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Emperor Julian (331-363 AD), known as Julian the Apostate, was one of the most important Emperors in the history of the Later Roman Empire. He was the last non-Christian to rule the vast territories of Rome. Originally a Christian, he renounced his faith and began to worship the old polytheistic gods of the Roman and the Greek pantheon. This led to him being called an apostate or one who abandoned his religion by the Christians. Julian wanted to halt the Christianization of the Empire and revoked many of the rights of the Church.
====Background====
[[File: Julian two.jpg|200px250px|thumbthumbnail|left|The acclamation of Julian as Caesar in Paris]]
Julian was a member of the Constantinian dynasty and a descendant of Constantine the Great. He was one of the few male members of his family who survived a massacre ordered by Constantinus III. Later while still a young man, he was promoted to the rank of Caesar. In 355 AD, he inflicted a series of defeats on Alamanni and Franks, who had invaded Gaul. His greatest victory was over a great confederation of German tribes in 357 A.D. at the Battle of Argentoratum. After the death of Constantius III, Julian became the sole emperor of the Roman Empire.
====Flawed Planning====
[[File: Julian 4.jpg|200px250px|thumb|left|ruins of Ctesiphon from a 19th century drawing]]
At first, it appeared that Julian was waging a brilliant campaign, and he was undoubtedly a talented strategist. Julian failed to appreciate the level of resistance as he advanced on Ctesiphon. This was a critical mistake and resulted in Julian losing the initiative.
The resistance on the route to Ctesiphon allowed the Persian Shah Shapur II to gather his forces and to assemble a large army. The other great mistake was that Julian had divided his forces, a basic and unforgivable error. He ordered Procopius to advance into Mesopotamia, but this achieved little and only weakened his own army. After the failure to take the winter-capital of the Persians, Julian, instead of retreating to safety in Syria, had to rescue the army of Procopius. <ref>Murdoch, p. 118</ref> If Procopius forces had been with the main force, Julian could have forced a retreat down the Euphrates with his fleet of ships in support.
Instead, the Emperor was obliged to move towards the Tigris, right into the heart of Persia. It was during this effort to contact Procopius that the Battle of Samarra took place. In this, Julian was wounded, and he later died of his wounds. This ultimately led to his army becoming stranded in Persian territory. Furthermore, Julian did not have the technical capability to engage in a lengthy siege of the Sassanian capital.
After the failure of his siege of Ctesiphon, Julian was obliged to link up with Procopius's force, which led to his death and left the Roman army in a precarious strategic position. Julian’s handling of the invasion was poor. This resulted in Julian making several miscalculations that probably meant that his defeat in Persia was inevitable. The disaster in Persia in 363 AD ensured that Christianity’s rise in the Roman Empire was unstoppable.
<youtube>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztCRtT6_UIQ</youtube>
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