Jeremy Swist, "Julian Augustus: Platonism, Myth and the Refounding of Rome" (Oxford UP, 2025)

Oct 27, 2025

Jeremy Swist, an Assistant Professor and expert in late antiquity, dives into the life of Roman emperor Julian, a soldier-philosopher who sought to revitalize paganism. He discusses Julian's educational journey and his embrace of Neoplatonism and theurgy. Swist highlights Julian's writings as a medium for self-construction and his view of rulership as cycles of refoundations for Rome. The podcast explores how Julian was perceived by contemporaries and how his legacy evolved into the 'last pagan' narrative, urging listeners to understand him within his philosophical context.

Ask episode

AI Snips

Chapters

Books

Transcript

Episode notes

INSIGHT

Philosophy As Political Justification

Julian fused Neoplatonic theurgy with imperial rule to make pagan worship politically viable again.
He used philosophy to justify being emperor, not as a cover for private philosophizing.

ANECDOTE

Swist's Personal Path To Julian

Jeremy Swist describes his personal route into Julian via Catholic upbringing, university mentors, and Gore Vidal's novel.
He stresses study of Julian as a mirror for self-knowledge rather than hero worship.

INSIGHT

Repaganization Was Plausible

In 361 most people remained pagan and Julian's short reign produced rapid repaganization in elites and the army.
His religious program had real chances of broader reversal if his reign had lasted longer.

Get the Snipd Podcast app to discover more snips from this episode

Get the app

The Roman emperor Julian (r. 361-363 CE) was a man of action and of letters, which he employed in an effort to return the Empire to the light of the pagan gods, and reverse the Christianization of the empire advanced by his uncle Constantine and the sons of Constantine. This enterprise was inspired and guided by his conversion to the Neoplatonic philosophy and radical pagan Hellenism of Iamblichus and his disciples, and promoted by his production of Greek orations, letters, and satires. These works present a coherent vision of the providentially guided history and destiny of Rome as a series of foundations and refoundations enacted by rulers such as Romulus, Numa, and Caesar Augustus.

As this book demonstrates, Julian offers an Iamblichean approach to the exegesis of the legends of Rome's founding, the allegories of Plato's dialogues, and myths of his own creation in order to articulate his own role in the refounding of the Empire. Furthermore, argues Jeremy Swist, approaching the wider examination of Julian's imperial self-image on these terms ends up nuancing and challenging common assumptions influenced by the rhetoric of his contemporary proponents. In his reverence for the gods and for philosophy, the emperor's self-construction embraces the identities of a statesman and soldier more than of a philosopher, of a Roman more than a Greek, and of a mere human rather than a semi-divine being. While distancing himself from the ideal models of philosophical virtue and imperial founding that inspire his own actions, he adopts a different set of exemplary figures as mirrors of himself.

New Books in Late Antiquity is sponsored by Ancient Jew Review

Jeremey Swist is Assistant Professor of Romance and Classical Studies at Michigan State University. Click here for The Symposium of the Caesars, and here for his talk on Julian and Constantinople. His dissertation spotlight from AJR is here.

Michael Motia teaches in Classics and Religious Studies at UMass Boston.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network