Jovian (emperor)
Jovian | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Moesia Superior, Roman Empire | |||||
Died | 17 February 364 (aged 33) Dadastana, Anatolia, Roman Empire | ||||
Burial | |||||
Spouse | Charito | ||||
Issue | Varronianus another son | ||||
| |||||
Father | Varronianus | ||||
Religion | Nicene Christianity |
Jovian (
Early life and accession
Jovian was born at
Jovian accompanied the Emperor
Reign
On the very morning of his accession, Jovian resumed the retreat begun by Julian.
After crossing the Tigris, Jovian sent an embassy to the West to announce his elevation.[15] With the treaty signed, Jovian and his army marched to Nisibis.[11] The populace of Nisibis, devastated by the news their city was to be given to the Sasanids, were given three days to leave.[11]
In September 363 Jovian arrived at Edessa where he issued two edicts.[12] 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.[12] The second was the restoration of estates of the res privata to the Imperial finances following Julian's incorporating them to pagan temples.[12]
Jovian's arrival at Antioch in October 363, was met with an enraged populace.[16] Faced with offensive graffiti and insulting authorless bills (famosi) throughout the city,[17] he ordered the Library of Antioch to be burned down.[c][17][18] Jovian left Antioch in November 363,[d] making his way back to Constantinople.[17]
By December 363 Jovian was at Ancyra proclaiming his infant son, Varronianus, consul.[20] While en route from there to Constantinople, Jovian was found dead in his tent at Dadastana, halfway between Ancyra and Nicaea,[21] on 17 February 364.[e] His death, which went uninvestigated,[19] was possibly the result of suffocating on poisonous fumes seeping from the newly painted bedchamber walls by a brazier.[10][19][20][24][f] Jovian died aged 33 and was buried in the Church of the Holy Apostles in Constantinople,[25][26] in a porphyry sarcophagus.[g] He was succeeded by two brothers, Valentinian I and Valens, who subsequently divided the empire between them.[28]
Following Jovian's death, Valentinian and Valens removed any threats to their position.[29] Jovian's son Varronianus was blinded to ensure he would never inherit the throne.[29] According to John Chrysostom, Jovian's wife Charito lived in fear the remaining days of her life.[29]
Restoration of Christianity
Jovian was met at Edessa by a group of bishops, including Athanasius,[h][31] who was newly returned from exile.[32] 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.[32] Athanasius was restored to his episcopal duties,[33] and allowed to accompany Jovian to Antioch.[31]
Upon his arrival in the city, Jovian received a letter from the Synod of Antioch, imploring for Meletius' restoration as bishop.[34] By September 363, Jovian restored the labarum ("Chi-Rho") as the army's standard[28] and revoked the edicts of Julian against Christians, but did not close any pagan temples.[35][i] He issued an edict of toleration, to the effect that his subjects could enjoy full liberty of conscience,[35] but he banned magic and divination.[37] Despite supporting the Nicene doctrines, he passed no edicts against Arians.[28] 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."[28]
See also
Notes
- Flavius Claudius Iulianus. From this point onwards the name "Flavius" began to be used as a status marker rather than personal name.[2]
- Constantine I (324–337) ruled alone for 13 years, the longest solo reign since Severus Alexander (222–235). After Jovian, Valentinian I ruled 1 month alone, and Theodosius4 months, after which the Empire was permanently split into East and West.
- Zonaras and Philostorgius make no mention of the burning of the library during Jovian's stay.[18]
- ^ Curran states Jovian left Antioch in late October 363.[19]
- ^ Socrates gives 17 February,[22] while the Consularia Const. gives 19 February.[23] Most scholars use Socrates' date.[3]
- ^ Ammianus Marcellinus suggests his death was due to strangulation.[19]
- ^ This sarcophagus was described in the 10th century by Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus in the De Ceremoniis.[27]
- ^ Eusebius states Athanasius was summoned by Jovian.[30]
- ^ Curran cites the Historia Acephala for a claim that Jovian made Christianity the official religion of the empire,[19] but Salzman indicates that the notice is mistaken.[36]
References
- ^ a b Drijvers 2022, p. 28.
- ^ Cameron 1988.
- ^ a b Jones, Martindale & Morris 2001, p. 461.
- ^ a b Heather 1999, p. 94.
- ^ Drijvers 2018, p. 234.
- ^ Curran 1998, p. 76.
- ^ Browning 1976, p. 243.
- ^ 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.
- ^ a b c Curran 1998, p. 78.
- ^ a b Treadgold 1997, p. 62.
- ^ a b c d e f Curran 1998, p. 79.
- ^ a b c d Elton 2018, p. 120.
- ^ Ostrogorsky 1995, p. 51.
- ^ Barker 1966, p. 114.
- ^ Lenski 2002, p. 17.
- ^ Lenski 2002, p. 17–18.
- ^ a b c Lenski 2002, p. 18.
- ^ a b c Rohmann 2016, p. 240.
- ^ a b c d e Curran 1998, p. 80.
- ^ a b Lenski 2002, p. 19.
- ^ Lenski 2002, p. 19–20.
- Socrates Scholasticus, III.
- ^ Consularia Constantinopolitana s.a. 363.
- ^ Baynes 1967, p. 86.
- ^ Moffatt & Tall 2012, p. 811.
- ^ Tougher 2018, p. 887.
- ^ Vasiliev 1948, p. 9.
- ^ a b c d Vasiliev 1980, p. 78.
- ^ a b c Lenski 2002, p. 20.
- ^ Eusebius 2016, p. 434.
- ^ a b Frend 2003, p. 169.
- ^ a b Gwynn 2012, p. 51.
- ^ Anatolios 2004, p. 32.
- ^ Elm 2012, p. 424.
- ^ a b Watts 2015, p. 116.
- ^ Salzman 2002, p. 328, n. 32.
- ^ Jones 1986, p. 150.
Sources
- Anatolios, Khaled (2004). Athanasius. Routledge. ISBN 978-0415202039.
- Barker, John W. (1966). Justinian and the Later Roman Empire. University of Wisconsin Press. ISBN 978-0299039448.
- Baynes, Norman H. (1967). "Constantine's Successors to Jovian: And the Struggle with Persia". In Gwatkin, H.M.; Whitney, J.P. (eds.). The Cambridge Medieval History. Vol. I. Cambridge at the University Press. pp. 55–86. ISBN 9781463690311.
- Browning, Robert (1976). The Emperor Julian. University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-03731-6.
- Curran, John (1998). "From Jovian to Theodosius". In Cameron, Averil; Garnsey, Peter (eds.). The Cambridge Ancient History: The Late Empire, A.D. 337-425. Vol. XIII (2nd ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 78–110. ISBN 978-0521302005.
- Cameron, Alan (1988). "Flavius: a Nicety of Protocol". Latomus. 47 (1): 26–33. JSTOR 41540754.
- Drijvers, Jan Willem (2018). "Jovian between History and Myth". In Burgersdijk, Diederik W.P.; Ross, Alan J. (eds.). Imagining Emperors in the Later Roman Empire. Brill. pp. 234–256. ISBN 9789004370890.
- Drijvers, Jan Willem (2022). The Forgotten Reign of the Emperor Jovian. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780197600702.
- Elm, Susanna (2012). Sons of Hellenism, Fathers of the Church: Emperor Julian, Gregory of Nazianzus, and the Vision of Rome. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0520269309.
- Elton, Hugh (2018). The Roman Empire in Late Antiquity: A Political and Military History. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0521899314.
- Eusebius (2016). History of the Church. Translated by Amidon, Philip R. The Catholic University of America Press. ISBN 9780813229027.
- Frend, W.H.C. (2003). The Early Church: From the Beginnings to 461. SCM Press. ISBN 978-0334029090.
- Gwynn, David M. (2012). Athanasius of Alexandria: Bishop, Theologian, Ascetic, Father. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0199210954.
- Heather, Peter (1999). "Ammianus on Jovian: history and literature". In Drijvers, Jan Willem; Hunt, David (eds.). The Late Roman World and Its Historian: Interpreting Ammianus Marcellinus. Routledge. p. 93-103. ISBN 0-415-20271-X.
- Jones, Arnold Hugh Martin (1986). The Later Roman Empire, 284-602: A Social Economic and Administrative Survey. Vol. 1 (2nd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 978-0801833533.
- Jones, A. H. M.; Martindale, J. R.; Morris, John (2001). The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire: AD 260-395. Vol. 1 (5th ed.). Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-07233-6.
- Lenski, Noel (2002). Failure of Empire: Valens and the Roman State in the Fourth Century A.D. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0520-23332-4.
- Moffatt, Ann; Tall, Maxeme (2012). Constantine Porphyrogennetos - The Book of Ceremonies. Brill. ISBN 978-18-76-50342-0.
- Ostrogorsky, George (1995). History of the Byzantine State (4th ed.). Rutgers University Press. ISBN 978-0813505992.
- Rohmann, Dirk (2016). Christianity, Book-Burning and Censorship in Late Antiquity. Walter de Gruyter GmbH. ISBN 978-3-11-048445-8.
- ISBN 0-674-00641-0.
- Tougher, Shaun (2018). "Jovian". In Nicholson, Oliver (ed.). ISBN 978-0-19-866277-8.
- Treadgold, Warren (1997). A History of the Byzantine State and Society. Stanford University Press. ISBN 9780804726306.
- JSTOR 1291047.
- Vasiliev, Alexander (1980). History of the Byzantine Empire. Vol. I (2nd ed.). The University of Wisconsin Press. ISBN 0-299-80925-0.
- Watts, Edward J. (2015). The Final Pagan Generation. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-28370-1.
- Wood, Philip (2010). 'We Have No King But Christ': Christian Political Thought in Greater Syria on the Eve of the Arab Conquest (c.400–585). Oxford University Press.
Further reading
- Kettenhofen, Erich (2009). "JOVIAN". In ISBN 978-1-934283-14-1.
- Banchich, Thomas, "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 IVe siècle (4th ed. 1882).
External links
Media related to Jovian at Wikimedia Commons