Jovian - Flavius Jovianus (ca. AD 331 - 364).

Mints: Antioch, Aquileia, Arelate, Constantinopolis, Cyzicus, Heraclea, Lugdunum, Nicomedia, Rome, Sirmium, Siscia, Thessalonica.

Biography: Flavius Jovianus served as a member of the elite officers' cadet corps under Constantius II and became commander of that force under Julian. After the death of Julian in 363 during the Persian campaign, and the refusal of the praetorian prefect Saturninius to take the vacant throne, the offer went to Jovian and he accepted. His first act was to save his famished and badly battered troops and bring them back to safety by signing a peace with the menacing Persian army led by Shapur II. By this treaty the Romans lost the five provinces east of Tigris, some key fortresses along the new frontier were ceded to the Persians, as well as substantial chunk of Armenia. It was a wise decision, given the circumstances, but it earned him the opprobrium of contemporaries and later writers alike. His second important act was to restore Christianity to state favor after the pagan reaction under Julian. He had no time to do more, for on his way west to the capital he died in Asia Minor, possible poisoned by carbon monoxide from a fire he ordered lit to chase away the noxious smell of fresh plaster in his bedroom.

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