Book review - "Julian" by Gore Vidal

After a long break, Vidal returned to novels with a bang with this assured work that deservedly became a big best-seller. It takes a look at the life of Julian, Roman Emperor for a short time in the 3rd century when the Roman Empire was declining and becoming Christian; Julian tried to restore worship of all the Gods but died before he had the chance.The later Roman Empire is a period I'm not that familiar with - like most people vaguely interested in history, I guess, my knowledge of Rome pretty much focuses on the Julius Caesar-to-Nero period; as George MacDonald Fraser once pointed out, who knows anything about the later emperors apart from the fact that Hadrian built a wall and Trajan a column. Since Gladiator I would argue that a few more people are familiar with Marcus Aurelius and Commodus, but not of the others since then. Why has cinema and popular fiction shied away from the later emperors, the Christian ones? My guess its because (a) the empire was in decline, and declines are sad, and (b) Christian audiences perhaps didn't like to realise that once their religion became top dog, the persecutions started - it was easier to write tales about them being eaten by lions.

Vidal, through Julian and his supporters, makes a compelling case against Christianity - though I don't believe that Christians are the best in the world at suppressing other religions. Surely there are people in every religion who want their religion to be top dog? The book is unavoidably reminiscent of I, Claudius - even Vidal acknowledges this in the introduction - with its tale of a studious, bookish person becoming an emperor. Julian isn't as likable as Claudius, who was so sympathetic, but that's more history's fault than Vidal's.

The book did inspire me to read up about the Roman Emperors more. No wonder it's a period that continues to fascinate - there was such a variety: gay, straight, bi (most of them), elderly, teenage, fat, thin,black (if I wasn't mistaken), smart, dumb. By favourite was Honorius,one of the last - whereas most of the Emperors towards the end only managed a couple of years at most, Honorius reigned for over 20, despite overseeing the near collapse of the whole empire.