Who was the Roman emperor with the finest intellect? Why?

Marcus Aurelius is an obvious answer but I am going to talk about his unknown equal- Julian the Apostate.

Julian is perhaps the strangest Emperor and he strikes me as the reincarnation of Marcus Aurelius.

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Growing up

Julian had a hard life. He was related to the legendary Constantine the Great. After Constantine’s death, there was a purge where the entire family of Julian was nearly wiped out. 3 of Julian’s cousins cleared the house and split the empire up between themselves.

Julian would have been killed if not for the work of Empress Eusebia who convinced everyone to spare the boy.

Julian was excluded from public life and basically exiled where he received a traditional Roman Christian Education. Upon reaching his 20s Julian did the unthinkable though, he converted to Paganism.

There has been a lot of debate around why Julian became a Pagan. Was it a rebellion against his hated cousins (who were ardent Christians) or was it sincere. Either way it was strange for the time period.

Julian's family kept on killing each other while he grew up and now as an adult, he was called to the court of Constantius II, the final remaining cousin. At first, Constantius accused Julian of plotting to murder his brother. Here again, Eusebia protected Julian and he was found innocent and allowed to study at Athens.

It’s important to note that Julian was exceptionally bright. Charming, well-spoken, and an avid reader he was passionate about history, philosophy, math, and oration. In Athens, he became even more obsessed with Paganism and fell deeply in love with Neoplatonism, a complex Greek philosophical school like stoicism.

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His first Job

After some time in Athens Constantius sent Julian off to Gaul as his representative. This seems weird- Julian had no desire for power and was content to be a scholar. Why involve him- your sole remaining threat for power (as Julian was a male relative)? Just leave him be and he is no threat.

Maybe Constantius wanted to get rid of Julian- maybe he thought the boy would get eaten alive in Gaul. Or maybe he wanted to groom him as a potential heir. Nobody knows.

In 355 Julian would arrive in Gaul and begin his work. Initially, he hated it and wanted to return to Greece and his studies. But he decided eventually to make the most of this experience and learn what he could.

Here, like everywhere else, Julian took to his studies. He learned to command armies, run provinces, engage in diplomacy, and more. Julian found he was quite good at these things and even defeated some pesky Germans in a series of conflicts.

If Constantius II had expected Julian to fail or die he was sorely mistaken. Julian proved to be an exceptional commander and the men loved him.

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Taxes

Either way Julian now found himself with troops in Gaul. Florentius was the local administrator and he and Julian began to clash. I think this short tale shows a lot about who Julian was.

So Gaul had a problem- taxes. The province had been under collecting for years and it was a serious problem for the locals.

You see the poor and middle class paid their taxes in full. But the rich would bribe local leaders to not pay taxes. Every few decades a new emperor would forgive all back-taxes owed to the government in an effort to win favor with the people. The rich realized this and would bribe officials to look the other way so they never had to pay taxes.

Meanwhile, the non-rich Romans who did pay taxes were driven to poverty by these massive tax levies laid on them. To make up from the shortfall of the rich not paying taxes the poor would be over-taxed.

The Imperial government wanted this solved and Florentius had a solution- raise the tax rate.

Julian had a better idea though- lower the tax rate and make everyone pay. His idea was simple. If the rich paid their share and the poor were not forced to hand over their entire savings the economy would stabilize and prosper AND more taxes would be collected.

They went with Julian's plan and what-do-you-know, he was right.

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The Apostate

Around this time Constantius is getting nervous and to oversimplify he tries to have Julian killed. Julian's legions are loyal though so Julian decides he has no choice but to overthrow his Cousin.

On the march to Constantinople, Constantius II died unexpectedly.

To Julian's surprise, he arrived at Constantinople and was proclaimed Augustus of a united Roman Empire.

This is where Julian really begins to make his mark.

First, he turned back the empire-wide conversion to Christianity. He converted churches to temples, promoted Pagans to high places, destroyed the political power of Christianity, and that was just the beginning.

Then he rolled back all the changes from Diocletian.

Diocletian had ended the 3rd-century crisis and reformed everything. One major reform was adopting a more authoritarian government. Instead of the emperor being called Princeps (first citizen) he would be called Dominate (master).

Julian undid all this. He would be Princeps and would act like Augustus. He would empower the Senate which had long been nothing but a group or irrelevant city councilmen. The Emperor wasn’t a god- he was a guy in a toga openly debating and discussing policy with other Romans.

It was a total throwback to the days of Augustus.

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Persia

These were all significant and major reforms though. Julian knew that in order to actually make this work he needed some fame.

So he decided to invade Persia and sack the capital.

This campaign went poorly. It started well with Julian driving into Sassanid territory right up to the gates of the capital. At the capital, he scored a victory and nearly took the city.

But with a massive Sassanid army approaching Julian was forced to abandon his attempts to fully take the city and retreat. During the retreat, the Sassanid army harassed his own constantly.

Here he was the man of the hour. He rushed to his columns personally fighting with his men. He would stand there on foot in the middle of battle fighting side by side with his soldiers. After winning in the sector he would race off to fight some more.

The story goes that one day he raced out to fight with his men too fast and forgot his breastplate. In the following battle, he was stabbed through the stomach with a spear. He would later die from his wounds and his body would be burned.

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Final thoughts

I often wonder with Julian what could have been. He showed signs of brilliance and he seemed to have the ability to make significant changes. Had he lived for 30 years and ruled over a united Rome could he have restored Rome to the pre-crisis glory years of Trajan?

Or maybe his reforms would have fallen flat, started a civil war, and ended with his death and a weaker empire for it.

Either way he was certainly an interesting man.

Source : Alex Mann