Novel
The Death of the Gods
Смерть богов. Юлиан Отступник
Dmitry Merezhkovsky · 1895
Opening lines
В двадцати стадиях от Цезареи Каппадокийской, на лесистых отрогах Аргейской горы, при большой римской дороге, был источник теплой целебной воды.
Twenty stadia from Caesarea in Cappadocia, on the wooded spurs of Mount Argaeus, by the great Roman road, there was a spring of warm healing water.
Translation by Erostrate
Text quoted from ru.wikisource.org
Synopsis
In the fourth century, the emperor Constantius distrusts his young cousin Julian and keeps him away from court. Raised in fear and under surveillance, brought up in the Christian faith, Julian secretly conceives a passion for the wisdom and the gods of the Greeks. Sent to Gaul, he wins victories there, and his soldiers proclaim him emperor. Master of the Empire, he sets about restoring life to the ancient gods whom the Church believed it had vanquished.
Context
The novel appeared in 1895, then in volume form. It opens the trilogy Christ and Antichrist, continued by a novel on Leonardo da Vinci and then by another on Peter the Great, completed in 1904: the author sets two truths against each other there, that of Christianity and that of paganism. Julian is there an emperor of Christian upbringing who devotes himself to restoring the old cults. Herbert Trench's English translation appeared as early as 1901; Henri Mongault's French translation was approved by the author.
Who it is for
A long historical novel, which can be read on its own even though it opens a cycle; Henri Mongault's translation can be read in a digital edition.
Prizes and reception
Its English translator, Herbert Trench, counted it among the major works of Russian letters; the book later enjoyed great popularity.
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