Henrik Ibsen, Emperor Julian, and the crisis of faith in modernity.

This article examines Henrik Ibsen's historical tragedy *Emperor and Galilean*, focusing on how Ibsen used and adapted his historical sources to craft a modern portrayal of the Roman Emperor Julian. Drawing primarily on Ammianus Marcellinus's *Res Gestae* and nineteenth-century scholarship, the study highlights Ibsen's creative reconfiguration of historical details—especially ambiguous omens—to depict Julian's crisis of faith as emblematic of modern doubt and uncertainty rather than late antique religiosity. The article also explores Ibsen's critical portrayal of Christianity and idealization of paganism, noting significant departures from the historical Julian's own writings, and suggests that Ibsen was influenced by nineteenth-century thinker D. F. Strauss's interpretation of Julian as a "pagan romantic" opposing the inevitable progress of Christianity. Finally, the authors analyze Ibsen's invention of the character Macrina, who embodies Christian love and mercy, offering a counterpoint to fatalism and hinting at Christianity's enduring moral legacy within a future synthesis of religious ideas.