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    Published : 2023-06-07
    Vol. 71 No. 3 (2023)

    The Roman Emperor Julian the Apostate in the Work De Casibus Virorum Illustrium by Giovanni Boccaccio

    Anna Pająkowska-Bouallegui

    https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0383-8098

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.18290/rh23713.9

    Abstract

    Emperor Julian, known as the Apostate, who ruled in the years 361-363, is an extraordinary figure in the history of the Roman Empire. He became famous as a wise and just ruler, a good commander, a brave soldier, a great admirer of ancient culture, and also a talented writer. He was both admired and criticized. The reason for the dislike, and even hostility, towards him was primarily his attitude as a defender of ancient pagan cults and an enemy of Christianity and Christians.

    Such a controversial ruler could not escape the attention of one of the most outstanding writers of not only Italian, but also world, literature – Giovanni Boccaccio (1313-1375). The author of the Decameron devoted to Julian the Apostate the eleventh chapter from Book VIII of his work De casibus virorum illustrium (On the fates of famous men). The chapter in question, although relatively short – barely three pages (republished in the article in the original Latin version and in a Polish translation) – is definitely worth a closer look.

    In my article, I present the image of Emperor Julian the Apostate as written by Boccaccio.

    Julian in De casibus virorum illustrium is a fully medieval Julian. The author confirmed the medieval condemnation of the apostate and blasphemous emperor, killed thanks to the miraculous intervention of Saint Mercurius from heaven. The mention of his positive actions at the beginning of his reign serves only to show his shameful fall in an even more tragic dimension. The fate of Emperor Julian the Apostate is to be a warning to others.

    The author of the Decameron collected all the elements of the black legend about Julian, repeated over the centuries. The text is moralizing and, and this should be clearly emphasized, largely deviates from historical truth towards literary fiction.

    Keywords:

    Julian the Apostate, Giovanni Boccaccio, De casibus virorum illustrium, On the fates of famous men



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    Roczniki Humanistyczne · ISSN 0035-7707 | eISSN 2544-5200 | DOI: 10.18290/rh
    © The Learned Society of the John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin & The John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin, Faculty of Humanities


    Articles are licensed under a Creative Commons  Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)