The transformations in the friendship relations of the Emperor Julian according to his Neoplatonic ideas (4th century AD)

Author(s)

Larissa Rodrigues Alves

• Document type: Master's Dissertation
• Press: Franca. 2022-11-29.
• Institution: Universidade Estadual Paulista (Unesp). Faculdade de Ciências Humanas e Sociais. Franca
• Defense date: 2022-11-25
• Advisor: Margarida Maria de Carvalho

Abstract

In the 4th century AD, the emperor had a central role in the government of the Empire and had to deal with different people, especially the Roman elites. Therefore, the understanding of friendship in Late Antiquity is essential to think about the social and power relations of this period. Numerous studies have been devoted to Emperor Julian over the years. However, until our Scientific Initiation, none of these researches had brought up the topic of friendship. In this sense, we wish to continue this task during the Master's. Analyzing forty-eight of Julian's seventy-three epistles, during the Scientific Initiation, we were able to observe two types of friendships described by this ruler, associating them with the words philia and amicitia, each one linked to its respective cultural universe. In our Master's, we hypothesized that Julian's friendships changed between the time he acted as Caesar and when he ruled as emperor. By this we mean that he began to neglect the kind of friendship associated with amicitia, in the time arc of 355 and 363 AD. Such changes are related to his deepening in philosophical studies, characterized by a theurgical neoplatonism of the Iamblichus current and by the oriental mysteries. Consequently, the way in which this emperor ruled and conceived his basileia also underwent changes. To carry out our investigation, we will use fifty-seven epistles (including the forty-eight of our Monography) and five speeches by Julian – from the translations in Greek/French, Greek/English and Spanish –, which are the following: Letter to Themistius, the philosopher, Consolation to himself upon the departure of the excellent Sallust; Hymn to the Mother of the Gods, The Caesars and Hymn to King Helios. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 20/05378-5 - The transformations in the friendship relations of the Emperor Julian according to his Neoplatonic ideas (4th century AD)
• Grantee: Larissa Rodrigues Alves
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master