Emperor Julian & the Adriatic Veneti

The Emperor Julian (Flavius Claudius Iulianus) (circa lived 331-332 to 363) was born in Constantinople as a Chrisitian.  He survived the massacre of 337 where many of his older relatives were slaughtered by Emperor Constantius II (Julian’s cousin).  He was instead sent to study in Greece where he devoted himself to Greek literature and philosophy and returned to European religion (hence the Church’s name for him – the “Apostate”).  In 355 he was made governor of Gaul by his cousin, the then Emperor Constantius II (and named the honorary title “Caesar”).  In Gaul he fought the “Alemanni” defeating an army three times the size of his own at Strasbourg in 357.  He then successfully rebuilt much of Gaul.

When the Persians invaded in the East, Constantine II ordered (February 360) Julian’s armies to the front from Gaul.  This did not sit well with the soldiers who rebelled proclaiming Julian the Emperor.  Whether Constantine tried to get rid of his popular cousin on the Eastern Front is not known.  In any event, a Civil War ensued (during which Julian managed to defeat the Franks on the side) but before it could really take off Constantius II died (November 361).     Constantius II had named Julian his successor and so Julian became Emperor.  In the next few years Julian tried to restore Roman and Greek religions.  He also cut the bloated Roman bureaucracy.  Notably he attempted to rebuild the Jerusalem Temple – a project which was allegedly derailed by expense, an earthquake and ambivalence of the local Jewish community (or by divine intervention as per Christian authors of the time).  Julian died from a festering would during the campaign against the Persians.  By some account he had been stabbed by a Christian soldier (on the orders of the Greek bishop of Caesarea Mazaca in Cappadocia) although this has not been confirmed and the general belief is that he was wounded by the Persians.

Julian’s Commentaries on his western campaigns against the Alemanni and Franks did not unfortunately survive.  However, some of his “Orations,” “Letters” as well as satirical works and the portions of the work Against the Galilaeans did survive.  Among those is The Heroic Deeds Of Constantius (a panegyric to Constantius II) written in 357/358 (before their falling out).  In it, we have the following description of northern Italy:

“But he [Constantius II] did not himself march all the way there, but remained in the neighboring city [Aquileia].  This is a trading centre of the Italians on the coast, very prosperous and teeming with wealth, since the Mysians and Paeonians and all the Italian inhabitants of the interior procure their merchandise thence. These last used, I think, to be called Heneti in the past, but now that the Romans are in possession of these cities they preserve the original name, but make the trifling addition of one letter at the beginning of the word.  Its sign is a single character [i.e., the “v”] and they call it “oo,” and they often use it instead of “b,” to serve, I suppose, as a sort of breathing, and to represent some peculiarity of their pronunciation.  The nation as a whole is called by this name, but at the time of the founding of the city an eagle from Zeus flew past on the right, and so bestowed on the place the omen derived from the bird.  It is situated at the foot of the Alps, which are very high mountains with precipices in them, and they hardly allow room for those who are trying to force their way over the passes to use even a single waggon and a pair of mules.  They begin at the sea which we call Ionian, and form a barrier between what is now Italy and the Illyrians and Galatians, and extend as far as the Etruscan sea.  For when the Romans conquered the whole of this country, which includes the tribe of the Heneti and some of the Ligurians and a considerable number of Galatians besides, they did not hinder them from retaining their ancient names, but compelled them to acknowledge the dominion of the Italian republic.  And, in our day, all the territory that lies within the Alps and is bounded by the Ionian and the Etruscan seas has the honour of being called Italy.  On the other side of the Alps, on the west, dwell the Galatians, and the Rhaetians to the north where the Rhine and the Danube have their sources hard by in the neighbouring country of the barbarians.  And on the east, as I said, the Alps fortify the district where the usurper stationed his garrison.  In this way, then, Italy is contained on all sides, partly by mountains that are very hard to cross, partly by a shallow sea into which countless streams empty and form a morass like the marshlands of Egypt.  But the Emperor by his skill gained control of the whole of that boundary of the sea, and forced his way inland.”