Sharing the table of the gods - Julian the Emperor and conceptual echoes of Judaic Temple sacrifice within the pagan Roman religious tradition

Sacrifice is the central rite of Roman paganism because, through consecration, the city "is allowed to share the table of the gods". Julian the Emperor remains famous for having celebrated the whole range of sacrifices available to the Roman religious tradition. However, he kept his freedom to act in the face of the gods' will. His passion for ritualistic forms of religion is the key to his respect for Judaism and to his aim at rebuilding the Temple of Jerusalem. His attitude is based on a spiritualised conception of the relationship to the divinity that does not nevertheless contradict his maniac ritualism. It is rooted in his double religious training: his neoplatonist education and his previous Christian teaching, which spread the spiritualisation of the cult.