“Alles habt ihr mit Grabmälern angefüllt …” Kaiser Julian und die Transformation spätantiker Funeralkultur

Abstract

Mediterranean funeral culture underwent a fundamental metamorphosis in late antiquity. Despite a few scholarly objections it appears that this transformation can be explained by the gradual rise of Christianity. This article provides a sort of test of this theory by asking whether the attempt to restore pagan culture under Emperor Julian (361-363) had any effect on practices concerning death and burial. Of utmost interest are, on the one hand, Julian’s objections to the Christian martyr cults which led among other things to the removal of the Babylas relics from the Temple of Apollo in Daphne, and, on the other hand, his Burial Law with a particular interest in the often-overlooked Letter 136b. Also to be considered are the burial of Constantius II, the death of Julian himself, and various associated eschatological conceptions. One notices a culture-defining difference in the way in which late antique pagans such as Julian, Libanius, and Eunapius of Sardes assume a strict division between life and death, cult and burial, purity and impurity. With late antique Christianity this could slowly be overturned through faith in the resurrection.