Julian

A Novel

The remarkable bestseller about the fourth-century Roman emperor who famously tried to halt the spread of Christianity, Julian is widely regarded as one of Gore Vidal’s finest historical novels.

Julian the Apostate, nephew of Constantine the Great, was one of the brightest yet briefest lights in the history of the Roman Empire. A military genius on the level of Julius Caesar and Alexander the Great, a graceful and persuasive essayist, and a philosopher devoted to worshipping the gods of Hellenism, he became embroiled in a fierce intellectual war with Christianity that provoked his murder at the age of thirty-two, only four years into his brilliantly humane and compassionate reign. A marvelously imaginative and insightful novel of classical antiquity, Julian captures the religious and political ferment of a desperate age and restores with blazing wit and vigor the legacy of an impassioned ruler.

©1962, 1964 copyright renewed 1990, 1992 by Gore Vidal. (P)2019 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Heartbreaking

An excellent telling of the story of a man who fought against the inexorable march of time.

Brilliant!

I enjoyed thoroughly this wonderful book about the emperor Julian. Gore Vidal transports us that time and place and make us eyewitnesses of an extraordinary figure of ancient history. The narration was superb!

A Sweeping History

Quite a scholarly book in the historical detail. I listened to it over a few weeks and lost track of some of the characters. Told by several different narrators, which enhanced the production.

Excellent

Fascinating story, beautifully written, especially since the subject hasn’t been explored in historical fiction. Not a fan of this author otherwise, nor his worldview, but the book itself is excellent.

Brilliant narration!

The narrator does justice to Vidal's masterpiece. Not one dull moment. The narration grips you instantly.