Another One of Those Historical Moments

By somebody’s calculation, on this day in 355 the Roman emperor Constantius II, appointed his cousin Julian a Caeser, which by this time in the history of the empire was a junior emperor position. It would lead five years later to Julian becoming Augustus of the Roman Empire.

The brevity of his tenure as Emperor, a mere three years, together with his reaching intellect and his pagan restorationist desires, leaves us with one of those great “what ifs” of history.

Called by his admirers Julian the Philosopher, and by his enemies Julian the Apostate, he would be the last nonChristian ruler of the Empire.

Julian sought to create a purified paganism that was in many ways attractive and could, if he had lived, really given Christianity a run for its money.

I like to think.

Of course things went a different way…

Instead, we just get tantalizing hints of what might have been.