Primary source · Koine Greek
Against the Galileans · The Letters of Julian
Emperor Julian the Apostate · AD 362–363
What this text is
The last pagan emperor's case against the church — surviving only in Cyril of Alexandria's refutation — with the school-law rescript barring Christians from teaching the classics, and the letters organizing pagan charity to outdo 'the Galileans.'
Profile of Emperor Julian the Apostate →
Public-domain translations
W. C. Wright (1913–23)
It is, I think, expedient to set forth to all mankind the reasons by which I was convinced that the fabrication of the Galilaeans is a fiction of men composed by wickedness… (And from Letter 22:) It is disgraceful that the impious Galilaeans support not only their own poor but ours as well.
Manuscript witnesses
Byzantine tradition (Vossianus gr. 77 etc.)
12th c. onwardOrations, letters, and satires preserved — ironically — by the Christian empire's copyists; Against the Galileans survives only in Cyril of Alexandria's refutation.
Provenance
Gaul, Constantinople, Antioch, AD 355–363 — the Apostate's own pen
Editions & scholarship
Critical editions and standard translations behind the text above.
- The Works of the Emperor Julian (Loeb 13, 29, 157)Wilmer C. Wright, 1913–1923Greek text with facing English.
- L'empereur Julien: Œuvres complètes (Budé)J. Bidez, G. Rochefort, C. Lacombrade, 1932–1964The critical edition.