Did Julian reach out to the Senate in Rome?

[Belisarius]

Thanks guys, your replies have been helpful. I have always found it odd, that given his desire to reverse the pace of Christianity's growth and hold over Roman society, that he chose to go east and fight the Sassanids. Was the frontier in that much trouble? Or did he need a military victory to secure his reign?

 

I think at some point, Julian saw himself as the new Alexander. It would have been interesting to see what he accomplished had he not died. I suspect he would have been assasinated, as he likely was during the Persian campaign.

[DecimusCaesar]

It's difficult to really know how many dyed in the wool Christians there were during Julian's reign. Perhaps some people made token gestures towards Julian's paganism, in the sameway that you had the quasi-religious Cult of the Supreme Being during the French revolution, something that quickly withered away after its main proponent, Robespierre, died. I can imagine some members of the Roman aristocracy or the senate showing low level support for Julian's revived paganism (which was actually quite different from the older paganism of Republican/Principate Rome), but after Julian's death (or assassination if you believe some of the conspiracies of the time)they reverted to showing support for Christianity.