Julian der Abtrünnige

When Emperor Constantius inherits the Roman world, he orders the slaughter of nearly his entire family. Young Julian escapes death but not exile: separated from his blood and imprisoned in a remote monastery, the last heir to a dynasty seems destined to rot away in obscurity. But the stars have different plans. As Julian matures into a man of formidable intellect and iron will, he begins to challenge the Christian empire that imprisoned him, rising from monk to general to emperor in a stunning reversal of fortune. What follows is one of history's most dramatic attempts to reshape a civilization: Julian's fabled campaign to restore the old gods and philosophical paganism to a Christian Rome. Felix Dahn weaves meticulous historical detail with sweeping romantic narrative, capturing a figure torn between destiny and free will, between the faith of his youth and the philosophical convictions of his adulthood. The novel dramatizes the collision of two worldviews with genuine sympathy for its brilliant, doomed protagonist.