Ad 361-63) in Julian (1964). Julian was the Roman emperor who tried to re-set up Roman polytheism to counter Christianity. In the 1960s, Vidal published Julian (1964), about the Roman Emperor Julian the Apostate (r. In the historical novel style, Vidal recreated the imperial entire world of Julian the Apostate (r. Washington Cathedral, in February 1939, as "Eugene Luther Gore Vidal". His father, Eugene Luther Vidal, Sr.