History Theatre / EmperorAndGalilean

'''Emperor And Galilean'' is considered Henrik Ibsen's ''Magnum Opus'', and for the sheer length of it, it is seldom performed, as it is a [[MultiPartEpisode Two-Part Episode]] with LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters. The play relates, quite correctly, the story of emperor Julian of UsefulNotes/TheRomanEmpire, in its waning years. We follow Julian from his days as a seeking youth, trying to grasp his role as a prince of the family of emperor Constantius, and how he more or less unwittingly drifts into position as an actual heir to the realm. The first part concludes with his ascension to the role of emperor. At the same time, and because he is DesperatelyLookingForAPurposeInLife, he abandons Christianity altogether, ending up as the last pagan emperor of Rome, although he is a worshiper of Sol Invictus (almost as close to monotheism as possible), and proclaiming full religious freedom.

* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: The cast list is jarringly long, spanning over 30 names at least. And then there is the crowd scenes, and a spectacular battle scene.

* HistoricalDomainCharacter: All around. Some of the church fathers living at the time is thrown in, like Gregor of Nyssa and Basilius of Caesarea.

* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: The cast list is jarringly long, spanning over 30 names at least. And then there is the crowd scenes, and a spectacular battle scene.
* HigherUnderstandingThroughDrugs: Julian has a quite trippy session in the first play, instigated by Maximos the Mystic. Here, he is trying to find higher meaning through communication with different spirits. It is at least som kind of ''incense'' involved. The session is significant, because the lack of explicit answers from the other side does little to help Julian at all. Maximos is in on it, and visibly freaks out.
* HistoricalDomainCharacter: All around. Some of the church fathers living at the time is thrown in, like Gregor of Nyssa and Basilius of Caesarea.
* KillTheCutie: Helen, spouse of Gallus, and then of Julian, is conveniently poisoned in Lutetia, leaving Julian utterly alone.
* KnightTemplar: Agathon, the young idealist who tails Julian at the start of the story, is turned KnightTemplar at the end of it. In his book, Julian is an obstacle which has to be removed. In the end, Julian just happened to be at the wrong end of his spear...

** This play and Theatre/PeerGynt contains some rather screwy elements. Both of them were written while Ibsen was abroad in Italy. [[FridgeLogic One wonders what he smoked while writing.]]

The second part of the play relates Julian's time as TheEmperor, and how he descends into decadence, paranoia and abuse. He looses support, and is finally killed by one of his childhood friends, a KnightTemplar Christian named Agathon, while campaigning against the Persians. His loyal general Jovian, a christian, takes the helm, and his former friends mourn him.

'''Emperor And Galilean'' is considered Henrik Ibsen's ''Magnum Opus'', and for the sheer length of it, it is seldom performed, as it is a [[MultiPartEpisode Two-Part Episode]] with LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters. The play relates, quite correctly, the story of emperor Julian of TheRomanEmpire, in its waning years. We follow Julian from his days as a seeking youth, trying to grasp his role as a prince of the family of emperor Constantius, and how he more or less unwittingly drifts into position as an actual heir to the realm. The first part concludes with his ascension to the role of emperor. At the same time, and because he is DesperatelyLookingForAPurposeInLife, he abandons Christianity altogether, ending up as the last pagan emperor of Rome, although he is a worshiper of Sol Invictus (almost as close to monotheism as possible), and proclaiming full religious freedom.

* {{Christianity}}: Constantly discussed, especially the doctrines of sin. Julian struggles with the idea of sin, and thinks the pagan sin (i.e. the Greek paganism) was "beautiful". He also laments the christian doctrine of "thou shalt". TheFettered indeed. The ideas discussed seem to be somewhat Lutheran for the fourth century, still coping with Arianism and other fractions.

* TheRomanEmpire: In the fourth century, ending in 369 A.D.

* UnfortunateImplications: The "realm" Julian is supposed to be looking for is referred to as the "third realm". In context, it is seemingly a spiritual one, but the idea of "the third realm" came to have some UnfortunateImplications after UsefulNotes/WorldWarII - a fact Ibsen could not possibly have known about.

'''Emperor And Galilean'' is considered Henrik Ibsen's ''Magnum Opus'', and for the sheer length of it, it is seldom performed, as it is a [[MultiPartEpisode Two-Part Episode]] with LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters. The play relates, quite correctly, the story of emperor Julian of TheRomanEmpire, in it`s waning years. We follow Julian from his days as a seeking youth, trying to grasp his role as a prince of the family of emperor Constantius, and how he more or less unwittingly drifts into position as an actual heir to the realm. The first part concludes with his ascension to the role of emperor. At the same time, and because he is DesperatelyLookingForAPurposeInLife, he abandons Christianity altogether, ending up as the last pagan emperor of Rome, although he is a worshiper of Sol Invictus (almost as close to monotheism as possible), and proclaiming full religious freedom.

'''Emperor And Galilean'' is considered Henrik Ibsen`s ''Magnum Opus'', and for the sheer lenght of it, it is seldom performed, as it is a TwoPartEpisode with LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters. The play relates, quite correctly, the story of emperor Julian of TheRomanEmpire, in it`s waning years. We follow Julian from his days as a seeking youth, trying to grasp his role as a prince of the family of emperor Constantius, and how he more or less unwittingly drifts into position as an actual heir to the realm. The first part concludes with his ascension to the role of emperor. At the same time, and because he is DesperatelyLookingForAPurposeInLife, he abandons Christianity altogether, ending up as the last pagan emperor of Rome, although he is a worshipper of Sol Invictus (almost as close to monotheism as possible), and proclaiming full religious freedom.

The second part of the play relates Julian`s time as TheEmperor, and how he descends into decadence, paranoia and abuse. He looses support, and is finally killed by one of his childhood friends, a KnightTemplar christian named Agathon, while campaigning against the Persians. His loyal general Jovian, a christian, takes the helm, and his former friends mourn him.

* AerithAndBob: Of course, the play is filled with romano-greek characters and names. Constantius, Gallus, Julian(us), ''Helen'', Potamon, Fokion, and so on. Even a germanic officer gets a name check.
* AmbitionIsEvil: Julian is smitten by this, and does not survive it. Starting out as an idealistic emperor, who decrees full religious freedom, he ends up pursuing christians and throws them to the lions. His lust for personal power gets more and more apparent throughout the last play.

* {{Christianity}}: Constantly discussed, especially the doctrines of sin. Julian struggles with the idea of sin, and thinks the pagan sin (i.e. the greek paganism) was "beautiful". He also laments the christian doctrine of "thou shalt". TheFettered indeed. The ideas discussed seem to be somewhat lutheran for the fourth century, still coping with arianism and other fractions.

* CueTheSun: Quite prominently. The god Julian chooses, is the Sun God (''Sol Invictus''). He finally dies at sunrise, his last words being: "Sun, why did you betray me?"

* FreedomFromChoice: Julian. It is questionable whether he truly chose anything. If he tries to choose, he is violently pulled back to the path of eartly power. The play debates whether he truly has the freedom ''to'' choose at all.

* MindScrew: During his "mystical trip", Julian meets some spiritual guides. One of them is a "being of light", who gives him some rather screwy answers. Julian misinterprets them, and so do the audience. One wonders if there was a [[Series/BabylonFive Vorlon]] involved...
* MushroomSamba: The "mystical" sequence in the first play, where some beings (among them Cain and Judas Ischariot) tries to tell Julian of his purpose in life. The dialogue in this sequence is particularly weird, and Maximos the Mystic, who staged it all, gets more and more freaked out by it. As for Julian, he comes down from it more confused than ever...
** This play and Theatre/PeerGynt contains some rather screwy elements. Both of them were written while Ibsen was abroad in Italy. [[FridgeLogic One wonders what he smoked while writing]].
* PowderKegCrowd: The commoners in Constantinople fall into this cathegory. They fawn for the Christian emperor at the start of the play, beating the crap out of heathens. Come the second play, they ''still'' fawn for the emperor, beating the crap out of christians.

* SmurfettePrinciple: Only three female cast members should qualify: Eusebia, the empress of Constantius, and Helen, spouse of Julian. At the end of the play, Makrina, sister of Gregor from Nyssa, enters the stage.

* TwoPartEpisode: The first play, in five acts, is called ''the apostacy of Caesar'', the second part, just as long, is called ''Julian the Emperor''.
* UnfortunateImplications: The "realm" Julian is supposed to be looking for, is referred to as the "third realm". In context, it is seemingly a spiritual one, but the idea of "the third realm" came to have some UnfortunateImplications after WorldWarTwo - a fact Ibsen could not possibly have known about.
* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: The discussions of sin in the christian doctrine. A Christian layman movement had swiped Norway in the 1860s, followed by an intensely dark lutheranism where almost everything funny was sinful. So, having the fourth century character Julian discussing how to get free from the doctrines of sin, may seem a mite more "modern" than intended.