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"Make Rome Great Again. No one loves Rome as much as me. Many people are saying this." - Julian

Plus the most important. Julian's Persian campaign was inevitable. Persia had been attacking the empire for about 10 years without stopping, the answer was mandatory. The most important in the failure of the campaign was the betrayal of the secondary army and the Armenian king who did not make the move that was already classic in the strategy of the Roman campaigns in the east, where the attack through Mesopotamia was always supported by one through the Iranian plateau.

I do believe he was one of those Emperors we were robbed of with the likes of Majorian, Aurelian, Maurice... etc

"Hello, my name is Julian. You killed my father. Prepare to die!" I wonder if Julian was a real-life inspiration for Inigo Montoya!

Nobody: Maiorianus: *IMAGINE*

Julian might have been the worst waste of potential since Aurelian.

My opinion he would have "saved" the empire during his lifetime, but after his death, it'd just decline again

Julian was a man of great intelligence and ability and also a keen religious thinker and scholar, but he sometimes was unrealistic in his behavior and made some poor decisions. It's worthwhile reading Ammianus Marcellinus because he knew Julian well personally and had a high opinion of him overall but also is very honest about his shortcomings. Marcellinus was pagan and not a hostile source, like a lot of the early church writers. But he does give a well-rounded portrait of Julian.

In short; what if Julian was not a flawed humanbeing like all of us but a stable character with flawless vision and strategic insights? I think you're now just writing your version of Dune set during the Roman Empire. This flawless antihero with a family tragedy background using religious fervor to unite the people as one and conquer the known world.

The basic problem with Julian is that military capable Roman emperors like the legendary Trajan (conqueror of huge but mostly ephemeral conquests) and here Julian had fatal fascination with conquering Persia. Trajan provides a good example of where the conquests were successful, but even as Trajan was dying, fearsome rebellions had broken out prompting Hadrian to abandon them. If Julian had properly stuck with taking the capital Ctesiphon or invaded again successfully, the same issue that Trajan faced could've resulted. Also regarding religion, Egypt and much of the east, the wealthiest portion of the empire had diverged from imperial Christianity through Miaphysitism, and no Emperor could ever change that. Imperially sponsored Melkites would've faded with a pagan emperor or one who decided to cleave to Arianism (in some form, for it had many) or something close to Miaphysitism. This divergence of Christianity (between the capital and Miaphysite Egypt plus much of the East, eg Nestorianism) eased the conquests of Islam when local nobles and bishops had little interesting in dying for a persecuting and over taxing Roman Empire. Egyptian paganism had fallen into decay when during the Age of Crisis, Roman Emperors confiscated temple holdings. While the last temples of Upper Egypt remained open until Justinian (most kept open as Kushites and more southerly peoples of semi Egyptian culture worshipped there and that was often preferable to expensive warfare) and market minded monks could as ready to make pagan charms as Christian ones (or even mixed marking on charms) depending on the market, a pagan Julian and any pagan successors had to face the reality that Roman Africa, Egypt and much of the east were heavily Christian (divided yes, like Donatists and Catholics in Africa, but both utterly hostile to paganism, and also with substantial Jewish populations) and that any hostile policies could have seen a resumption of local breakaway Emperors (as seen during the Age of Crisis). Julian also expended a lot of effort to make pagan priests (hitherto local aristocratic amateurs) into socially aware equivalents of Christian bishops. Given the demands on the empire, that might have proven difficult to sustain. Also it was not only Christians who mocked Julian's mass animal sacrifices (calling him the butcher), but also pagans whose religion was diverging from old classical form. Thanks again for your so many excellent videos, and I hope this comment isn't too long.

New subscriber here. This channel's focus on the Late Western Roman Empire is endlessly fascinating, and it's given new perspective on the traditional endpoint of Western Roman governance and influence.

Julianus should have heeded Daedalus's instructions, not to fly too close to the Sun.

The form of Paganism he was trying to introduce was very influenced by Christianity and would not have been necessarily fully approved of by Pagans. For example, he wanted to impose standards of moral behaviour on the Pagan priesthood. The old Pagan priesthood was not seen necessarily as having to be a role model for the laity, but the Christian ones were. He also wanted to introduce Pagan philanthropy as he knew that Christian charity appealed to the sick and poor. This was new for Paganism and Rome was a very class-ridden society where the elite might not have approved. He wasn't really a big persecutor, correctly understanding that this had strengthened Christianity in the past. He did ban Christians from teaching the classics though in order to erode their influence in education.

I think about this question every day.

Definitely one of the best and most underrated emperors. His writings are very entertaining and pretty funny at times.

I honestly doubt any man could have saved the Roman Empire, all ancient empires were doomed to fall, some lasted longer than others, one of the biggest reasons for Rome's downfall was arguably the Scourge of God, Attila, who razed much of Europe, but more importantly pushed several groups of peoples, namely the Franks, Goths, Alemanni, Alans, early Slavs, Pannonian Avars, Bulgars and Magyars, and of course the Huns themselves Westward and Southward into the empire, but even if it wasn't for Attila I doubt Rome would have lasted much longer. Also find it ironic that the first king of Italy, Odoacer was probably partly or fully Germanic.

I will watch any alternate history video you do. I love this. Thanks Maiorianus

This was fascinating, well done!

Dear Maioruanus. Julian always has been and will be the great. I recommend the monographs of Harrel, J. “The Nisibis war” about the Julian’s campaign in the east. It was a much more successful campaign as it is considered by historians who only repeat the same mistakes without analysing the strategical plan. It was a very similar plan that Septimius Severus and Galerius executed, with a doble army attacking by two axes. My own research has included the Liddell Hart vision of indirect approach to the Julian’s Campaign, in a very fortified area. Heraclitus himself would try a much more risky and deep campaign and he has not received any critic by the military historians. Just he didn’t die meanwhile. Also, the roman soldiers revealed against Jovian and his generals because they didn’t want to cross the Tigris to could scape faster. Amianus tell us about that but modern historians judge instead understand. Was that coup that made the army loose a several time and made that Jovian had to follow the way that Sapor expected. Anyway I just want to say I am very fan of your work and agree with your historical vision and as a PhD researcher I feel surprise of even this kind of Chanel can exist. Thank you.

Great video as always, thanks a lot!

Thank you for sharing. Your channel is one my favorites. I appreciate your passion and you have sparked my own.

I actually think that Julian's reforms doomed Paganism. The local cults suddnely becoming dependant on the central government was definitely not a long term solution to their demise, and likely accelerated it. The political and military stability aspects of his lengthened reign would be nice though.

Great video!

This scenario feels like a fanfiction. Here are some points, which feel espeacialy unrealistic to me: 1. Afaik Julians style of paganism was very unpopular amongst the still pagan romans. While it's possible this pagan "church" could have gained a bigger following, if he had lived longer, I feel it's more realistic to assume that a pagan successor of Julian would have abandoned this style of paganism in favor of the more traditional paganism. With this lack of state support this pagan church would have likely colapsed like it did irl. 2. Why do you assume the pagan emperos would have been any more tolerant then Theodosius and others? Just as a reminder the last state sponsored persecution of christianity ended ca. 50 years before Julians death. I feel it's more realistic to assume Julian, who despised and discriminated christians, or one of his succsessors would have started another persecution of christians at some point, espeacialy if they felt politicaly secure enough to do so. Just because the pagans have the upper hand does not mean the religious strife of late antiquity does not occur. 3. Your points on the goths are weird. Why would Julian have been more succesful at integrating them in his empire? Roman integration of barbarians into their ranks always relied on the cooperation with the barbarian elites, because of this I don't believe he would have deposed the gothic kings. He would have more likely acted just like Theodosius and others after him in this regard. Another point is that the goths and several other germanic people at this point where at least in the process of christianization. Now you have a number of christian tribes in the empire and a relatively large at least discriminated christian minority of roman citizen. Too be fair most germans were Arian christians while at least in the western portion of the empire most christians where nicene christians, which could have hindered a cooperation of these groups, but this still sounds like a proverbial timebomb to me. (Admittedly this is the most speculative of my points) Sorry for the wall of text and my english. It's been years since the last time I wrote something more complex in english.

Thank you. I very much appreciate your efforts.

On the topic of Roman Emperors a what if on Michael III would be interesting, the same guy that Basil murdered. Despite his shortcoming he succeeded in bringing the final Iconoclast period to an end, Christianized the Slavs most importantly Bulgaria, restored relations with the Pope and planned the invasions of Krete and Cyprus but got murdered by Basil in his bid for the throne. Imagine Michael III ruling for much longer

I love your channel 😊

You are one of my favorite creator on KZfaq

A good heir for Julian the Great would've been his close friend and cousin Procopius or his son Procopius II. The ancestors of the OTL western emperor and Platonic philosopher Anthemius.

You could do an Alternate History about what would happen if Crispus, the oldest son of Constantine the Great wasn't executed by his father. We know little about him, but what we know is that he was quite capable as a military leader and much older than his siblings. I believe that if he was alive he could rein in his brothers and keep his extended family alive since he would probably participate in Constantine's plan of succession and they would not be such a threath to him as they were to his brothers.

Congratulations On This Magnificent Vídeo.

Thanks!

Yours is my favorite channel on YT

The invasion of Persia seems to me to be a good example of how the Romans underestimated the Barbarians. They found resources to attack Persia with 80k soldiers but were unable to defeat about 20k Goths close to its capital only 15 years later.

Great video on this figure

Have you ever read Gore Vidal's "Julian"? If so, what do you think of it?

to be called the great you need more than just good intensions

Julian's Symposium is brilliant.

Does Maiorianus dislike Christianity?

nice story. Yeah, Julian messed up. So much wasted potential. He should have thought for himself, as he liked Marcus Aurelius very much, "what if invading Persia would be my assigning Commodus as my heir moment?"

Yes. Praise Sol.

This is another great "What if" along your Majorian one My man Julian not only restore Rome back to it glory days but got himself with the Frankish bodyguards In other words, he made proto-Vargarian guard before Basil II

Excellent.

It was an informative and wonderful historical coverage work about a great Julian emperor of Romanian Empire history. That fatal injury was a turning point against Roman Empire historical glory

There is a possibility that Julian could have changed his mind and married maybe he could have taken a Sassanid princess to at least a cooling down of the Roman Persian slug fest.

Julian was the real philosopher emperor.

Really like this one..

Once the situation with the Huns is resolved I feel like this Roman Empire will finally conquer Germania once and for all.

what if Justinian decided to invade Persia not Italy

Adrien von ziegler music is transcendental.

One of the most interesting emperors. The Gore Vidal book about him is very good.

Maiorianus have you read "The Ancient City" by Numa Denis Fustel de Coulanges? Personally I think you would enjoy it, as it explains in detail what the day to day life was like for Pagans, and how certain religious ideas unintentionally handicapped Paganism against Christianity After reading that it made me realise that the only way to stop the fall of Rome would have been a religious reformation. The solution was less political and more theological

To continue this timeline, I can see the particular group of Christians eventually fled to Britannia, especially when the Roman troops have been pulled out from there. This will led to the eventual Christianization of England and Wales. After that, it will be all about one of these Christian leaders who led their people there to be appointed as either King or Consul. Whatever the title is, the appointed leader will have to consolidate the administration, choose the capital and fortify the Hadrian Walls to prevent the Picts from coming in. Coincidentally, this is also during the time when the Angles, the Saxons and Jutes also beginning to come into Britannia as well. Sure, there will be skirmishes and battles there and there. But by learning from the Romans, the Celtic Christians possessed unity and the desire to defend their new homeland from the invaders. And so, victories might be possible for them. Of course, this won't be the end of the Anglo-Saxon invasions of Britannia and they will keep coming back. But to the Roman Empire, this is a good news because the Celtic Christians are preoccupied with fighting against the Angles, the Saxons and the Jutes at the moment. This given them enough time to deal with their own problems without worry from the outside interferences. Also, it may be possible that one of these alternate Roman Emperors may actually decided to prolong this status quo as long as possible by dispatching envoys to negotiate with the tribes that live in Scandinavia, particularly those in Denmark. Through the contacts with the Roman Empire, these tribes begin to develop their own villages into city-states and with the encouragement from the Roman Empire, begin to fight against the Celtic Christians of Britannia and even each other for supremacy and expansion. If anyone can continue after this, please do. Because this is as far as I can think of at the moment. But I will see if I can think of more since I have yet to reach the time of Prophet Muhammad and the rise of Islam like at all.

most late roman disasters can really be summed up by "its the Christians fault"

Only Aurelian could truly save us To be fair I also find Julian as great roman emperor, but I honestly think rather than his over-confidence, the problem was that he was too good for his time He was great emperor surrounded mostly by mediocre or outright traitorous men all the time I'm more than sure what you call over-confidence comes from the necessity to cover for weakness among other leading figures of the time

Ironically, killing Julian created a chain of events that eventually led to the end of the Sassanid Empire. Had Julian lived long, Christianity would at best become one of the empire’s many cults, which means Islam as we know it today wouldn’t be the same, which in turn also means no Caliphate striking the weakened empires.

-could Julian have saved the... -yes

Man I love so much it is unreal

sehr interessant

It is so crazy how much coverage some parts of Roman history compared to other parts, the age of Augustus was done to death for me and I was bored of it by the time I was a teen tbh whereas late Roman history is never done in the mainstream

To my understanding, Julian went to war abroad to stymie a religious civil war at home. While he was feted in the West of the Empire and in Athens, he was largely ridiculed and made miserable in Antioch. Other than resorting to tyranny, returning from Persia with recently victorious veteran Eastern army at his back, would have made his political domestic issues a lot more simple - assuming of course that he won, and didn't die on campaign... Meh. Been a while since I read his biography by Robert Browning. Remember it as being a dead good.

Julian the chad merch when ?

Julian was was in many ways both a neopagan and a veteropagan. His idea of radical reform of the pagan faith into a centralized universalistic faith like the Christian Church was met with hostility by the reactionary roman senators for the same reasons they disliked Christianity: they hated the idea of adopting a faith that put themselves on equal foots with the commoners, at least morally and in the afterlife. It was more of a class struggle than a religious struggle for them. And yet at the same time, he was hardcore into ancient pagan pratices that even among many pagans of his ages were considered antiquate and no longer socially acceptable, like animal sacrifices (he killed in one day hundreds of bull). So he adopted a weird paganism that was shared only with his close circle of young intellectual autismo philosophers. To succeed his reform would had needed a lot of prerequisites even if he lived a long life

Can you do a what if Rome was able to keep the barbarians out of Italy and maintained a Unified Roman State?

Chad Roman Paganism: Ah i see so you believe in a sky god, underworld god, water god, etc. Well even though we use different names and have different rituals for worship, we think there are enough simularities to repect each other and maybe slowly merge both believes together. Virgin Chistians: NOOOOO HOW DARE YOU INTERPRET THIS SINGULAR SENTENCE IN A 300 TIMES TRANSLATED ACCIENT BOOK IN ANOTHER WAY THAN ME YOU HERETIC

Great video! Although I'm a Christian myself, I'm also a historian and the beginnings of Christianity after the Milan Edict is not to good, especially the theodosian rulling.

What do you think about the Gore Vidal novel on this subject?

I enjoyed this alternative timeline greatly though my gut feeling is that it was overly optimistic.

I wonder what may have happened if Marcus Aurelius had chosen someone other than Commodus for his successor.

There's beautiful content by Schwerpunkt on the topic, I'd love to see you guys cooperate

Maiorianus I got several interesting questions that maybe or maybe you haven't thought about: I am sure one or several of them you would like *Hispania* -How Northern Hispania looked like in 500 AD? (similar type of what you did with Rome and Lutetia) -Did the Visigoths started to feel more Hispani each generations after the Edicts of Union and Conversion to Chalcedonian Chrisstianity? How was life in Late Roman Hispania compared to Rome? Did the people also suffered or tried to avoid miliatry service, how was the relations with the barbarian tribes? -Mention the Auxiliary: Cohors II Vasconum *Italia* -If Italy resisted the germanic barbarian invasions (heruli of odovacer, ostrogoths, lombards etc) would Latin had continue to remain the same of would it still have transformed bit by bit into what we call italian today? -What looked like the uniforms of the germanic kingdoms (Goths, Lombards) in Post Roman Europa? Same question for the Byzantine troops. -What if Belisarius did accepted the Western Roman Crown and made Italy his Empire? -Was the Duchy of Naples and Amalfi the truely last remnants of the Roman Empire ? (Both were in Italy, had Roman institutions, Roman names (Sergius, Marinus, Pucharius) and were semi independant like the Exarchate of Ravenna. What about Venice, who established itself with the similar laws of the early Roman republic?

Julian "the Apostate" was quite a man, and wanted to copy Alexander the Great by invading Persia. Too bad he did not have the luck of Alexander, and lost his life. Had he not, he may have march all the way to India and become a new Alexander. But a Persian arrow finished him off, while another arrow only injured Alexander when he first engaged the Persians near Istanbul today

What if basil the second had a son who kept the good ruler ship of his father

I feel like in all videos there is the misconception from you that Christianity made the Empire weaker and being pagan made them stronger, there is zero evidence to support that this would have saved the Empire as a whole at all.

Would there be a chance that Julian, seeing issues with the Imperial System (especially without an heir), would have attempted to restore the Republic system to any degree?

If this or that had been done differently at a certain point, "the Western empire might have been saved"? Tunnel vision history. At best, Julian would have delayed the Roman decline and the triumph of Christianity, but not stopped them. The material conditions for these had been growing and deepening for decades, had reached full maturity by his reign. Great men can speed up or retard historical trends, but not alter them.

YES! The truly Great.

Yet imagine how vulnerable Europe would have been to later Islamic conquest if it had been fatally divided between Christians and Pagans. Would the emperor Leo have saved Constantinople from a massive Arab siege in 718 AD or would Charles Martel have smashed a Moorish invasion force and saved the West from Muslim conquest in 732 AD? Julian may have had the makings of a great emperor but it perhaps fortunate for us all that his pagan revival reign was cut short.

He was indeed to be nicknamed the great! His reforms and pride of Romaness would had make him part of the Great Heroes of Rome

Julian needed to have the foresight to solve Rome's flawed succession system. Basically, Julian needed some sort of proper written constitution, ideally one paired with a school system that acted as a means to promote the law to the aristocracy. In time, this education system should be expanded to instill the idea of a "Roman" nation to as many citizens as possible. Of course, it's completely unrealistic to expect Julian to do such things. These ideas to stabilize societies were centuries away. The best Julian could have reasonably done at the time might have been some sort of official document of meritocratic succession. If he was especially farsighted, maybe he could have expanded the idea of the state being a seperate entitity to its leader.

Hey, I have an idea: What if Bellasarius restored the Western Roman empire? P.S. I tried to search for this topic, but couldn't find anything. So, I thought who could've done it better than you. :)

Oh, if only! I always thought that splitting the Roman Empire into West and East was what allowed not only the invasions and devastations from the north, but also the Muslim invasion and conquest of North Africa. A unified Roman empire could have perhaps saved those people and our world would have indeed looked very different today

My favorite emperor.

What if Constantine the 3rd didnt leave Britain, and rulef Gaul and the Island from there? He could have been a great buffer to stop the Saxons, and other German tribes from invading the Empire.

epic

Why Romans just focus on defending Italy and leave other provinces like they do with Britania?

This is good content as always and about an inspiring figure, but please for the love of god enough with the AI generated images. They are often historically inaccurate in terms of material culture, and more importantly they are IP-theft. Either use work done by humans or pay an artist to make something new.

What if Constantine didn't issue the Edict of Milan? I've heard numerous scholars and historians say that Christianity played a part in Rome's demise because it's not a syncretism religion like Roman paganism, and Romans tend to incorporate a lot of foreign cultures into their own

Better timeline

There Were Two Other Emperors Called Julian Didius Julian And Usurper Julian in The Third Century.

Silverfox

Julian could have also changed Greco-Roman Paganism to make it more compatible with Christianity.

Julian in many aspects was similar to Buddha,born of a royal blood,attached to philosophy & assesment of prior ways of life & refining them as per evolving times, critique of cynics despite of admirer of their tradition & knowledge,promoter of evolutionary ideas of platonism,staunch civilizationalist & patron,admirer of nature & its processes. Glory to the king Helios & Mother of the Gods. May Devas(Gods) rejuvenate divine order of paganism.

No, not even with all the best will in the world - which Julian could not muster. As with Claudius's fanciful ideas of restoring the Republic of Rome - the practicalities of which had long before been murdered in a welter of blood on the Senate floor. So too Julian looked out at an empire where his beloved Roman Religion, and the blood-thirsty civilisation it had nurtured, had gone up in smoke - immolated on the altars of neglect and distaste; his revivalist fervour was entirely misplaced, the people wanted spectacle, the elites wanted meaning, the Catholic religion, in reality, continued to offer both - and specifically as of Rome 'Roman' - while Julian wanted to offer hecatombs, Greek Mystery, and the restored grandeur of an Epic adventure. So Julian's great vision (for 'great' it was) is a phantom and at times a mere cartoon of its past reality; for the elites, at least, it is also perceived as an unwelcome extra expense. A simple sacrifice of bread and wine at a Christian altar, while drawing down the priestly dole - even with the mad, merry, mayhem of festivals, processions, shows, and feasts (if including lents, vigils, fasts, prayers and confessions) - is (as it clearly was) a much better long-term deal. True, the old gods and their quaintly immoral ways, the senatorial swank and performance, and the advance of the family name through all the status-giving mechanics were mourned, and partially maintained - by a few, if only as a pretence, however, Julian's ideal 'Rome' was not Rome - that brutal, back-biting, bitchy cat-fight among men who should've known better ... cf the Papacy's later pornocracy as a small example of what Rome really used to be in both Republican and Imperial mayhem and what it would have been if Julian had been more Claudian (i.e. sixty years of - very expensive - rule via conspiracies, obscure affairs, and rather public mis-marriages, though now in a backwater town of still declining fortunes). Keep the Faith; tell the truth, shame the devil, and let the demons shriek. God bless. ;o)

Comment for the algorithm.

Surprised that Julian inviting the Jewish people back to Jerusalem and asking them to make the third temple didn't come up. Judaism would be very different in this timeline.

Interesting, but this falls too closely to the great man theory of history. Did Constantine become Christian because of a perceived vision? Or because he recognized how popular Christianity was becoming, especially in the army and despite your earlier claim, even in the West? By Julian, Armenia had converted... and really it was by his time mostly a debate in Christianity between Arianism and Trinitarianism. I also question about whether or not, the Pagan Romans would have accepted the reforms he proposed?

Such an underrated and interesting emperor, I still think it's sad that Christianity basically destroyed millennia of religious practices in the Ancient Mediterranean and replaced a *relativly* tolerant religious policy with an extremely intolerant one that eventually led to a bunch of pointless and destructive religious wars. Julian was one of the last people who tried to save that world. It always bugs when we I see Constantine/Byzantine fanboys bashing him. Also, "The Caesars" was actually a fun read lol

We all know Belisarius was the only one who could have saved the Empire, should've just taken the goths offer.