What if....Julian the Apostate had succeeded?

The Roman Emperor Flavius Claudius Julianus died on the Ides of March in the year 1148 �ab urbe condita�, at the age of 64 and after 34 years as the undisputed ruler of the Empire.

Seen as the most able and important ruler of the early Roman Empire, Julian�s political and military successes, his social and religious reforms are still being regarded as the most significant factors in the restoration of the Empire after its deep crises at the end of the first millennium AUC. The successful defence of the Empire against the invading barbarian tribes in the North and his conquest of the Sassanid Empire in 1116 AUC after the Battle of Ctesiphon restored the military dominance of the Rome in Central Europe and the Middle East, and created the political foundations of the Modern Roman Empire whose current Emperor Gaius Trebonianus Gallus ascended to the throne in 2730 AUC.
But even more significant was the restructuring of the Imperial administration, and the relocation of the capital back to Rome in 1121 AUC, and foremost the rehabilitation of the traditional Roman religious cults and practises.
After Julianus� famous edict of 1114 AUC had guaranteed religious freedom for all Roman citizens, and after the revoking of all political and legal privileges that had been granted to the Judaic sect of �Christians�, Christianity quickly had lost its dominance over the Eastern half of the Empire. Its following dwindled and today only a small Christian sect in Galilaea and the Anti-Lebanon remains.
Christianity as the quasi official religion of the Empire was replaced by the cult of Apollo/Helios �the god behind the visible Sun, lord of the Intellectual worlds, the common father of all mankind�, as Julian himself called him in his famous work �Hymn to King Helios� that until today is seen as the fundamental creed of the Helios cult. Julianus himself was elected �Pontifex Maximus� by the Roman college of Pontiffs, and under his guidance the Helios cult established a coherent organisation (with numerous temples and a hierarchy of priests all over the Empire), that has survived in its principal aspects until the modern age, and is still the dominant religion of Roman Empire.

Julianus� funeral procession in Rome was led by the new �Pontifex Maximus�, his son and successor as Augustus, Marcus Aurelius Claudius Julianus, who also conducted the memorial celebrations in the Temple of Helios and Apollo on the Palatine Hill.



Edited by Komnenos

Originally posted by edgewaters AUC ... that's years from the founding of the city of Rome, right? I haven't seen it used much so I was a bit surprised.

Neither have I, I don't think it was much in use in the real Roman Empire itself. But as the disappearing of Christianity itself in this scenario also means that calculation of time by the birth of Christ must have come into disuse, there had to be some alternative.

Well this is REALLY stretching the bounds of belief, both in his ability to sweep aside Christianity and his ability to conquer Persia (taking Mesopotamia might have been possible but not the whole Sassanid Empire).

But lets play along. The thing is, I actually don't believe it was Christianity which caused the collapse of the Empire. Christianity was simply Rome's attempt to reinvent itself in a world in which it was already failing badly. For my reasons about the collapse of Rome and the role of Christianity, see this post: http://www.allempires.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=8938& ;PN=1&TPN=1


Anyway, what Rome really had to do was to create an indepth defence system which was able to respond to threats at the local level, reform its military to make it economically cheaper to support, while creating a system of government which was both responsive and unified. Without that, Julian's success might ultimately result in the life of the Empire being prolonged. But in the end it wouldn't save it and instead of one half of the Empire falling it is likely the sinking Western Empire would drag down the still attached East along with it.



Edited by Constantine XI