History Books Review

During the Middle Ages the sophistication and size of China dwarfed anything in Europe or the Middle East and an impartial observer would no doubt have confidently predicted that it would be the Chinese who were destined to rule the world.   But they had achieved this by default thanks to problems and instability at the other end of the huge Eurasian continent.   Later it was to be the Chinese that succumbed to problems leaving the West to forge ahead.  Today the situation is that both are stable enough for development to proceed.  They are also very well aware of one another and interacting like never before.  This is a new and unique situation in history.  What will happen next? Morris can't and doesn't answer this directly.  But what he does do is tell the story in enough detail to give an idea of where we are now.  And it is quite a story.  The economic history is used as the backbone of the book, but we get a lot of insight into how most of the time people are simply working to solve the problems they a

"Grant unto all men happiness, of which the sum and substance is the knowledge of the gods; and to the Roman people universally, first and foremost to wash away from themselves the stain of atheism, and in addition to this, grant them propitious Fortune, that shall assist them in governing the empire for many thousands of years to come! To myself grant for the fruit of my devotion to thee–-Truth in belief concerning the gods, the attainment of perfection in religious rites, and in all the undertakings which we attempt as regards warlike or military measures, valour coupled with good luck, and the termination of my life to be without pain, and happy in the good hope of a departure for your abodes!"

Imagine some people who had grown up and lived their entire lives chained to the wall of a cave. Their only view of the world comes from shadows cast into the cave. They would have some idea of what the world was like, but would be unable to fully experience and appreciate the full depth of the colours, the sounds and the smells of the world outside. They would have only the haziest notions of the motivations and passions of the people living there.

Alexandria was one of the major cities of the Roman empire, and one that would have appealed to Julian.  It was founded by Alexander the Great, who was one of Julian's heroes.   It was also the centre of a major pagan cult, that of Serapis.  (If you are wondering who Serapis was, he was created by the Greek founders of Alexandria as an amalgam of Greek and Egyptian elements so as to appeal to both ethnic groups.  Cynical manipulation of religion for political purposes has a long history.)  And the intellectual achievements of the Alexandrians rivaled those of Athens.  Basically it was his kind of place, or rather it would have been had it not also been an important centre of Christian thought as well.  

Constantine's adoption of Christianity and the ramifications of it triggered off a full scale religious crisis in the empire that was to last for the whole of the fourth century. As Julian came to the throne Christians were already fighting other Christians and it was only a matter of time before other religions resorted to violence as well. What would Julian do about it? To everyone's surprise his first edict was one of tolerance. His approach looked good on paper.  Everyone was free to follow whatever spiritual path that suited them.  Full religious freedom was good news for most people on a personal level. Jews and pagans had a whole series of irksome restrictions lifted. The previously non-favoured brands of Christianity also were able to worship in freedom.

It is hard not to admire the way that the Jews have succeeded in maintaining their culture and identity for many thousands of years. This has been achieved in the face of some pretty big practical difficulties. They have rarely had the support of a state and have often been subject to some pretty severe persecutions.For instance, when Julian became the last pagan to come to the throne they were going through one of their bad patches. The Christians had not that long ago broken away from the Jewish tradition and the two faiths had the kinds of issues that might be expected from a pair that had just been through a messy divorce. Prior to the rise of Christianity the Jews had fallen foul of several of the emperors as a result of a number of brave but not tremendously successful revolts. Hadrian had banned them from Jerusalem. The ban was still in force and on top of that Constantius had imposed extra taxes on them.

Not many leaders in history write books.  Quite a few don't read books.  Those that do put pen to paper rarely write anything of more than historical interest.  But even among the small number that do stand up to scrutiny, Julian the Apostate's lengthy polemic 'Against the Galileans', his critique of the Christianity of his time, is a completely unique document.  There really is nothing to compare it with.

Religion is often accused of causing most of the wars in history.  This is hardly fair.  People are quite capable of picking fights without any divine inspiration, even if religion is a handy justification to cover your true motives.  And religious leaders sometimes take a role in solving problems, which evens up the balance sheet a bit.  But the charge is not totally groundless. Religion itself can be the problem, and the religious trauma of the late Roman Empire is the textbook case.

Julian managed to get a lot done in his short life.  It's a shame he didn't write a book on time management, I'd love to know how he was so productive, but he did write a lot.  Its a shame that more of his writings haven't survived.  They aren't as well written as the works of Caesar or Marcus Aurelius and his choice of subject matter isn't particularly compelling.  But nonetheless you can still pick up his intelligence and perceptiveness. I get the feeling that he would have been pretty successful at anything to which he turned his mind. Getting to be the emperor of Rome was a bit of a lottery, but it was the kind of level that Julian was quite capable of handling.

In the late summer of 360 Julian marched across the Rhine near modern day Basel and out of the empire with a mere 3,000 hand picked volunteers.  He penetrated the Black Forest just north of the Alps.  Travelling light and crossing mountains and morasses by obscure and rarely used routes he was soon out of contact with the civilised world.

In an absolute monarchy much hangs on the personality of the man on top, and the events covered in this podcast are pretty much the result of the emperor's management style.  Constantius seems to have been the kind of boss that corridor warriors thrive under.  He was far from ineffective as an emperor and I'll be looking at his balance sheet a bit later, but he does seem to have had a bit of a weakness in delegation skills.  Time and again we see him letting highly unsuitable people get into positions where they follow their own agendas rather than the empire's best interests.  The way things played out with Julian illustrates this.  The two men could well have formed a great team that could have done great things.  But somehow the intrigues in the court of Constantius always stopped this happening.

Imagine a large chunk of the population suddenly adopted a strange set of beliefs that you couldn't understand, and that they themselves couldn't explain.  Then imagine that they started arguing with each other over seemingly insignificant details.  And they are very serious about it all.  Deadly serious.  They are prepared to die for their beliefs. And to kill for them. Then they get control of the state, and start fighting each other. Armies are deployed and full scale pitched battles fought over minor points of doctrine.  This was the nightmare the pagans of the late Roman Empire had to face with the rise of Christianity.

Considering that the establishment of Christianity was the most lasting effect of his reign, it is a bit surprising that we don't know exactly when Constantine became a Christian.

Julian set off to Gaul with a guard of 300 men and without any idea of military matters. The plan was simply to give an air of concern to a neglected theatre. The Alemanni were well established and imperial forces were disorganised.  The actual running of the campaign was in the hands of Sallust, an experienced general. Sallust and Julian, despite coming from totally different backgrounds, hit it off personally.  Throughout his life Julian was to show himself capable of charming people, but this particular friendship was to be crucial because it got Julian into an active role in the army.  

Blackadder: Where is the prisoner. Baldrick: He's dead. Blackadder: Dead? Are you sure? Baldrick:  Well I cut his head off. That usually does the trick. In that episode of Blackadder 2, Edmund Blackadder had been put in charge of the Tower of London and had brought all the scheduled executions forward so he could enjoy a long weekend.  Unfortunately Queen Elizabeth had changed her mind about killing one of her favourites.  When the change of instructions got through,  it was too late. With, needless to say, hilarious consequences.

When the sons of Constantine massacred all their close relatives, they spared a couple of their cousins. Gallus and Julian were too young to pose any immediate threat so they didn't have to be killed straight away.  But as their parents had been killed something needed to be done with them, so they were held captive.  Was there a long term plan for them?  It is hard to say.   Given that they had an empire to run, probably their captors forgot all about them.  They were safely out of the picture and there were plenty of other things going on.

Constantius was the middle of the three sons Constantine had with Fausta.  Of the three he was the one that showed the most promise. Those who occasionally mention the education or talents of Constantius, allow that he excelled in the gymnastic arts of leaping and running that he was a dexterous archer, a skilful horseman, and a master of all the different weapons used in the service either of the cavalry or of the infantry.

Constantine died in Nicomedia in 337 after a short illness.  He had lived to 64, a good age for the time. And he had one of the longest reigns in the history of the empire.  His death came just after he had celebrated his thirtieth year as emperor, something only Augustus had previously achieved.  It was fitting that he was buried in Constantinople, the city he founded.

If it weren't for Constantine it is quite likely that very few of us would have ever been inside a Christian Church.  The city he founded bore his name up until the lifetime of my Grandfather.  It is still the largest one in Europe.   Ten more emperors were to bear the name Constantine, and when Greece became an independent nation in modern times several of its kings were also called Constantine which remains a popular name there and elsewhere.  Aristocratic titles throughout Europe  hark back to ranks in Constantine's army. So it is natural to be curious about what a man who had so much influence on history was really like.