Jovian

Jovian's Siliqua , around 363

Flavius ​​Jovianus ( ancient Greek Ἰοβιανός ; * 331 in Singidunum ; † February 17, 364 in Dadastana , today's Turkey ), Jovian for short , was Julian's successor as Emperor of the Roman Empire . He only ruled for one winter, from 363 to 364. Jovian, who was a Christian, broke with the anti-Christian policies of his predecessor and in the peace of 363 also ended his offensive against the Persian Sassanid Empire .

Life

Rise to the emperor

Born in Singidunum, today's Belgrade , in 331 , Jovian was brought up in the Christian faith. His father Varronianus acted as comes domesticorum , i.e. he was the commander of a cadet corps (the protectores domestici ) from which the officers of the elite units were recruited. Jovian decided early on for a military career and later also served in this corps.

He climbed the career ladder under the emperors Constantius II and Julian. In 363, under Julian, he even became the commandant of the domestici , although Julian preferred pagans within the army.

On June 26, 363, Julian was killed in a battle against the Sassanid forces in a campaign that was poorly planned . On the same day, a college made up of officers Nevitta , Arintheus , Victor and Dagalaifus agreed to proclaim Jovian as the new emperor after the incumbent Praetorian prefect Saturninus Secundus Salutius had rejected Salutius for reasons of age. His father's reputation spoke for Jovian. Jovian was evidently a respected personality, because he had transferred the body of Emperor Constantius II to Constantinople.

Theodoret reports (probably exaggerated) in his Church History (4.1) that Jovian was an excellent, respected and in several respects excellent man of very high physical stature and generous disposition. He had excelled militarily. Ammianus Marcellinus , who had seen Jovian, was much more reserved.

Reign

Jovian

The Persians cleverly took advantage of the situation. The Persian King Shapur II gave orders to double the intensity of the attacks on the retreating legions . With the total annihilation of the Roman armies in the east in view, Jovian negotiated a peace treaty with the Persians in July . In order to be able to withdraw unmolested, he had to surrender vast territories, five provinces across the Tigris , to the Persians, including Armenia . The cities of Singara , Nisibis and Bezabde were also given up and their inhabitants resettled.

In particular, the loss of the strongly fortified Nisibis, which had only been conquered by the Romans under Galerius sixty years earlier , met with general criticism. Jovian's contemporary Ammianus Marcellinus reports that the city's residents asked the emperor to be allowed to fight the Persians on his own, which the latter refused. The Christians, including the Doctor of the Church Ephraem the Syrians , had to leave Nisibis, which remained under Persian control until the time of Emperor Maurikios , who won the city for the Eastern Roman Empire. The city later served repeatedly as the starting point for Persian offensives.

The church father Athanasius, banished by Julian and pardoned by Jovian

In Antioch , whose inhabitants jokingly congratulated themselves on the fact that their city had not also been ceded to the Persians, Jovian took up his domestic affairs for the first time. He initially devoted himself to state support and promotion of Christianity, which was under pressure under Julian. Julian's edict of rhetoric , issued a year earlier, was withdrawn and the Christian teachers were allowed to teach again. Since Jovian also granted freedom of religion to the Gentiles, there was no resistance. Only magic and fortune-telling remained punishable. However, the temple goods were confiscated.

The following winter, Jovian moved further west. On the way he received news that a group of high-ranking officers had revolted in Reims . However, the Gallic troops suppressed the uprising and professed their new emperor. In Ankyra , he and his young son Varronian stood up as consul on January 1, 364 .

Even before the entourage reached Constantinople , Jovian died when he reached the provincial village of Dadastana on February 17, 364. He was found dead in bed that morning, but there was no evidence of a violent death. Of the many theories that have been put forward about his death, carbon monoxide poisoning from a defective fume cupboard appears most likely.

Jovian was buried in the imperial mausoleum in Constantinople. Valentinian I , a until then little known guard officer, succeeded him on the throne and a few weeks later appointed his brother Valens co-emperor. Jovian's widow Charito was still alive at the beginning of Theodosius I's reign , the young Varronian was (allegedly) partially blinded in order to eliminate him as a candidate for the throne.

Evaluation and sources

Jovian's peace agreement with the Persians was often criticized by his contemporaries and also in research; in later sources, however, peace is judged more balanced ( e.g. Zonaras , Sozomenos , Augustine of Hippo ). The military necessity of peace was mainly contested by several contemporaries. However, recent research suggests that Jovian had no choice if he did not want to risk the demise of the Roman army. In any case, the fact is that thanks to the treaty, the Roman troops reached their homeland safely and relations between the two great powers normalized for the time being.

Overall, however, Jovian is judged quite negatively in the tradition. Often one finds the nickname Winterkaiser (analogous to the winter king Friedrich von der Pfalz ). The Roman contemporary witness Ammianus Marcellinus paints a very negative character image of Jovian and idealizes Julian, which of course also testifies to his bias. The Suda , a Byzantine encyclopedia, also puts Jovian in a very negative light. His little son even disappears completely from tradition (he may have been killed). On the other hand, research also takes the view that Jovian pursued a new equalization policy with which Persia and Rome found their way back to a peaceful coexistence.

In his church history (4, 5), Theodoret finds words of praise for the only eight-month reign of the emperor, who ended the discrimination against Christians and reinstated the exiled bishops. This positive picture can be explained by the contrast to the previous reign of Julian, which had put the church under massive pressure.

literature

• Otto Seeck : Iovianus 1 . In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume IX, 2, Stuttgart 1916, Col. 2006-2011.
• Hubert Cancik / Hildegard Cancik-Lindemaier: Religious freedom and individualization of religion. Themistios' speech on Jovian's entry into the consulate (364 AD), in: Religious Tolerance. 1700 years after the Edict of Milan. Berlin / Boston 2016. pp. 193–223.
• Evangelos Chrysos: evacuation and abandonment of imperial territories. The contract of 363 . In: Bonner Jahrbücher 193 (1993), pp. 165–202.
• Alexander Demandt : The late antiquity. Roman History from Diocletian to Justinian AD 284-565. 2nd edition. CH Beck, Munich 2007, pp. 137-139.
• Geoffrey B. Greatrex and Samuel NC Lieu: The Roman Eastern Frontier and the Persian Wars. Part II AD 363-630. A narrative sourcebook . London and New York 2002, pp. 1ff. (Excerpts from sources in English translation and provided with a brief commentary.)
• Noel Lenski: The Election of Jovian and the Role of the Late Imperial Guards . In: Klio 82/2 (2000), pp. 492-515.
• Hans-Udo Rosenbaum:  Jovian. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 3, Bautz, Herzberg 1992, ISBN 3-88309-035-2 , Sp. 735-740.
• Gerhard Wirth : Jovian, Emperor and Caricature . In: Vivarium, Festschrift Theodor Klauser on his 90th birthday . ( Jahrbuch für Antike und Christianentum , supplementary volume 11, 1984), pp. 353–384.

Web links

Commons : Flavius ​​Iovianus  - album with pictures, videos and audio files

• Thomas Banchich: Short biography (English) at De Imperatoribus Romanis (with references).

Remarks

1. ↑ Ammian 25.8.
2. ↑ See Alexander Demandt: Die Spätantike. 2nd edition Munich 2007, pp. 137f.
3. ↑ Ammian 25.10.
4. ↑ Suda , keyword Ἰοβιανός , Adler number: iota 401 , Suda-Online
5. ↑ See Wirth, Jovian, Kaiser and Caricature .

predecessor	Office	successor
Julian	Roman emperor 363–364	Valentinian I.