157. Julian Augustus and the dream of a Platonic Roman empire, with Jeremy Swist

About this episode

A conversation with Jeremy Swist about Emperor Julian's philosophical approach to ruling the Roman Empire.

A conversation with Jeremy Swist (Michigan State University) on the emperor Julian (361-363 AD) and how he tried to combine his love of philosophy with ruling the Roman empire. We talk about why Julian continues to excite such passions, how in some ways he may have been more Roman than Greek, and how he read Roman history in light of the theurgical Neoplatonism that he espoused. The conversation is based on Jeremy's recent book, Julian Augustus: Platonism, Myth, and the Refounding of Rome (Oxford University Press 2025).

People in this episode

Guest: Jeremy Swist

Topics covered

• Julian Augustus
• Neoplatonism
• Roman Empire
• philosophy
• history
• theurgy

Keywords

• Julian Augustus
• Neoplatonism
• Roman history
• philosophy
• theurgy
• Jeremy Swist

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Michigan State University, Oxford University Press

Books & works: Julian Augustus: Platonism, Myth, and the Refounding of Rome

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