Jovian

331 – 364 · Generation IV · Emperor (r. 363–364)

Jovian (AD 331 – 364). Emperor (r. 363–364). Succeeded Julian; no biological link to Valentinianic line. An officer of the imperial bodyguard, he was with Julian’s Persian expedition when the emperor fell in battle, and the army — worn out and short of provisions — raised him to the purple on the spot. With no way to bring his forces across the Tigris, he purchased their escape at a punishing price, ceding provinces and fortresses, Nisibis among them, to the Sasanians. A Christian, he ended the brief imperial revival of the old gods, and at Edessa he received bishops petitioning over doctrine. The seven months of his reign were spent on the road home; at Dadastana, still short of Constantinople, he was found dead in his tent. No later emperor governed an undivided empire from accession to death – after him, East and West were ruled apart.