Historical Studies (Chinese Edition)

No.5, 2017

 

Conflicting Historical Narratives and Variations in Western Historiography: The Death of Julian the Apostate (Abstract)

 

Liu Yangang

 

Christians and pagans had complex interlocking and conflicting narratives of the major historical event of the death of Julian the Apostate. The conflict reflected in their historical narratives is a microcosm of the competition and intermingling of Christian and classical historiography. Christianity itself had a long historiographic tradition with a historical consciousness that had little in common with classical historiography; but classical historiography had already flourished for a thousand years, so had an unquestionable advantage in the analysis of historical materials, historical writing and historical thought. Christian historians inevitably inherited and absorbed these fine traditions, with far-reaching consequences for later historiographical development.