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March 2022 Vol. 59 No. 7

This book seeks to overcome a traditional and popular chronological reconstruction of the fourth-century Roman Emperor Julian’s policies and writings, which assumed an initial phase of religious tolerance followed by increasing hostility toward Christianity. In its place, Greenwood (Univ. of Aberdeen, UK) presents his own reconstruction in which opposition to Christianity was a constant throughout Julian's reign, even if different strategies of deployment were used earlier on. From the beginning to the end of his short reign, Julian aimed to reverse the Constantinian revolution through a “recapitulation” of the Christian imperial ideology, correcting its errors rather than abolishing it altogether. Julian’s well-known identifications with Heracles and Asclepius are complicated by the fact that he represented these pagan deities in a Christlike manner, thus shaping his stance as both an anti-Christian and an anti-Christ. Not all readers will find Greenwood’s reconstruction equally compelling, especially since most recent historical work on Julian has sought to avoid explaining his religious thought as merely reactionary to Christianity. Nonetheless, several of his observations and arguments will surely extend and enrich the debate over one of Rome’s most controversial emperors.

--A. P. Johnson, Lee University

Summing Up: Recommended. Graduate students and faculty.