Julian the Apostate, a nephew to Constantine the Great, reigning 40 years after the former Christianized the empire through imperial edict, was the last pagan emperor of Rome, and indeed the last major non-Christian head of state in Europe until the 20th Century.
He is given the moniker "Apostate" for this attempt to revert the empire to paganism by revoking the pro-Christian edicts of his uncle.
Unfortunately for the 31 year old Julian, the last of the Constantinian Dynasty, he would die long before his ambitious plans could come to fruition. His successors, all Christian emperors of the typical late imperial mold reversed Julian's plans almost as soon as he died.
To summarize, Julian pushed for the following reforms:
- The equalization of all religions under the law. No religion was to receive preferential treatment, no religious intolerance was sanctioned
- A return the Principate style of imperial rule. Julian styled himself as "first among equals" and involved himself in Senatorial affairs more than any emperor since Marcus Aurelius. He ended all the trappings of the Emperor as a semi-divine, inapproachable figure. Basically turning the clock back on Diocletian's reforms.
- The consolidation of paganism with a lowercase "p" to paganism with an uppercase "P". In other words, the melding of the old pagan cults into a unified religion in the same model as the Christian Church.
Julian is often compared in character to Marcus Aurelius and Hadrian, indeed he is very much a blend of the two. He combines Hadrian's philhellenism with Marcus Aurelius' Stoicism, scholasticism, and militaristic determination.
But alas, the spear of destiny that caught him in the liver on that fateful day in Iraq in June 363 CE meant that none of his potential was realized.
And it leaves us with perhaps the most fascinating question in late Roman history:
- What would have happened if Julian had lived, extricated himself and his army from Sassanid territory and into allied Armenia?
- How would the Roman Empire have changed?
- Would the clock really be rolled back to the era of the Principate, could this even be possible?
- Would Christianity, already fractured and divided, implode, and become naught more than an aberration in Europe's history?
- Would the Western Roman Empire have lasted longer (if you assume there's merit in Gibbon's thesis that Christianity was the cancer that killed the Empire)?
Personally, I am of the opinion that had Julian lived and been allowed to reign unopposed for another 30-40 years (he was only 31 after all), he would have been successful in turning back the clock on most things.
The macro-trend of the Empire from a pan-national, centralized state to a loose collection of provinces supported by a pre-feudal system would continue, but the process would be slowed as Emperors reconcile with the Senate and the people rather then just the army and the Chuch.
The Western Roman Empire would still fall, but without Christianity to inspire Islam's founding, the Eastern Roman Empire would persist for many more centuries, eventually becoming one of the modern states of a pre-nationalist Europe.
And indeed the very nature of Europe would be different as religion would never become a major political factor, the Church would never assume political influence, and the wars and struggles of religion, both within the Church and against Islam would never come to pass