La morte dell’imperatore Giuliano: sprezzo del pericolo o desiderio d’immortalità?

The events connected with the ‘mysterious’ death of Emperor Julian, which took place on June 26, 363 AD, provided – both to writers of his time, such as Ammianus Marcellinus, Libanius, Gregory of Nazianzus and some eyewitnesses of the expedition against the Persians, and to those of a little later, such as Philostorgius, Sozomenus and Zosimus – the opportunity not only to formulate clear judgments on the actions of this βασιλεύς, but also to insert variations and digressions that reflect, sometimes more than it appears at first sight, the political-ideological and socio-cultural context of the same Julianic period.