title: Julian's Against the Galileans
author: Julian Emperor Of Rome
description: Flavius Claudius Julianus (331/332-363 CE), better known to history by the name imposed by his Christian opponents, Julian "the Apostate," was a nephew of the first Christian emperor, Constantine I. Julian is one of the most fascinating figures of late antiquity. More information is available about him from both pagan and Christian sources than about any other Roman emperor. His reign inspired both admiration and contempt.
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  ## Against the Galileans
  
  
  ### Julian
  
  
  
  
  
  ![](images/Accueil_scribe.png)
  
  
  
  
  
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  ###### Exported from Wikisource on 04/13/20
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ## Introduction
  
  
  Julian, like Epictetus, always calls the Christians Galilaeans[1] because he
  wishes to emphasise that this was a local creed, "the creed of fishermen," and
  perhaps to remind his readers that "out of Galilee ariseth no prophet";[2]
  with the same intention he calls Christ "the Nazarene."[3] His chief aim in
  the treatise was to show that there is no evidence in the Old Testament for
  the idea of Christianity, so that the Christians have no right to regard their
  teaching as a development of Judaism. His attitude throughout is that of a
  philosopher who rejects the claims of one small sect to have set up a
  universal religion. He speaks with respect of the God of the Hebrews, admires
  the Jewish discipline, their sacrifices and their prohibition of certain
  foods, plays off the Jews against the Christians, and reproac