Alexandria was one of the major cities of the Roman empire, and one that would have appealed to Julian.  It was founded by Alexander the Great, who was one of Julian’s heroes.   It was also the centre of a major pagan cult, that of Serapis.  (If you are wondering who Serapis was, he was

Constantine’s adoption of Christianity and the ramifications of it triggered off a full scale religious crisis in the empire that was to last for the whole of the fourth century. As Julian came to the throne Christians were already fighting other Christians and it was only a matter of time before other religions resorted to

It is hard not to admire the way that the Jews have succeeded in maintaining their culture and identity for many thousands of years. This has been achieved in the face of some pretty big practical difficulties. They have rarely had the support of a state and have often been subject to some pretty severe

Julian the Apostates wrote one of the earliest and most withering take downs of Christianity.

Religion is often accused of causing most of the wars in history.  This is hardly fair.  People are quite capable of picking fights without any divine inspiration, even if religion is a handy justification to cover your true motives.  And religious leaders sometimes take a role in solving problems, which evens up the balance sheet

I have just come across a great documentary on Youtube that explains stoicism clearly and succinctly.  There is a lot more that could be said on the subject, but this covers all the essentials in only seven minutes.  If you just want to know what stoicism is, you’ll know when you have finished watching it.