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Jovian – Roman Emperor: 363-364 A.D.
Bronze AE3 18mm (3.33 grams) Sirmium mint, struck 363-364 A.D.
Reference: RIC VIII 118
D N IOVIANVS P F AVG, Diademed, draped and cuirassed bust right.
VOT V MVLT X within wreath, BSIRM in exergue.
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 The wreath was a symbol of victory in ancient Greek and Roman times, and references to it are still used in modern English language, as some may term it to be a “victory wreath.” A laurel wreath, oak wreath or wreath is a circular wreath made of interlocking branches and leaves of the bay laurel (as in laurel wreath) (Laurus nobilis, Lauraceae), an aromatic broadleaf evergreen; or branches and leaves of other plants. In Greek mythology, Apollo is represented wearing a laurel wreath on his head. A wreath made of oak has connections to Jupiter, the Roman equivalent of Zeus, as his sacred tree was the oak. In ancient Greece wreaths were awarded to victors, both in athletic competitions, including the ancient Olympics made of wild olive-tree known as “kotinos” (κότινος), (sc. at Olympia) and in poetic meets; in Rome they were symbols of martial victory, crowning a successful commander during his triumph.
The wreath symbol was used often on ancient Greek and Roman coins. The wreath on ancient Roman coins is often depicted being held by Jupiter’s (Zeus’) sacred bird, the eagle, and also Victory (Nike) and by other deities less often; and many coins with emperors depicted wearing it; and at times, entire designs being surrounded by a wreath.
In common modern idiomatic usage it refers to a victory. The expression “resting on one’s laurels” refers to someone relying entirely on long-past successes for continued fame or recognition, where to “look to one’s laurels” encourages an individual to take inspiration from past achievements to conquer a fresh task.
Jovian (Latin: Flavius Iovianus Augustus; 331 – 17 February 364) was Roman Emperor from 363 to 364. Upon the death of emperor Julian the Apostate during his campaign against the Sassanid Empire, Jovian was hastily declared emperor by his soldiers. He sought peace with the Persians on humiliating terms and reestablished Christianity as the state church. His reign lasted only eight months.
Rise to power
Jovian was born at Singidunum (today Belgrade in Serbia) in 331 AD, the son of Varronianus, the commander of Constantius II’s imperial bodyguards (comes domesticorum). He also joined the guards and by 363 had risen to the same command that his father had once held. In this capacity, Jovian accompanied the Roman Emperor Julian on the Mesopotamian campaign of the same year against Shapur II, the Sassanid king. After the Battle of Samarra, a small but decisive engagement, the Roman army was forced to retreat from the numerically superior Persian force. Julian, mortally wounded during the retreat, died on 26 June 363. The next day, after the aged Saturninius Secundus Salutius, praetorian prefect of the Orient, had declined the purple, the choice of the army fell upon Jovian. His election caused considerable surprise: Ammianus Marcellinus suggests that he was wrongly identified with another Jovianus, chief notary (primicerius notariorum), 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.
Restoration of Christianity
Jovian, a Christian, reestablished Christianity as the state church, ending the brief revival of paganism under his predecessor. Upon arriving at Antioch, he revoked the edicts of Julian against Christians. The Labarum of Constantine the Great again became the standard of the army. He issued an edict of toleration, to the effect that, while the exercise of magical rites would be punished, his subjects should enjoy full liberty of conscience.
In 363, however, he issued an edict ordering the Library of Antioch to be burnt down, and another on 11 September subjecting those who worshiped ancestral gods to the death penalty. He extended the same punishment on 23 December to participation in any pagan ceremony (even private ones). Jovian entertained a great regard for Athanasius, whom he reinstated on the archiepiscopal throne, desiring him to draw up a statement of the orthodox faith. In Syriac literature, Jovian became the hero of a Christian romance. From Jovian’s reign until the 15th century Christianity remained the dominant religion of both the Western and Eastern Roman Empires, until the Fall of Constantinople to the Turks in 1453.
Rule
Jovian continued the retreat begun by Julian. Though harassed by the Persians, the army succeeded in reaching the banks of the Tigris. There, deep inside Sassanid territory, he was forced to sue for a peace treaty on humiliating terms. In exchange for his safety, he agreed to withdraw from the five Roman provinces east of the Tigris conquered by Galerius in 298, that Diocletian had annexed, and to allow the Persians to occupy the fortresses of Nisibis, Castra Maurorum and Singara. The Romans also surrendered their interests in the Kingdom of Armenia to the Persians. The Christian king of Armenia, Arsaces II (Arshak II), was to stay neutral in future conflicts between the two empires and was forced to cede part of his kingdom to Shapur. The treaty was widely seen as a disgrace and Jovian rapidly lost popularity.[citation needed]
After arriving at Antioch, Jovian decided to rush to Constantinople to consolidate his political position there. While en route, he was found dead in bed in his tent at Dadastana, halfway between Ancyra and Nicaea. His death has been attributed to either a surfeit of mushrooms or the poisonous carbon monoxide fumes of a charcoal warming fire.
Jovian was buried in the Church of the Holy Apostles in Constantinople.
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