Jovian in Wikipedia
Flavius Jovianus (331 – 17 February 364), commonly known as Jovian, was Roman Emperor from 363 to 364.
Upon the death of emperor Julian during his Sassanid campaign, Jovian was hastily declared emperor by his
soldiers. Jovian sought peace with the Persians on humiliating terms, and reestablished Christianity as
the favored religion of the Empire.
Rise to power -
Jovian was born at Singidunum (today Belgrade, Serbia) in 331, 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 was mortally wounded during the retreat and died on 26 June 363. The next day, after
the aged Saturninius Secundus Salutius, praetorian prefect of the Orient, declined the purple, the choice
of the army fell upon Jovian. His election caused considerable surprise, and it is suggested by Ammianus
Marcellinus 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 favoured religion of the Roman Empire ending the
brief revival of paganism under his predecessor Julian. Upon arriving at Antioch, he revoked the edicts of
Julian against the Christians.[1] The Labarum of Constantine the Great again became the standard of the
army.[2] 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[3].
However, in 363 he issued an edict ordering the Library of Antioch to be burnt down[4], and another on 11
September subjecting the worship of ancestral gods to the death penalty, which, on 23 December, he also
applied to participation in any pagan ceremony (even private ones)[5]. Jovian entertained a great regard
for Athanasius, whom he reinstated on the archiepiscopal throne,[1] 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 and, continually harassed by the Persians, succeeded in
reaching the banks of the Tigris where Jovian, deep inside Sassanid territory, was forced to sue for a
peace treaty on humiliatingly unfavourable terms. In exchange for his safety, he agreed to withdraw from
the five Roman provinces conquered by Galerius in 298, east of the Tigris, that Diocletian had annexed and
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 and the Christian king of Armenia,
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.
He died on 17 February 364 after a reign of only eight months. During his return to Constantinople, Jovian
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.
Read More about Jovian in Wikipedia