Jovian
144811
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2008-07-16T20:16:47Z
128.239.45.223
it didn't become official until theodosius
{{Infobox Roman emperor
| name =Jovian
| full name =Flavius Iovianus
| title =[[Roman emperor|Emperor]] of the [[Roman Empire]]
| image =[[Image:Jovian1.jpg|300px|]]
| caption =Coin featuring Jovian.
| reign =[[27 June]] [[363]] - <br>[[17 February]] [[364]]
| predecessor =[[Julian the Apostate|Julian]]
| successor =[[Valentinian I]]
| spouse 1 =Charito (?), if so, still alive c. [[380]]
| spouse 2 =
| issue =Two sons, one named Flavius Varronianus ([[consul]] in [[364]]), possibly still alive c. [[380]]
| dynasty =
| father =(Flavius?) Varronianus (comes domesticorum to Emperor [[Constantius II]])
| mother =
| date of birth =[[331]]
| place of birth =[[Singidunum]] ([[Belgrade]], [[Serbia]])
| date of death =[[17 February]] [[364]]
| place of death =[[Dadastana]]
| place of burial =
|}}
:''For other meanings see [[Jovian (disambiguation)]].''
'''Flavius Iovianus''', [[anglicized]] to '''Jovian''', ([[331]] - [[17 February]] [[364]]) was a [[soldier]] elected [[Roman Emperor]] by the army on [[27 June]] [[363]] upon the death of Emperor [[Julian the Apostate]] during his [[Sassanid Empire|Sassanid]] campaign. Jovian reestablished [[Christianity]] as the unofficial religion of the Empire.
==Rise to power==
Jovian was born at [[Singidunum]] ([[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 disastrous Mesopotamian campaign of the same year against [[Shapur II]], the [[Sassanid Empire|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 official 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. <ref>[http://artfl.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/philologic/getobject.pl?c.25:1:283.harpers Philologic Results<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> The [[Labarum]] of [[Constantine the Great]] again became the standard of the army.<ref>[http://everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=1530717 Reigns Of Jovian, Valentinian and the Division of the Empire@Everything2.com<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> He issued an edict of toleration, to the effect that, while the exercise of magical rites would be severely punished, his subjects should enjoy full liberty of conscience.<ref>[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08529b.htm CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Flavius Claudius Jovianus<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> Jovian entertained a great regard for [[Athanasius]], whom he reinstated on the archiepiscopal throne,<ref>[http://artfl.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/philologic/getobject.pl?c.25:1:283.harpers Philologic Results<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> desiring him to draw up a statement of the Catholic 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 [[Ottoman Empire|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 safety, he agreed to withdraw from the five [[Roman province]]s 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 seen as a disgrace and Jovian rapidly lost popularity.
After arriving at Antioch Jovian decided to hurry to Constantinople to consolidate his position.
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 (city)|Nicaea]]. A surfeit of mushrooms or the poisonous [[carbon monoxide]] fumes of a charcoal warming fire have been assigned as the cause of death.
He was buried in the [[Church of the Holy Apostles]] in Constantinople.
==Sources and references==
* Banchich, Thomas, [http://www.roman-emperors.org/jovian.htm "Jovian"], ''De Imperatoribus Romanis''.
* [[Ammianus Marcellinus]], xxv. 5-10
* J. P. de la Bleterie, ''Histoire de Jovien'' (1740)
* Gibbon, ''Decline and Fall'', chapters xxiv., xxv.
* Gibbon, Edward, 1737-1794. ''The history of the decline and fall of the Roman Empire''. (NY : Knopf, 1993), v. 2, pp. 517 - 529.
* G. Hoffmann, ''Julianus der Abtrünnige'', 1880
* J. Wordsworth in Smith and Wace's Dictionary of Christian Biography
* H. Schiller, ''Geschichte der römischen Kaiserzeit'', volume ii. (1887)
* A. de Broglie, ''L'Église et l'empire romain au IV<sup>e</sup> siècle'' (4<sup>th</sup> ed. 1882).
* {{Catholic}}
* {{1911}} [http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Jovian]
==See also==
*[[Belgrade]]
*[[Singidunum]]
== References ==
<references/>
==External links ==
{{Commons-inline|Jovian}}
{{Roman Emperor | Prev = [[Julian the Apostate|Julian]] | CoEmperor = | Next = [[Valentinian I]] and [[Valens]] | years = [[363]]–[[364]]}}
{{Roman Emperors}}
[[Category:Roman emperors]]
[[Category:Deaths from carbon monoxide poisoning]]
[[Category:332 births]]
[[Category:364 deaths]]
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