Jovian (emperor)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jovian
64th Emperor of the Roman Empire
Solidus of emperor Jovian
Reign	27 June 363 – 17 February 364
Full name	Flavius Jovianus (from birth to accession); Flavius Jovianus Augustus (as emperor)
Born	331
Birthplace	Singidunum
Died	17 February 364 (aged 32)
Place of death	Dadastana
Buried	Church of the Holy Apostles, Constantinople
Predecessor	Julian the Apostate
Successor	Valentinian I
Wife	Charito, still alive c. 380
Issue	Two sons, one named Varronianus (consul in 364), c. 380
Father	Varronianus
Religious beliefs	Christian

Jovian (Latin: Flavius Jovianus Augustus;^[1] 331 – 17 February 364) was Roman Emperor from 363 to 364. Upon the death of emperor Julian the Apostate during his campaign against the Sassanid Empire, Jovian was hastily declared emperor by his soldiers. He sought peace with the Persians on humiliating terms and reestablished Christianity as the state church. His reign only lasted eight months.

Rise to power

Jovian was born at Singidunum (today Belgrade in Serbia) in 331 AD, the son of (Flavius?) Varronianus, the commander of Constantius II's imperial bodyguards (comes domesticorum). He also joined the guards and by 363 had risen to the same command that his father had once held. In this capacity, Jovian accompanied the Roman Emperor Julian on the Mesopotamian campaign of the same year against Shapur II, the Sassanid king. After a small but decisive engagement the Roman army was forced to retreat from the numerically superior Persian force. Julian, mortally wounded during the retreat, died on 26 June 363. The next day, after the aged Saturninius Secundus Salutius, praetorian prefect of the Orient, had declined the purple, the choice of the army fell upon Jovian. His election caused considerable surprise: Ammianus Marcellinus suggests that he was wrongly identified with another Jovianus, chief notary (primicerius notariorum), whose name also had been put forward, or that during the acclamations the soldiers mistook the name Jovianus for Julianus, and imagined that the latter had recovered from his illness.

Restoration of Christianity

Jovian, a Christian, reestablished Christianity as the state church, ending the brief revival of paganism under his predecessor. Upon arriving at Antioch, he revoked the edicts of Julian against Christians.^[2] The Labarum of Constantine the Great again became the standard of the army.^[3] He issued an edict of toleration, to the effect that, while the exercise of magical rites would be punished, his subjects should enjoy full liberty of conscience.^[4]

However, in 363 he issued an edict ordering the Library of Antioch to be burnt down,^[5] and another on 11 September subjecting those who worshiped ancestral gods to the death penalty. He extended the same punishment on 23 December to participation in any pagan ceremony (even private ones).^[6] Jovian entertained a great regard for Athanasius, whom he reinstated on the archiepiscopal throne,^[2] desiring him to draw up a statement of the orthodox faith. In Syriac literature Jovian became the hero of a Christian romance. From Jovian's reign until the 15th century Christianity remained the dominant religion of both the Western and Eastern Roman Empires, until the Fall of Constantinople to the Turks in 1453.

Rule

Jovian continued the retreat begun by Julian. Though harassed by the Persians, the army succeeded in reaching the banks of the Tigris. There, deep inside Sassanid territory, he was forced to sue for a peace treaty on humiliating terms. In exchange for his safety, he agreed to withdraw from the five Roman provinces east of the Tigris conquered by Galerius in 298, that Diocletian had annexed, and to allow the Persians to occupy the fortresses of Nisibis, Castra Maurorum and Singara. The Romans also surrendered their interests in the Kingdom of Armenia to the Persians. The Christian king of Armenia, Arsaces II (Arshak II), was to stay neutral in future conflicts between the two empires and was forced to cede part of his kingdom to Shapur. The treaty was widely seen as a disgrace and Jovian rapidly lost popularity.

After arriving at Antioch, Jovian decided to rush to Constantinople to consolidate his political position there. While en route, he was found dead in bed in his tent at Dadastana, halfway between Ancyra and Nicaea. His death has been attributed to either a surfeit of mushrooms or the poisonous carbon monoxide fumes of a charcoal warming fire.

Jovian was buried in the Church of the Holy Apostles in Constantinople.

References

↑ In Classical Latin, Jovian's name was inscribed as FLAVIVS IOVIANVS AVGVSTVS.
↑ 2.0 2.1 Philologic Results
↑ Reigns Of Jovian, Valentinian and the Division of the Empire@Everything2.com
↑ CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Flavius Claudius Jovianus
↑ Michael von Albrecht, and Gareth L. Schmeling, A history of Roman literature (1997), page 1744
↑ Vlasis Rassias A history of unconditional love (2005); currently in publication only in Greek, as Μια ιστορία αγάπης

External links

Media related to Jovian at Wikimedia Commons

Regnal titles
Preceded by Julian	Roman Emperor 363–364	Succeeded by Valentinian I and Valens
Political offices
Preceded by Julian, Sallustius	Consul of the Roman Empire 364 with Varronianus	Succeeded by Valentinian I, Valens

v t e Roman emperors

Principate 27 BC – 235 AD	Augustus Tiberius Caligula Claudius Nero Galba Otho Vitellius Vespasian Titus Domitian Nerva Trajan Hadrian Antoninus Pius Marcus Aurelius with Lucius Verus Commodus Pertinax Didius Julianus Septimius Severus Caracalla Geta Macrinus with Diadumenian Elagabalus Alexander Severus

Crisis 235–284	Maximinus Thrax Gordian I and Gordian II Pupienus and Balbinus Gordian III Philip the Arab Decius with Herennius Etruscus Hostilian Trebonianus Gallus with Volusianus Aemilianus Valerian Gallienus with Saloninus Claudius Gothicus Quintillus Aurelian Tacitus Florianus Probus Carus Carinus Numerian

Dominate 284–395	Diocletian Maximian Constantius Chlorus Galerius Severus Maxentius Maximinus Daia Licinius with Valerius Valens and Martinianus Constantine the Great Constantine II Constans I Constantius II with Vetranio Julian Jovian Valentinian I Valens Gratian Valentinian II Theodosius I

Western Empire 395–480	Honorius with Constantine III Constantius III Joannes Valentinian III Petronius Maximus Avitus Majorian Libius Severus Anthemius Olybrius Glycerius Julius Nepos Romulus Augustulus

Eastern/ Byzantine Empire 395–1204	Arcadius Theodosius II Marcian Leo I the Thracian Leo II Zeno Basiliscus Anastasius I Justin I Justinian I Justin II Tiberius II Constantine Maurice Phocas Heraclius Constantine III Heraklonas Constans II Constantine IV Justinian II Leontios Tiberios III Philippikos Anastasios II Theodosios III Leo III the Isaurian Constantine V Artabasdos Leo IV the Khazar Constantine VI Irene Nikephoros I Staurakios Michael I Rangabe Leo V the Armenian Michael II the Amorian Theophilos Michael III Basil I the Macedonian Leo VI the Wise Alexander Constantine VII Porphyrogennetos Romanos I Lekapenos Romanos II Nikephoros II Phokas John I Tzimiskes Basil II Constantine VIII Zoe Romanos III Argyros Michael IV the Paphlagonian Michael V Kalaphates Constantine IX Monomachos Theodora Michael VI Bringas Isaac I Komnenos Constantine X Doukas Romanos IV Diogenes Michael VII Doukas Nikephoros III Botaneiates Alexios I Komnenos John II Komnenos Manuel I Komnenos Alexios II Komnenos Andronikos I Komnenos Isaac II Angelos Alexios III Angelos Alexios IV Angelos Alexios V Doukas

Empire of Nicaea 1204–1261	Constantine Laskaris Theodore I Laskaris John III Doukas Vatatzes Theodore II Laskaris John IV Laskaris

Eastern/ Byzantine Empire 1261–1453	Michael VIII Palaiologos Andronikos II Palaiologos Michael IX Palaiologos Andronikos III Palaiologos John V Palaiologos John VI Kantakouzenos Matthew Kantakouzenos Andronikos IV Palaiologos John VII Palaiologos Andronikos V Palaiologos Manuel II Palaiologos John VIII Palaiologos Constantine XI Palaiologos

Authority control	WorldCat VIAF: 12693872 LCCN: n85143718 ISNI: 0000 0000 5488 8747 GND: 102396337

Persondata
Name	Jovian
Alternative names
Short description	Roman emperor
Date of birth	332
Place of birth	Singidunum
Date of death	364
Place of death	Dadastana

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike; additional terms may apply for the media files.