of so many modern scholars who study late antique Paganism. That faulty approach is epitomized by R.T. Wallis' horrid little book "Neoplatonism" - one of those books that, like watching FOX News, actually has the ability to suck knowledge out of one's brain the more one is exposed to it. Smith allows ancient sources, as much as possible, to speak for themselves. Smith steps lightly with his interpretations of those sources - and his interpretations are thus consistent with what ancient sources say about themselves and about each other. There is no magic (or time travel) involved in such an approach - simply a meticulous and respectful treatment of the rich bounty of primary sources that we have at our disposal. The result is that where Bowersock psychoanalyzes Julian, and Athanassiadi romanticizes him, Rowland Smith succeeds in understanding Julian - and achieves an understanding that would be comprehensible to Julian himself and to his contemporaries.

Smith not only understands Julian (and late antique Paganism generally) - he also succeeds in articulating and motivating that understanding for a wide audience. This is solid scholarship combined with excellent writing.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Julian's Religion Analyzed, October 26, 2009

By 

Stuart McCunn (New Haven, CT) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Julian's Gods: Religion and Philosophy in the Thought and Action of Julian the Apostate (Hardcover)

This book is a very thoughtful, detailed analysis of the religious beliefs of Julian the Apostate. It will not serve as a biography of the man, but then it never intended to. He lays out Julian's beliefs very clearly and precisely using many quotes to illustrate his points. This is a book with a very clearly defined purpose and it achieves it excellently. Just don't expect more from it than it has to offer.

This is a scholarly work and it may well be confusing to the beginning reader. If you want a biography on Julian I'd recommend Adrian Murdoch's The Last Pagan. Some background on Julian is necessary to understand this book.