Julian
Julian ‘the Apostate’ (Flavius Claudius Iulianus),emperor AD 361–3, was born at Constantinople in 331, the son of a half-brother of Constantine I, Julius Constantius. After his father's murder in dynastic intrigues of 337, Julian was placed by Constantius II in the care of an Arian bishop and from 342 was confined for six years on an imperial estate in Cappadocia. He impressed his Christian tutors there as a gifted and pious pupil (see Christianity), but his reading of the Greek classics was inclining him in private to other gods. In 351, as a student of philosophy, he encountered pagan Neoplatonists and was initiated as a theurgist by Maximus of Ephesus. For the next ten years Julian's pagan ‘conversion’ remained a prudently kept secret. He continued his studies in Asia and later at Athens until summoned to Milan by Constantius to be married to the emperor's sister Helena and proclaimed Caesar...
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