Den siste atenaren, Viktor Rydberg's most ambitious novel, was published in 1859. It also turned out to be his last for 30 years. This, his best-known novel, offers a contrast between Rydberg's admiration for classical antiquity and his critical attitude to dogmatic Christianity. This struggle is set in Athens, in the time of the last pagan emperor, Julian the Apostate, during the transition from Platonic paganism to Christianity. The novel advocates a philosophy founded on the noblest elements of both ideologies