ABSTRACT
Textual sources for the Persian campaign of the Roman emperor Julian provide more detail than any other campaign conducted by a Roman general against the Parthian or Persian Empires. This chapter investigates the motives and preparation for Julian’s war against Persia and then analyses key events and moments as the campaign unfolded from March to June 363. The accounts of Ammianus Marcellinus and Zosimus are the key sources analysed in the chapter and some discussion is offered of other known sources for the campaign that are no longer extant. Particular attention is paid to Ammianus’ tendency to note evidence for earlier Roman campaigns via the Euphrates stretching all the way back to Trajan. The intense debate over Julian’s war and the treaty struck by Jovian following Julian’s death are discussed at length as is the place of Julian’s campaign in the broader religious debates following his reign. Consideration is also given to the new frontier between Roman and Persian imperial interests in northern Mesopotamia following the cession of territory as a consequence of Jovian’s agreement with Shapur II.
