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JOVIAN (FLAVIUS JoVIANUs) (c. 332-364)

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Originally appearing in Volume V15, Page 526 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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JOVIAN (FLAVIUS JoVIANUs) (c. 332-364)  , See also:Roman See also:emperor from See also:June 363 to See also:February 364, was See also:born at Singidunum in See also:Moesia about 332 . As See also:captain of the imperial bodyguard he accompanied See also:Julian in his See also:Persian expedition; and on the See also:day after that emperor's See also:death, when the aged See also:Sallust, See also:prefect of the See also:East, declined the See also:purple, the choice of the See also:army See also:fell upon See also:Jovian . His See also:election caused considerable surprise, and it is suggested by See also:Ammianus See also:Marcellinus that he was wrongly identified with another Jovian, See also:chief See also:notary, 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 . Jovian at once continued the See also:retreat begun by Julian, and, continually harassed by the Persians, succeeded in reaching the See also:banks of the See also:Tigris, where a humiliating treaty was concluded with the Persian See also:king, See also:Shapur II . (q.v.) . Five provinces which had been conquered by See also:Galerius in 298 were surrendered, together with See also:Nisibis and other cities . The See also:Romans also gave up all their interests in the See also:kingdom of See also:Armenia, and abandoned its See also:Christian See also:prince See also:Arsaces to the Persians . ' During his return to See also:Constantinople Jovian was found dead in his See also:bed at Dadastana, halfway between See also:Ancyra and See also:Nicaea . A surfeit of mushrooms or the fumes of a See also:charcoal See also:fire have been assigned . as the cause of death . Under Jovian, See also:Christianity was established as the See also:state See also:religion, and the See also:Labarum of See also:Constantine again became the See also:standard of the army . The statement that he issued an See also:edict of See also:toleration, to the effect that, while the exercise of magical See also:rites would be severely punished, his subjects should enjoy full See also:liberty of See also:conscience, rests on insufficient See also:evidence . Jovian entertained a See also:great regard for See also:Athanasius, whom he reinstated on the archiepiscopal See also:throne, desiring him to draw up a statement of the See also:Catholic faith .

In See also:

Syriac literature Jovian became the See also:hero of a Christian See also:romance (G . See also:Hoffmann, Julianus der Abtrunnige, r88o) . See Ammianus Marcellinus, See also:xxv . 5-1o; J . P. de la Bl6terie, His-See also:Loire de Jovien 0740); See also:Gibbon, Decline and Fall, chs. See also:xxiv., xxv . ; J . See also:Wordsworth in See also:Smith and See also:Wace's See also:Dictionary of Christian See also:Biography; H . See also:Schiller, Geschichte der romischen Kaiserzeit, vol. ii . (188) ; A. de See also:Broglie, L' Eglise et l'See also:empire romain an iv° siecle (4th ed . 1882 . For the relations of See also:Rome and See also:Persia see PERSIA: See also:Ancient See also:History .

End of Article: JOVIAN (FLAVIUS JoVIANUs) (c. 332-364)
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