By Mike Gleason The Last Pagan: Julian the Apostate and the
Death of the Ancient World, by Adrian Murdoch Inner Traditions,
9781594772269456, 260 pp., 2008 Who was the last pagan emperor
of Rome? When did he die? What did his contemporaries, and those
who lived after him, think of him? These are all very basic
questions. And they are ones that Mr. Murdoch (a fellow of the
Royal Historical Society) answers in this enlightening and, more
importantly, easily readable book. This is history told as
biography, and relies less on dates and places and more on
perceptions and actions – both those of the subject and those
who wrote about him. Although this is a book written for the
general reading public, and not particularly aimed at Pagan
readership, it contains a wealth of information concerning
Pagan/Christian relations. It also shows a number of concerns
expressed by Julian that are still valid today. As an example,
on page 141 Julian is quoted as saying (in a letter to a pagan
priest) “It is disgraceful that when