Abstract: The leading character in Ibsen's play, Emperor and Galilean, is modeled on Flavius Claudius Julianus, the Emperor in the late Roman Empire. By looking through various literary representations of such a character based on historical documents and identifying, by comparison, the connection, correspondence, and differentiation in between, we may discover that Julianus attempted to contain the development of Christianity by reviving polytheism, whereas Ibsen strove to portray him as a reformist who could reconcile and transcend both religions to a higher level. Thanks to his discovery of the paradox in Julianus' religious thoughts, Ibsen had to nullify the possibility of such a reform in his play. The paradox discovered by Ibsen, nevertheless, offered a great inspiration to the research on Julianus. Even though the plot development of Emperor and Galilean was somewhat influenced by reality, it still shows that literary writing is utterly different from the principles of historical writing, but the thinking of literary writers is hardly free from the influence of reality altogether. Therefore, literary works may expound potential historical issues while keeping track of reality.

Key words: Ibsen, Emperor and Galilean, Julianus, historical archetype of character