Julian Romance

The third and longest part, written in the form of a letter, describes Julian's Persian expedition, his downfall and the accession of the Christian emperor Jovian.

It is great importance in Syriac linguistics, being cited 1,117 times by Carl Brockelmann in his Lexicon syriacum (1928).

[1] H. J. W. Drijvers proposed that it was originally written in Syriac in Edessa shortly after the death of Shapur II in 379.

[4] The text of the Julian Romance is known primarily from a single Syriac manuscript, now in London, British Library, MS Add. 14641.

[1] The first 12 folios are lost, but what they contained can be partially reconstructed from the only other witness to the Syriac text: the lower writing of a palimpsest, now in Paris, Bibliothèque nationale, MS Syr.

[7] Gorgias Press has published a revised English translation by Michael Sokoloff (2017), which includes material from the palimpsest.

This is punctuated by stories of persons who stood up to him (the longest of which is that of Eusebius) and the interventions of the righteous Jovian (called Jovinian in the text[2]).

The story picks up when Julian's ally, Adoctus, urges Eusebius to become a pagan priest to help the new emperor undo the Christianization of the Roman Empire.

Eusebius refuses to go along and is joined by Volusianus, a leading Roman citizen, who then publicly reveals his conversion to Christianity.

[11] Out of revenge for the destruction of their synagogues, the Jews team up with Julian and the pagans to repeat the Diocletianic persecution.

"[11] The epistolary section that closes out the work is addressed by Jovian's chamberlain, Aploris, to an abbot named Abdil.

[2][12] Aploris recounts how Jovian pretended to serve Julian while secretly working to protect Christians.

A certain Maximus, mocking paganism for its reliance on Homer, tries to convince the city not to side with Julian.

While Julian is watching female dancers at a pagan festival, Maximus attempts to assassinate him.

Shapur's lieutenant, Arimhar, meets with Jovian in Syria and give him information on Persian troop dispositions.

In Antioch, the inhabitants forsake Christianity, welcome Julian and join the pagans and Jews in plundering the churches.

A Jew of Edessa named Humnas denounces his city to the emperor, who sends envoys to demand its surrender.

Jovian and the local bishop, Valgash, lead the city of Nisibis in prayers for Edessa, after which Julian decides to spare it until after his war with Persia.

Julian then visits Harran, where he destroys the churches and participates in the worship of the moon god Sin.

Nisibis and the Sinjar Mountains are handed over to Persia for a hundred years because they belong to the land of the Aramoye.