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Description
This is a WIP of Julian the Apostate (Julian the Wise to his friends and Julian the Butcher to people who raised an eyebrow at the number of animals he sacrificed to the old gods). Genius or batshit insane?
After Constantine the Great died, he left several sons behind him, all of whom saw themselves as the rightful ruler of the world. The only survivors of the fratricidal bloodbath that ensued were Constantius II, emperor, and his cousins Julian and Gallus. Eventually, Constantius promoted Julian to the rank of Caesar to rule in Gaul, and war rather inevitably broke out between them. Fortunately for everyone involved whose name wasn't Constantius, the emperor fell ill and named Julian his heir before he died, thus sparing the empire a bloody civil war.
As the undisputed ruler, Julian had plans for the empire. He instituted tax reforms that had proved effective in Gaul to the entire empire, lowering taxes in many places but increasing revenue. He reduced the size of the imperial court and streamlined the imperial bureaucracy.
More ill advised were his attempts to return the empire to the old gods of Rome and stamp out Christianity. He was savvy enough to know that direct persecution had never worked in the past, and it would be hopelessly impractical now that two thirds of the population were unrepentant Christians. Instead he offered incentives to pagans, and slowly eroded the rights of Christians. He challenged them in debates, drawing on rhetorical and philosophical skills learned and honed by youthful studies in Athens, forced them to turn churches over to new pagan clerics to be converted into temples, and even banned Christian from holding posts in certain educational and civil service posts. On another note, the city of Antioch famously pissed him off so much that he wrote a scathing satirical book about it.
He was officially killed by a Persian spear, but rumors persist to this day that the spear was thrown by a Christian soldier to rid the church of it's most powerful foe. Whoever's spear it was, it struck true and the last pagan emperor of Rome was dead.

Partially based on a statue, but with a good deal of my imagination thrown in. The expression on his face says to me that someone has just told him what a fun city Antioch is.

Description
This is a WIP of Julian the Apostate (Julian the Wise to his friends and Julian the Butcher to people who raised an eyebrow at the number of animals he sacrificed to the old gods). Genius or batshit insane?
After Constantine the Great died, he left several sons behind him, all of whom saw themselves as the rightful ruler of the world. The only survivors of the fratricidal bloodbath that ensued were Constantius II, emperor, and his cousins Julian and Gallus. Eventually, Constantius promoted Julian to the rank of Caesar to rule in Gaul, and war rather inevitably broke out between them. Fortunately for everyone involved whose name wasn't Constantius, the emperor fell ill and named Julian his heir before he died, thus sparing the empire a bloody civil war.
As the undisputed ruler, Julian had plans for the empire. He instituted tax reforms that had proved effective in Gaul to the entire empire, lowering taxes in many places but increasing revenue. He reduced the size of the imperial court and streamlined the imperial bureaucracy.
More ill advised were his attempts to return the empire to the old gods of Rome and stamp out Christianity. He was savvy enough to know that direct persecution had never worked in the past, and it would be hopelessly impractical now that two thirds of the population were unrepentant Christians. Instead he offered incentives to pagans, and slowly eroded the rights of Christians. He challenged them in debates, drawing on rhetorical and philosophical skills learned and honed by youthful studies in Athens, forced them to turn churches over to new pagan clerics to be converted into temples, and even banned Christian from holding posts in certain educational and civil service posts. On another note, the city of Antioch famously pissed him off so much that he wrote a scathing satirical book about it.
He was officially killed by a Persian spear, but rumors persist to this day that the spear was thrown by a Christian soldier to rid the church of it's most powerful foe. Whoever's spear it was, it struck true and the last pagan emperor of Rome was dead.

Partially based on a statue, but with a good deal of my imagination thrown in. The expression on his face says to me that someone has just told him what a fun city Antioch is.