Jovian (emperor)

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Jovian (Template:IPAc-en;<ref>Template:Cite Merriam-Webster</ref> Template:Langx; Template:Langx; 331 – 17 February 364) was Roman emperor from June 363 to February 364. As part of the imperial bodyguard, he accompanied Julian on his campaign against the Sasanian Empire. Julian was killed in battle, and the exhausted and ill-provisioned army declared Jovian his successor. Unable to cross the Tigris, Jovian made peace with the Sasanids on humiliating terms. He spent the rest of his seven-month reign traveling back to Constantinople. After his arrival at Edessa, Jovian was petitioned by bishops over doctrinal issues concerning Christianity. Albeit the last emperor to rule the whole Empire during his entire reign, he died at Dadastana, never having reached the capital.Template:Efn

Early life and accession

Jovian was born at Singidunum, Moesia Superior (today Belgrade in Serbia), in 331, son of Varronianus,Template:Sfn the commander of Constantius II's imperial bodyguards (comes domesticorum).Template:Sfn He also joined the guards and in this capacity in 361, escorted Constantius' remains to the Church of the Holy Apostles.Template:Sfn Jovian was married to Charito and they had two sons, Varronianus, and another whose name is unknown.Template:Sfn

Jovian accompanied the Emperor Julian on the Mesopotamian campaign of the same year against Shapur II, the Sassanid king. At the Battle of Samarra, a small but decisive engagement, Julian was mortally wounded,Template:Sfn and died on 26 June 363.Template:Sfn Roman soldier and historian, Ammianus, reports that while mortally wounded in his tent, Julian declined to name his preferred successor, fearful that he either might overlook a worthy candidate, or put his desired candidate in danger of power-hungry nobles.<ref>Ammianus Marcellinus, Rerum gestarum libri XXXI, ed. and trs. J. C. Roffe, 3 vols, Loeb Classical Library 300, 315 and 331 (Cambridge, MA, 1939–50). Book XXV, Chapter 3, Section 20.</ref> The next day, after the aged Saturninius Secundus Salutius, praetorian prefect of the Orient, had declined their offer for Emperor,Template:Sfn the army elected, despite Julian's reinstitution of paganism, the Christian Jovian, senior officer of the Scholae, as Emperor.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn

Reign

On the very morning of his accession, Jovian resumed the retreat begun by Julian.Template:Sfn Though harassed by the Sasanids, the army succeeded in reaching the city of Dura on the banks of the Tigris.Template:Sfn There the army came to a halt, hoping to cross the Tigris to reach the Empire on the western bank. When the attempt to bridge the river failed, he was forced to sue for a peace treaty on humiliating terms.Template:Sfn In exchange for an unhindered retreat to his own territory, he agreed to a thirty-year truce,Template:Sfn a withdrawal from the five Roman provinces, Arzamena, Moxoeona, Azbdicena, Rehimena and Corduena, and to allow the Sasanids to occupy the fortresses of Nisibis, Castra Maurorum and Singara.Template:Sfn The Romans also surrendered their interests in the Kingdom of Armenia to the Sasanids.Template:Sfn The king of Armenia, Arsaces II (Arshak II), was to receive no help from Rome.Template:Sfn The treaty was widely seen as a disgrace.Template:Sfn

After crossing the Tigris, Jovian sent an embassy to the West to announce his elevation.Template:Sfn With the treaty signed, Jovian and his army marched to Nisibis.Template:Sfn The populace of Nisibis, devastated by the news their city was to be given to the Sasanids, were given three days to leave.Template:Sfn

In September 363 Jovian arrived at Edessa where he issued two edicts.Template:Sfn The first, a limitation on the distance a soldier could be sent for straw, was to indicate an end to the war with Sasanid Persia.Template:Sfn The second was the restoration of estates of the res privata to the Imperial finances following Julian's incorporating them to pagan temples.Template:Sfn

Jovian's arrival at Antioch in October 363, was met with an enraged populace.Template:Sfn Faced with offensive graffiti and insulting authorless bills (famosi) throughout the city,Template:Sfn he ordered the Library of Antioch to be burned down.Template:Efn Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Jovian left Antioch in November 363,Template:Efn making his way back to Constantinople.Template:Sfn

By December 363 Jovian was at Ancyra proclaiming his infant son, Varronianus, consul.Template:Sfn While en route from there to Constantinople, Jovian was found dead in his tent at Dadastana, halfway between Ancyra and Nicaea,Template:Sfn on 17 February 364.Template:Efn His death, which went uninvestigated,Template:Sfn was possibly the result of suffocating on poisonous fumes seeping from the newly painted bedchamber walls by a brazier.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Template:Efn Jovian died aged 33 and was buried in the Church of the Holy Apostles in Constantinople,Template:Sfn Template:Sfn in a porphyry sarcophagus.Template:Efn He was succeeded by two brothers, Valentinian I and Valens, who subsequently divided the empire between them.Template:Sfn

Following Jovian's death, Valentinian and Valens removed any threats to their position.Template:Sfn Jovian's son Varronianus was blinded to ensure he would never inherit the throne.Template:Sfn According to John Chrysostom, Jovian's wife Charito lived in fear the remaining days of her life.Template:Sfn

Restoration of Christianity

Jovian was met at Edessa by a group of bishops, including Athanasius,Template:Efn Template:Sfn who was newly returned from exile.Template:Sfn The Semi-Arian bishops received a poor greeting, while Athanasius delivered a letter to Jovian insisting on the Nicene Creed and the rejection of Arianism.Template:Sfn Athanasius was restored to his episcopal duties,Template:Sfn and allowed to accompany Jovian to Antioch.Template:Sfn

Upon his arrival in the city, Jovian received a letter from the Synod of Antioch, imploring for Meletius' restoration as bishop.Template:Sfn By September 363, Jovian restored the labarum ("Chi-Rho") as the army's standardTemplate:Sfn and revoked the edicts of Julian against Christians, but did not close any pagan temples.Template:Sfn Template:Efn He issued an edict of toleration, to the effect that his subjects could enjoy full liberty of conscience,Template:Sfn but he banned magic and divination.Template:Sfn Despite supporting the Nicene doctrines, he passed no edicts against Arians.Template:Sfn Philostorgius, an Arian church historian, stated, "The Emperor Jovian restored the churches to their original uses, and set them free from all the vexatious persecutions inflicted on them by the Apostate Julian."Template:Sfn