FLAVIUS IOVIANUS AUGUSTUS JOVIAN (Flavius Jovianus Augustus). — Roman emperor, born at Singidunum in Moesia in 331, died in Bithynia on 17 Feb. 364. Son of the count Varronianus, he pursued a military career under Constantius II. At the accession of Julian he was tribune, and after the edict in which the latter put the soldiers to the choice of sacrificing or abandoning their service, Jovian preferred to resign; he was however retained because of the imminent war against the Persians. At the death of Julian, despite his reluctance, he was acclaimed emperor by the army (28 June 363).
Forced by the disastrous circumstances of the Persian campaign and to consolidate his authority, he had to accept the peace terms of Shapur, renouncing some provinces. A convinced Christian and Catholic, Jovian immediately proceeded to revoke Julian’s anti-Christian laws, promulgating tolerance for all; he only forbade the public sacrifices instituted by his predecessor. He recalled all the bishops who were still in exile, and especially St. Athanasius, whom he also invited to Antioch. Jovian’s good dispositions encouraged various sects and others to seek his protection in the hope of drawing him to their own views. Thus the Macedonians sent him a petition asking that the Anomoeans be expelled; these in turn tried to have Athanasius driven out of Alexandria, but both were repulsed and threatened. During his journey to Constantinople he attended the funeral of Julian at Tarsus, then took the consulship at Ancyra, but at Dadastana, between the borders of Galatia and Bithynia, he suddenly died, cutting short the hopes placed in him.