Julian Augustus (and Philosopher): Between Self-Representation and Reality

Abstract

This note offers a critical appraisal of Jeremy Swist's Julian Augustus: Platonism, Myth, and the Refounding of Rome (Oxford University Press, 2025), a significant contribution to the study of the emperor Julian within late-antique imperial ideology. The discussion engages with Swist's central arguments: his reconstruction of Julian's Iamblichean foundations of kingship, his vision of Rome as the providential culmination of Hellenic civilisation, and his self-fashioning as an Augustan imperial refounder. While largely endorsing Swist's integrative approach and his interpretation of the Caesars as a theurgic allegory, the analysis challenges his tendency to reduce Julian's Neoplatonism to its ritual-theurgical dimension, arguing that Julian's theological writings reveal a substantive philosophical engagement with Iamblichean metaphysics. Additionally, the article calls for greater attention to Julian's complex dialectical relationship with contemporary Christianity, which shaped his thought through both polemical opposition and subtle conceptual absorption.